Since it is our plan (as the Lord allows) to visit the U.K. sometime in the future and I have written this month about a visit to Ireland, England, and Scotland, I felt I should like to visit Wales and round it off. Now, Mrs. Herb has not found any ancestors there, yet, but the countryside looks so beautiful and I’m thinking the word rugged fits. According to the BBC, there are 3 national parks and 5 areas of natural beauty. 80% of the land is dedicated to agriculture.
“Okay, Herb,” someone said. Well, I think they said. It might be the voices again. I better check my meds… All right, I confess, I just made that up as a way to segue into what seems like a natural question, “Why Llangunllo?” Well, because. Actually, the real reason is that I follow the blog of a person who retired to that town. As with Lincoln, England, and Ireland, I haven’t included the names of people I know because they may not want their blog or their identity connected to where they live and I try to respect people’s privacy. Anyway, another reason is that in several Louis L’Amour books, you can find that the Sacketts are Welsh.
Anyway, my fellow blogger created a very complete and active website called, interestingly enough, the Llangunllo Community Website all about the village showing events and interesting history, and beautiful photographs. A church was built there by St. Cnyllo around 500 A.D. and the village sort of grew up around it so there is a lot of history to read. The church has been destroyed twice by invaders and rebuilt. The village also has a Youtube channel.
Besides my friend’s village, there is also a place in Wales, on the Island of Anglesey which is where Prince William and Princess Kate live. On this island is also the town with the longest place name in Europe, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
Likelihood of this happening within the next year: 0%
Likelihood of this happening in my lifetime (Lord willing, of course): 85%
Likelihood of running into someone I know or met on the Internet: 100%
Some town will likely come up with a town name that is on letter longer!
Oh, yeah. It’s gotta happen.
You should see it on the front of the buses! Rugged it certainly is, Herb, but very beautiful around there.
I’m looking forward to it. As we actually start planning I will be e-mailing you and others for advice on how to get the most out of the trip.
We’re a tiny blip on the map but so much of this place I’ve yet to see for myself!
That’s kind of the way things go, I think. There are things here in Colorado that we haven’t done yet.
Special request: at one point I believe you mentioned wanting to write a post explaining the proper order in which the Sacket books should be read. I would love it if you could put that on your short list of posts to do. As you know, I’ve read quite a bit of Louis L’Amour, but the Sacket series has always intimidated me a bit.
See if these links might help. They are web pages I made when I was practicing HTML & CSS. I did make the pages to include the 3 big families, Sackett, Talon, & Chatry but maybe this will help. This first link is Louis L’Amour’s own chronology as I understand it:
http://herbthiel.com/louischron.html
This next link is the chronology the way it seemed to me as I read through the books a few times:
http://herbthiel.com/mychron.html
Here’s a page with some of my favorite quotes, if you’re interested:
http://herbthiel.com/louisquotes.html
Thanks. That’s quite helpful. I think the first Louis L’Amour book I read was “Over on the Dry Side” in the summer of 2012. I hadn’t realized until now, but I have actually read all of the Chantry books. I think I’ll go find myself a gold star or something.
A gold star or a blue ribbon. Over on the dry side was a good story.
Sure was. Got me hooked.
I wonder how people remember their town’s name if it is that long. LOL. Probably it can be shortened to Llanfair. I don’t believe they use such a long name in everyday life. I need some proof. For example, a letter that is mailed to a resident of this town.
I agree with you. Most places have a nickname of some sort.
Perhaps it’s my phone misbehaving in the doctor’s office but the second video stopped at 14 seconds each time I opened it.
I’m really sorry that happened. the first one is 56 seconds and the second one is 3:13. I cleared the site’s cache just now but other than that I don’t know what to do. You might give them a peek on Youtube, perhaps.
You now make me think that it would be an interesting travel project to visit the city/town/area of every blogger I follow. Or would that be some weird kind of stalking?
I would think that’s cool. Especially if they’ve mentioned where they live before, like I’ve mentioned Colorado Springs. Now if the person has never said where they are, I would email them privately.