It’s all about the livestock

Everywhere we drove today there were seriously cute lambs in the fields. First stop was Dolgellau where there was a livestock auction. Lyn is always keen to know about crops and farming methods. Dolgellau was therefore a must see. There were penned sheep and cattle everywhere and numerous Welshmen in wellies or big boots reversing trailers or leaning on rails looking thoughtful. Then a small gentleman in a white coat walked around ringing a bell and everybody wandered into the tiered auction room. He put down his bell, picked up a gavel, and proceeded to auction cattle in machine-gun English and Welsh. Lyn and I looked carefully but despite the rapid sales we couldn’t see who was bidding. My photo of the auction was taken surreptitiously between two large farmers because I didn’t want to inadvertently buy a large black steer.

From Dolgellau we drove to a railway station which marked the end of a long-abandoned branch of the Great Western Line. It once brought the Victorian middle class on holidays to Barmouth. The rail bed is now an easy walking track which skirts the estuary. Lyn is proving quite the birdwatcher. She pointed out the usual ducks and then spied a pair of Canada Geese. She was unreasonably disappointed not to see otters. We were meant to cross the old bridge to Barmouth for lunch but by this time a wicked wind was blowing sand across the track so we drove to a pub in Tywyn for lunch instead. 

Our next adventure involved driving along narrow, hedged roads to a ruined castle - Castel Y Bere. A thousand years ago this was built by Prince Llewellyn the Great to protect his valleys full of cattle. Then King Edward extended it to protect his valleys from the Welsh. Now it is abandoned and ruinous and rather romantic. From the top we could see five valleys with fields full of grazing livestock - location, location, location.

Last stop was an equally old local church which boasts a leper window so the diseased can watch services from outside. Hopefully the National Health Service has made it redundant.

It was a great day out but I suppose we won’t be having the lamb tonight.