Julie's Boggle

It all started back in Anglesey in August when a mobile speed camera caught us doing 35 just inside a 30mph zone. The penalty was £60 and 3 points on Tom’s licence, OR attend a £60 speed awareness course and no points on the licence. We decided to take the course.

Which was held on Friday, at 09h30, in Holywell, North Wales.

Figuring I’d be woken up when Tom left anyway, I decided to take a day off too and go along for the ride. That started at 04h50 in London :yawn: (the sun only came up 2 hours into our drive!) and ended 230 miles away at 09h10 in the business park next door to Holywell.

Armed with our camera, I left Tom to his fate, crossed the nearby railway lines and made off on a walking path along the coast. (Actually the estuary of the River Dee.)

Not the most exciting of coast lines, and the nearby water treatment plant gave quite a lot of atmosphere to the first few hundred meters but it was at least out in the open.

And unlike the south-east, where we had been rained on rather steadily, the sun was shining out of a gorgeous blue sky that echoed with sea gull cries.

At the end of my 40 minute walk I found the lightly-rusted hulk of the Duke of Lancaster. Clearly a long way from her sailing days…

(Some internet research back at home showed her to be a former “railway steamer” in the 50′s and 60′s. In 1979 she was bought and docked in this site, near Mostyn, to become a static “leisure centre” — an attempt that failed.)

After a half hour spent in the sun, tapping out this entry on my PDA, it was time to head back to the car for some of the refreshments I’d foolishly omitted to transfer to my satchel.

At 12h30, Tom emerged and we moved on to a nearby pub for a quick bite before setting off for home.

Unfortunately the trip home wasn’t nearly as smooth with the the rain down south having caused several accidents along our route. But 5 hours later (bringing us to a total of 11) we were back at home, armed with our own copy of The Highway Code, and firmly resolved not to get caught again!