What a Week - Part One

Jeez, I am absolutely exhausted. I can barely walk, in fact, on Sunday, I couldn't walk without yelping. Never mind, because it was all worth it. I wanted to give Mr G a super special week, and I think I achieved that. 

We went out on the Sunday before his birthday to Bangor Tandoori with his workmates and some of their partners and had a lovely meal there. I had Chicken Madras and Mr G had Chicken Tikka Madras. His boss had bought him a Colin the Caterpillar cake, and the staff brought it out and we sang Happy Birthday. His workmates are all so lovely, a far cry from his last workplace, which nearly brought him to his knees. 

We set off for our short break away last Wednesday, on our 20th Wedding Anniversary. We don't usually make a huge fuss with gifts on our anniversary, but as it was a special one I bought him a lovely new watch and he bought me a ring from Dorsya that I'd been coveting for a while. I've been coveting many of them, to be honest, so I might get another for my birthday. We left just after ten in the morning, we decided to leave a little later and hopefully miss the traffic. The journey there was smooth enough, the sat nav put us onto the Manchester Airport relief road, which neither of us had travelled on before. We went through a few little Cheshire villages before we ended up on the final stretch of the journey. One minute it was fine, and the next... 

fog! Mr G was thrilled, the little weirdo loves fog, takes him back to when I were a lad, I used to go a-walking over't fields on a foggy morning... I was cacking it, we were on the narrowest roads, barely wide enough for two vehicles, at one point I believe we were 420 metres above sea level (yes, just noticed the sat nav says 422 metres). The imaginary brakes were being pumped on my side of the car.

We drove through the little village and up towards the pub and our heart sank as we saw that the car park was full. We drove a little way up the hill and found a space. I pointed out that it was lunchtime and that was probably why the car park was full. We checked in, I apologised that we were early, but our room was ready so it was fine. The manager told us that the car park would empty after lunch, but to avoid the end of school time (the school was next door) before bringing the car down as it was chaotic. We had a latte in the bar before we went up, eyeballing all the meals that were being brought out, and they looked awesome. Good sign. 

We finished our coffees and went up to our bedroom. When Mr G pushed open the door, my mouth dropped. 

Our first time in a four-poster bed. How romantic was that? And such a lovely room, two chairs and a table in the window, most hotels only give you one chair. Plenty of different teas, coffees, hot drinks, water, milk and a Bakewell Tart, too. 

We quickly unpacked our bags, wrapped up warm and went for a little walk into the village. Little John, he of Robin Hood fame, was buried in the local church and he wanted to go and see that. 

We walked back down to the pub, and thankfully there was plenty of room on the car park, so Mr G brought the car down. We decided we would have a pint, and Mr G's favourite, Wainwright was on draught. 

Such a good pint that we ended up having two before we went upstairs for a quick shower and freshen up. We already knew what we were having for our anniversary meal, Mr G had scoped out the menu and once he'd seen that Wednesday was Pie and a Pint night at The Scotsman's Pack, we didn't need to see the menu. 

Steak and Ale pie with chips. For some reason all my food photos from the time away look like the portions were tiny - they weren't! The pie was so full of steak, and I'm talking huge chunks of steak, not the pitiful bits you usually get in a pie, that I'm not sure there was room for any ale gravy inside. The chips were wow. Mr G even ate the veg and said 'That green stuff was nice, what was it?'. He wasn't expecting 'Kale' as my answer. 

As we waited for our food, and after eating, we were speaking to a lovely couple next to us. They asked where we were from, and they said that they had never been to Anglesey, but it was on their list. We told them where they should aim for if they came to visit, and they asked us what our plans were for the time we were there. We said that we wanted to go to Bakewell, but other than that, we had no concrete plans. They recommended Chatsworth, but unfortunately, mostly everything was closed there until March, and for a touch of history, Ladybower Reservoir and Derwent Dam, where the Dambusters practised their raids during World War 2. Mr G loves anything to do with war history, so we decided that we would do that if we had time. 

After the couple had finished their meal, they said goodbye to us, wished us a nice rest of our special day and went to settle their bill. A few minutes later, the manager brought us a plate over.

They had paid for a huge slice of carrot cake, and sent it over with two spoons. I know it looks tiny, crappy phone. Such a lovely gesture from strangers, and this really made our night. We were so touched! 

We had a few more pints in the bar before we decided to call it a night and go and see if the bed was as comfortable as it looked. It was :-)