Observations from a Hill

  Just a very brief note tonight as I'm just about to watch the England v Panama game. Pictured was tonight's repast of a do-it-yourself pizza based on the featured Crosta Mollica pizza base [less than four quid from Waitrose]. I bought a mozzarella for the cheese, but didn't realise until I got it home that it was reduced fat, which I consider to be a cardinal sin where cheese is concerned - should have taken my reading glasses into the store me, but there you go. The only things I added to what was essentially became a classic Margherita was home-grown basil, seasoning and olive oil. Not bad, really, and a good deal less faff than cooking one from absolute scratch, although there ain't no substitute for the real deal, and I do have a vague plan for building an outdoor, wood-fired pizza oven, ticking over in the back of my mind. As to the football; as anyone who knows me knows well, I'm not these days given to any particular enthusiasm for the game; but in one or t...

I got back from our break in Llŷn a bit earlier than anticipated this morning. The explorations I'd got planned for the journey home were cancelled due to a reprise of yesterday's temperature and humidity: I just didn't fancy leaving the aircon of my car behind just to potter about - it was just too hot. Pictured is the thermometer we keep in the shade by our front door, reading 28˚C when I got back around ten this morning in bright sunshine. The weather apps on my phone both told me the temperature was no more than 23˚and that it was cloudy. The problem with the 'local' weather readings is that the data is derived mainly from the weather station at Capel Curig, which is at some altitude and attracts the mountain weather to boot. Maybe we should push for a genuinely local to Bethesda weather station, as the predictions of the apps are generally way out of kilter with our actual reality. Still, tonight, a cooler breeze has gotten up, the temperature has dropped close...

Pictured, lunchtime today at Gwesty Tŷ Newydd, Aberdaron, out on the sun-deck in the back. It was hotter here today than Corfu, Santorini and Lisbon, and we're not even in the red weather warning zone up here. It is now nearly five o'clock in the afternoon and it is still as hot and bloody humid to boot: it feels more like forty celsius than thirty. I just had a jangle with an old workmate of mine, now also retired, who farms down here in Llŷn; trundling up the field adjacent to our cottage on his old open-top tractor. When asked if it was too hot for him, he commented that 'No, I've got air-conditioning up here...' Tough as old boots... Anyhow it's heading home time tomorrow. I'll be taking the scenic route to catch a few more places before I call it quits and make for Rachub...

Pictured, The Sun at Llanengan as it is these days after its minor refurb to bring it into line with the current Robinson's corporate image a while back. However, mercifully, the pub itself has not been messed around with, and retains pretty much the same interior and old-school atmosphere that it always did from the very first days of our own patronage, some forty-four years ago. My parents had come down for a holiday with us and were staying at our then first proper, owned-by-us-home in Gerlan. Dad had just taken delivery of a new car and we headed down Pen Llŷn for a day by the sea. Having stopped at various places down the coast en route, we fetched up at the beach at Porth Ceiriad; always popular with surfers, these days. Much as it has been today, the weather was scorching - it was high summer then, rather than June, though - and by the time we made our way back to the village of Llanengan we were frankly frazzled and in dire need of a drink, so we hied forthwith to The Sun;...

  A pretty hot day here today again, but as always, the sea breeze mitigates the ferocity of Old Sol with a cunning deceit. We went down for our usual pilgrimage to Aberdaron today; i.e park up, go for coffee, read the paper, and then go for a couple of pints at the inestimable summer beering location of the rear terrace of Y Gwesty Tŷ Newydd; basking in Mediterranean-esque light and the gentle cooling zephyr under the shade of the clever retractible roof there. This pub has one of the best views out to sea on the planet, and serves a good selection of beers and ales, two of which are local and excellent. We haven't yet ventured a meal there but the food we saw being served looked the ticket, so we might just venture a bite there later in the week. Pictured, the grave of the poet R.S Thomas and Elsi, his wife, at the tiny but lovely church of St. Maelrhys, which we visited as is now our custom when we are down here. I bought yet another book of Thomas' poems from the church in ...

Pictured, the view down the strand at Criccieth from the top of the castle, before the thin cloud lifted and the sun came out. The temperature was already a humid 25˚C before noon, and by the time we made it back to the car somewhat frazzled and sunburnt an hour later, the mercury had briefly hit 30˚C before notching back a couple of degrees. Heading back into Abersoch, we were forced to seek refuge in a shady bar for cold beers and a read of the paper. The haze over the bay has returned this afternoon, taking some of the ferocity out of the sun, but I think a cold can of something might still be required sooner rather than later...