Does anyone remember Fiddler’s Dram and their late 1970s song Day Trip to Bangor? I have now been twice there but what lingers in the memory is that at school each of our Blundell’s boarding houses had to annually stand up and do our best to sing a song. One year we took on Day Trip to Bangor but one of our number, like me, a “sprog”, kicked up such a fuss about having to participate in this song that, quite unbelievably, it was changed. I thought that the lad concerned would have been, well, clipped around the ear but, anyway, his wish was granted and we took on David Bowie’s Space Oddity, came last after spicing up the verb in the line “sitting in a tin can” by adding one letter and got, excuse the pun, a rocket from our House Master later. Planet Earth wasn’t the only thing which was blue that evening...

Anyway, I digress. Over the Bank Holiday, I travelled up to Bangor and stayed at the very pleasant Germor Bed and Breakfast run by a charming lady, Emely Williams, who not only did a splendid breakfast but also kindly picked me up from the railway station. I have found Bangor a convenient base from which to explore Snowdon and Anglesey.

With very reasonably priced bus passes available, I went to Holyhead and walked to South Stack Lighthouse which was most impressive. I even followed signs to the lighthouse but, when these suddenly stopped, I admit to being a bit surprised at being directed up Holyhead Mountain to reach the lighthouse... Anyway, it worked and made for a nice walk and superb views. The lighthouse was closed due to high winds but the weather forecast, which had initially suggested rather a lot of rain, was anything but and the three hour return walk gave me ample practice for slightly more strenuous walking in Switzerland next month and time to get over the blisters...