Welsh Weekend

Stunning - just stunning... our views of the Mawddach Estuary on Saturday as we walked to Barmouth over the amazing rail bridge.

Mawddach Estuary

Barmouth Rail Bridge

We parked at Morfa Mawddach (no charge) a small railway station on the south side of the estuary. The station was once the third biggest in Wales known as “Barmouth Junction” with 5 platforms linking the railway to Dolgellau and the Cambrian Coast. The route is now a well trodden trail, Mawddach Trial, which is enjoyed by many walkers and cyclists.

Barmouth Bridge is the northern end to the trail. The wooden viaduct stretches 900m across the tidal Afon Mawddach estuary connecting Fairbourne, Arthog and surrounding villages to Barmouth. It's finale is a cast iron rail bridge with dual arches, quite an experience when the Arriva train trundles past. There is a small charge of 70p for an adult and this includes your return walk.

Cader Idris stands guard over the southern edge with the Giant Idris sleeping peacfully amongst the foothills. The mountain has many myths and legends; if the giant wakes it is said Wales will fall and anyone sleeping on the mountain overnight will awake as either a madman or a poet!

Sleeping Idris

Barmouth is the northern stop of the trail. It's a typical seaside town; amusements arcades; fish and chips shops; seaside rock shops; all fill the small flat area between the mountains and the sea. Many of the houses climb the hillside with stunning views across the estuary. Barmouth is a hive of activity throughout the year; motorsports on the beach; music festivals; Three Peaks yatch race.

Arriva arriving in Barmouth

Walking back across the bridge the noise can be deafening; not trains but oyster catchers. They squeak and squal constantly in their search for food. It amazing to watch then suddenly dive their beaks into the sand and emerge with a mussel, tightly shut against it's foe. But the oyster catcher is unperturbed, hammering away with it's beak until the mussel is defeated and satisfyingly consumed.

Walking over the bridge on Saturday we were treated to a fly past, no the usual RAF jets who use the area for training but a flock of geese - honking their way up the estuary.

Fly Past

The weather was perfect for visiting Wales. The autumn colours displayed the mountains and estuary in it's full glory. It can be quite different and walking the bridge is not so enjoyable on a cold blustery day at high tide - much nicer then to sit indoors and watch the waves crash against the harbour wall.

We ended our trip with a quick visit to Dolgellau.  It's a small narrow streeted Welsh town at the head of the Mawddach estuary with a good choice of inns and cafes. Our favourite is T H Roberts, once an ironmongers the amazing building is now a cafe with many of the original Victorian fixtures and fittings, inclding the 'office' where you can enjoy your coffee and cake in peace. The variety of teas, coffees and homemade cakes are amazing; our favoruite being the warmed scones served with jam and fresh cream.

T H Roberts

An amazing area of West Wales with activities for all, however active you feel like being.

New Menu with a Spooky Bonus

My blog came to an abrupt stop as unfortunately my father passed away; six months on I feel ready to start this journey again.

My hubby and I eat out fairly often and we like nothing more than taking advantage of promotions and offers. This being so we sign up for regular newsletters from our favourite pubs and restaurants; follow them on Twitter and like them on Facebook. As well as receiving the latest news, information and offers it always feels good to exchange news; it makes our visits feel personal and

Our local Marston's pub is The Acorn. It's a beautiful thatched pub just outside Nuneaton town centre. It has a traditional community feeling with staff always offering a warm welcome and food that is cooked, presented and served well.

Our visit on Tuesday was a real treat, especially for my hubby. I had received another offer by email; buy one pint of Hobgoblin, get another free. Hubby is a fan of Hobgoblin and we have visited the Wychwood Brewery a couple of times. Like the Acorn their bar has a warm traditional feel, adding to the enjoyably informative tour of their brewing room. Their tours are open to the public but have limited spaces and disabled access - they are a superb birthday treat for a beer fan, with plenty of soft drinks/coffee for the driver.

For Halloween the Acorn are bringing in another new ale with a loyalty scheme so there is another opportunity for hubby to enjoy good ale with a bonus.

Our meal from the new menu was delicious. The crisp lettuce bowl filled with prawns in marie rose sauce was perfectly accompanied with thick cut granary bloomer bread; the three mini Camembert had a crisp outer layer revealing a creamy inside.

Hubby chose gammon and chips for his main; always a favourite, always good and I had chicken and bacon salad but with no dressing which fits perfectly with my Slimming World allowance. The salad was fresh and chilled with very tasty bacon and soft chicken.

Marston's new menu has some exciting additions as well as keeping some old favourites. Hubby and I did not give in to a pudding but they sounded delicious, so maybe next time.

My tips from this post:

sign up for Marston's newsletter

join the Wychwood Brewery site

visit Wychwood Brewery for a tour.

Happy Halloween

Welcome to Aimetu's

This is my little dip into journalism/magazine blogging - I hope you enjoy my blog as much as I have enjoyed the research, your comments are always appreciated.

Most people know life for me is at times a little tough; but I keep smiling and carry on :) This story is about co-incidence and life links,  not really a story. It has surprised, pleased, amazed me, resulting in Aimetu's.

Les Miserables holds a very special place in my life; the music, the story, the characters and of course the superb actors who bring it all to life. Last year we were very lucky to see the 25th concert live from Leicester cinema and to see Les Mis on their 25th Anniversary tour.
Alfie Boe has captured Jean Valjean superbly. We saw Alfie in June 2012 at Queen's Theatre, London with Matt Lucas as Thenardier and Hadley Fraser as Javert. We have discovered slip seats - the most amazing place to sit for an equally amazing price. I was so close I could touch the actors on stage. Ramin Karimloo has just finished his run of playing Jean Valjean; his performance was brilliant and the chemistry between JVJ and Javert was electric.

Twitter land is used by many of the other cast members and some of the behind the scenes artists. Alexia (Eponine), Lisa-Anne Wood (Cosette), Liam Tarne (Enjolras), Craig Mathers (Marius) are all regular Tweeters as are Frafee, Scott Graham, Zoe Doano, Lily Fraser, Mary Cormack. Les Mis Official have guest Tweeters who reply to inquistive, interested fans - there is much to discover behind the scenes.


Last summer the Les Mis cast were tweeting about Brown Bag Crisps. They are the only crisps cooked in the UK with 100% olive oil. Their 5 flavours are Lightly Salted,  Sea Salt & Malt Vinegar, Oak Smoked Chilli, Sea Salt & Black Pepper, and Mature Cheddar Manchego and Onion. They are availabe in many good delis around the UK. We found some at Otter's in Oakham, a wonderful town in Rutland. It is easily accessible by car, driving through glorious rolling hills, or by train on the Birmingham to Stanstead line.

Otter's is a new Smokehouse and Deli suppling a wide selection of naturally smoked fish, meats and cheeses, oils, anti pasti, cured meats, accompaniments, speciality teas and coffees, rice, pasta and muesli.
I contacted Otter's to say we were visiting by train, to make sure they had some Brown Bag Crisps. Leo (the manager) replied saying yes they had and sorry he wouldn't be there when we visited but hope we had a good day. It was his mum who was there and she guessed who we were. She thought it was funny and couldn't believe we'd come by train for the crisps. Leo was actually in the States on holiday - amazing. Thanks to Twitter and emails we were chatting away in the deli - purchasing crisps, cheese and olives; social networking has it's bonuses.

Social Networking can open up a whole new world and my aim for Aimetu's is to help do just that. Through Twitter last year we discovered a brilliant welcoming vinyard in the Loire Valley, France. Chateau de Petit Thouars is located just west of Chinon. Sebastien du Petit Thouars proudly showed us the chateau and vineyards, after which we enjoyed tasting a variety of red vintages and the wonderful Cremant de Loire. The vineyard is 100% Cabernet Franc which produces a fruity, black berried grape. The wine travelled well back to the UK and has accompanied many meals at our table.
All these events have a connection, mainly through Twitter, and for me are an example of how our worlds are all interlinked. I have been a fan of Joanne Harris for a number of years. Chocolat is my all time favourite book; I've had many holidays in France, drinking red wine, nibbling chocolate whilst reading it again :) I found Joanne on Twitter through the Les Mis Twitters.

The end of my story happened one Sunday morning - Joanne Harris tweeted about needing a name for a cat in her latest book - she offered to 'follow' the person with the name she chose. I suggested Otter (the name of the Oakham deli) or Otto and she picked Otto. Joanne's novel will be released 24th May.
How can: liking Les Mis; following the cast; learning about and craving crisps; taking an hour's train ride to a deli; result in naming a cat in a famous author's latest novel. These things can happen, and when they do I celebrate with a bottle of the lovely wine we bought from my Twitter friendly vineyard.

Aimetu's will be blogging many such stories and tales with many new products, venues and friends mentioned along the way. I'd love to read your comments, about Les Mis, Brown Bag Crisps, Joanne Harris and/or interesting life links.