We awoke to the sound of rain hitting the roof, the good news is that the water tightness of the moho is being well and truly tested and it’s doing well. Not content with climbing Snowden, Al has outdone himself and found us the steepest street in the world to walk up (and down).

I say the steepest but there’s actually some contention between this and a street in New Zealand and it’s all to do with where in the road the measurements are taken. Apparently the Welsh road is the steepest if you take the corners into consideration but the New Zealand road is straight and they insist it must be measured in the centre. Either way it’s bloody steep and the shop at the top sells stickers so of course we have one for Mario. Robert even accepted the challenge and ran up it. No such happening for me but I did record the walk to see the Garmin gradient.

Brollies back in the moho and the kids opted for some time in the swimming pool rather than Harlech castle. The pool was extremely retro and reminded me of going swimming in the 80s. I had planned to swim 1km but only managed 650m because they close the pool inbetween each session to get it ready for the next. The pool also served as a good point to get a shower with a bit more space than that of the moho however it was more of a drip lasting 15 seconds before you had to repush the button.

Our next stop was in Corris at the craft and caves centre. Al chose this place because we can make chocolate pizzas and go on an underground boat tour with King Alfred stories.

As we were walking from the car park to the centre, 3 fighter jets came storming overhead, we’ve never heard anything so loud, it was really impressive. There was no time to get a photo but interestingly inside the centre they had pictures of all the different aircraft that can be spotted.

We were lucky to make the timings work as Al isn’t really a book in advance kind of guy and the children were in a moment of panic when they thought there was a chance they couldn’t make the pizzas.

We had 30 mins to spare so of course the kids found the playground but it soon started to rain so we decided to visit the gin distillery.

They make 4 different varieties on site and have won numerous awards. They were offering tasters so it would have been rude not to try. What was more impressive was the kids dipping their finger into the taster as they didn’t want to feel left out. Even Liliya who is usually rather cautious when trying new food and drinks. Her face was a picture and she wasn’t impressed but carried on to try the next 3 anyway 😂 I find it hard to judge tasters of neat spirits as I wouldn’t ever drink them that way but Al liked one enough to buy a small bottle. I opted for a miniature bottle of the Welsh whisky cream (aka Baileys) yum!

It was then time for the kids to go make chocolate pizzas, they got to choose 4 different types of sweets as the toppings along with a pot of white chocolate shavings aka the cheese.

The kids were beyond excited and loved designing and then constructing their creations.

We had to leave them to set for 1hr which gave us enough time to go and explore King Arthur’s labyrinth. We got our hard hats as we would be walking inside low caves listening to various tales about King Arthur. The journey starts on a narrow boat then a number of stories are told whilst you walk through the cave, the highlight for both kids was on the way out when the dragon appeared with a smokey breath.

We’re stopping in Aberystwyth rugby club car park tonight. I question Al about the remaining plans as in my mind we’ve got 4 more days before we’re back at work. Turns out there has been a miscommunication and Al thought I was back at work Monday so now we have to decide if we find another activity between here and home or we go back early. Spreadsheets people! They are important 😜

Since we missed out on fish n chips last night Al goes off to try again whilst Robert and I have a game of uno and Liliya does her colouring. In the background we’re treated to a game of girls rugby which Robert is very excited about. Al returns triumphantly, although with way too many chips and now time to find out what we should do tomorrow in Aberystwyth.