Ha ha, that’s timing for you Rob! 
Dyna fi yn y gornel.
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Wyt ti’n mwyn gneud din eira?
I’m so coming prepared with Welsh lyrics next time - not being able to sing my head off about the place was one of the hardest parts of the whole week!!
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Quite. It was something very special, such that I can’t articulate it. Even in Welsh 
I do know I’m very sad it’s over, and would happily jump back in the car now to chat with everyone again.
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and of course our imaginary friends-
Jack
Marvin
Pam
Danny
Donny (even though he’s never around anyway)
Who have I forgotten?
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Beth and Austen, at least.
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wrth gwrs!
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So, off to choir practice with Catrin, not looking forward to this at all, I can’t sing, I don’t like singing, I don’t want to sing, I don’t like choir music, let’s face it, I don’t even relish the idea of being in church. In for a penny, in for a pound. So there we are, following in the minibus behind Catrin through all these narrow roads, junction after junction, to end up in a small place called Rhiw (felt more like rhew 
) and after a nifty bit of parking, if I do say so myself, walked about 30 yards to be greeted by one of the best views I’ve ever seen. This area of the world is certainly not short of views. So anyway, inside the church we went, sat down, took off my coat, put it back on again (rhew) and watched as the pews slowly filled with people eager to start singing. For a while it just seemed like everyone was just there to catch up on gossip from the previous week, then this pretty little lady came in and after a minute or two started getting control and before we knew it we were all going through some strange warm up exercises. Oh yeah, she has a voice to make you take notice, very powerful, very precise, very professional. So, with a few of us joining in, they started by going over some songs, I was sat behind the bass section but the overall sound was really good. After a few songs they started working on something new, I think, something that needed some work on, so this young lady started working with each of the four sections of the choir in turn, going over and over the individual parts until everyone was happy. Then we got to hear the finished, if not polished, product. Well, I must admit to being slightly awestruck. What an amazing process to witness. I have a whole new respect for the work that goes into the music. I have to stress this, from being the only non challenge that I wasn’t looking forward to it turned into one of the highlights of the whole week, what a thoroughly enlightening and uplifting evening. Thank you Catrin. 
Earlier that day, I think, we had mentioned wanting to see a sunset at some point so after coming out of the church Catrin told us not to dawdle but to head straight for Aberdaron and then up MynyddUchaf? (sorry, I can’t remember the name) to catch the sunset from there … we had about 10 minutes to spare. The race was on … we lost. The road to the top was very narrow and very winding and the views from the top were well worth the journey but we missed the sunset. Never mind, there will be other nights.
I think, although I’m not sure, this was the night of Jenga. The most epic, alcohol fueled game of Jenga ever took place that night, the stuff of legends, people will be telling tales to their grandchildren around the campfires of this game of Jenga for hundreds of years to come. Poems will be recited, songs will be sung … Heroes were created that night … I still carry the scars.
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Uwchmynydd
It was still stunning! A little chilly perhaps!
Bring on the Jenga!!!
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Uwchmynydd - site of Eisteddfod Uwchmynydd (shortly to become legendary in @gruntius 's future chapter on the Aberdaron quiz challenge…)
and it was indeed an excellent bit of parking o flaen y “maes marw”.
As for the côr in the capel it was truly inspiring and I do believe wnes i weld @gruntius yn canu just dipyn bach…
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Monday, tired. Details are foggy from the next few days. We were told to be in the gallery in Llanbedrog by someone, at sometime, to do a challenge or something. 
We paired up as before and had to agree on one piece of art in the gallery that we liked, talk about why we liked it because we were going to have to describe the piece to the whole group later. This turned out to be quite easy for John and me as we seemed to agree on pretty much everything that we liked and disliked. He had good taste.
We then had something to eat from the café (toasted grilled goat’s cheese focaccia and a slice of banoffee pie or something) followed by a sprint up the mountain to see the iron man statute standing on the cliffs. Oh yeah, that’s right, it was just me sprinting up because I was trying to keep up with Beuno! Anyway, again the views were well worth the effort. Aran enjoyed looking down over the cliffs’ edge too.
After a quick spot of shopping, headed home, something to eat, then an impromptu trip to Porthoer (whistling sands) to finally catch this sunset. And, wow, was it worth the trip. We got there about 20 minutes early so plenty of time for Ian to draw a massive heart in the sand for his lonely fella at home (has he liked that picture yet?).
I’ll let someone else fill in the details about the actual sunset because I just don’t have the words to do it justice … anyone?
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… And there’s your 1000 words. Thank you Rob.
Didn’t have a pic of Ian’s heart in the sand, but this was his other creation…
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I’ve only gone and forgotten about the Saturday night gig in Pwllheli by a band called Jambyls. Not that much to say about this to be honest … very good band, very lively venue, a real treat to experience it. I spotted a member of the duo Brigyn in there and struck up a conversation with him, very nice guy. Had a photo taken and sent it to Susanna to make her jealous, I think it worked. Also thought I was getting chatted up for a second but it turned out her husband liked my beard but was too shy to tell me himself. Perfect.
I must point out that these posts are purely my point of view of everything I was involved in, not the group. Ok, waver over, back to it …
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Tuesday, late morning, Aberdaron, car park, four groups, quiz. A sheet of questions each, a whole town of eager locals to hassle, a sunny veranda awaits. I wish I still had one of the question sheets to give more details but all you really need to know is that we had to wander around the town searching for information on a whole manner of things, names, dates, ages, stuff and things. This was actually quite a bit of fun and we got to stretch our language a little, talk to some very interesting people and buy some welsh cakes. We had a really good chat with the lady from the visitor centre who remembered us from the church on Sunday night, she was so enthusiastic about us learning Welsh and it was such a pleasure listening to her talk from the heart about her home area. I asked if she knows how lucky she is to live there and she said she appreciates it more and more as she gets older. This is so true, you just don’t realise what’s there when you are young. What’s not to like about this challenge. Our team came (equal) first obviously, much to the dismay of Vaughan (shameful in last place). A nice snack overlooking the beach on a perfectly warm and sunny day was all the reward we needed.
We dropped most of the gang off at home before continuing on to Pwllheli for supplies for a barbecue that evening when Catrin’s parents and sisters would be our special guests for the show.
Vaughan burnt a couple of sausages outside while everyone else worked so hard getting all the rest of the food ready. Both kitchens in full swing. What a joy to behold. They promised to bring the famous chocolate fountain too, great … just great.
All the guests arrived with the sad news that Catrin’s mother was ill so wouldn’t be able to come but she had made 3 huge bara brith loaves for us. I hope she has since improved Catrin. 
After the food, which was really something special (someone else fill in the blanks again please 
) we all went upstairs for the scariest challenge of the week. We’d been told to create a small sketch to perform in front of everyone on Tuesday night. I have my favourite bits from these shows so don’t really want to say anything about them on here for fear of favouritism, but there were some truly hilarious bits, some genius sound effects with perfect comedy timing, some superb accents and some brilliant jokes. At one stage I was literally, yes literally, rofl.
It was then announced that the chocolate fountain was on the go and we all drifted downstairs again. This is when I stood at the back of the room to watch the horror unfold from a safe distance. My personal nightmare. After a while the “hilarity” (sorry) died down, the guests floated off into the night, and we were left alone once again.
A few nos das later and Rob, Anne and I were left clearing the kitchen and, more importantly after last year, the chocolate fountain. Rob went, then Anne, then finally I called it a night … I got to my bedroom door and got a strange feeling that I’d left the door unlocked upstairs so had to make the surprisingly long trudge back down the corridor, through the music kitchen, then the other corridor, up the stairs to the door. It was open, lucky I checked, you never know. I’m now struggling to lock it, come on, stupid door, the house is dead quiet. A voice came from the other side of the darkened room, I almost collapsed in a heap. “What the! Why are you still up?” If someone tells me they can’t sleep, I feel duty bound to keep them company until they can …
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Wednesday, bwtcamp day 6, up a bit later but considering the time I got to bed still not late enough. If memory serves me correct we left at 11 to pick Aran up on the way to Caernarfon, and after a brief tour twice around the roundabout we were parked up ready for our day around this wonderful town. We had a few hours to spare so headed straight for the nearest café. Well, it’s difficult to shop on an empty stomach. A group of about 6 of us ended up traipsing around together, palas print, na~nog, ice cream, etc, etc. finally landing back in the square at about 3:45 in time to go and meet a guy for the pub tour thingamybob at 4 (sorry, I can’t remember his name). I think we went in about 4 pubs, heard about 20 jokes and learnt a few facts about the town. I learnt a few new words too. We were warned before hand about the way he spoke, his accent, and the choice words so I wasn’t expecting to understand much. I was pleasantly surprised to be able to tune in pretty quick to what he was saying. I reckon about 70% of the words and a good 95% of the context. Well chuffed with myself. I will say however that this was not my favourite activity, some of the jokes were almost embarrassingly crude, and I’m certainly no prude, and was told later that some of the bar staff were far from welcoming.
At the request of Aran, we stopped in Pwllheli on the way back for a chippy tea which most people took advantage of. Another evening around the table if I remember correctly, with a bit of electro-trickery acupuncture thrown in for good measure. I slept pretty well that night after a mug of hot water and ginger as recommended by Karen. Early morning tomorrow for a very special trip …
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Thursday, day 7, the last full day of bwtcamp. Up early with the express purpose of leaving early on a mission. Today was not the best day for this, I woke up feeling rough with hardly any energy at all, totally drained. But a promise is a promise. The promise was made about 2 months ago and there was no way I was going to break it now. 12 of us climbed into the minibus that morning, everyone except Alan, who, unfortunately, didn’t feel up to the task. We were on our way to Tre’r Ceiri.
It turned out to be a really nice day for it, still really pleasant but the temperature stayed quite low. Anne had forgotten to bring her walking shoes on this bootcamp so struggled a little with the loose stone so opted to sit out of the last section to enjoy the views from slightly lower down. A very wise and restrained move I thought. The views were stunning, as usual, and I think everyone enjoyed it. Karen showed me where she lives and I got a small sense of the type of views she gets on a daily basis in this incredible part of the world.
I’ll let Jen explain the reason for the visit up Tre’r Ceiri if she so wishes but I have to say that I feel extremely privileged and honoured to be allowed to be part of a very special and personal part in her life. Thank you Jen, it will stay with me forever.
The trek down was hard on the knees of some of us, especially Ian I think, but we survived intact if not a little battle weary. Back to base HQ to prepare for tonight’s special guest.
I’m embarrassed to say that a lot of today is missing because I went to bed for a few hours feeling very low and feeling like there was a touch of dreaded man-flu 
coming on.
I got up, showered, dressed, and walked into a very busy house, everyone was busy getting things ready for the grand arrival, especially Ian who was finishing off the famous chilli. And then they arrived …
The Joneses accompanied by Manon Steffan Ros. I admit to having a wee bit of a crush on this lady, I love her books, her songs are so beautiful and her voice is something that no words of mine could ever come near to describing. But … I really thought Vaughan was going to explode. I mean really explode. He was shaking and grinning like a fat kid in a sweet shop.
So, Ian’s chilli was everything we have come to expect, and more. That chilli could well become a part of bootcamp history.
Then Manon set herself up in a chair in the kitchen and began to play her guitar and sing, and the world drifted away … Utterly beautiful. I am lost for words. Her whole performance was stunning. Someone else will need to fill in the details again because I can’t.
She then hung around for a while, chatted, signed some copies of her books and eventually left with a bunch of flowers bought by Mark that afternoon. I don’t remember the rest of the night. Bootcamp was almost over. One more sleep and we all get to go home to our loved ones. I’ve missed them again so very much.
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The last day …
There’s really nothing to say here. Packed, cleared, cleaned, and we were mostly ready to go.
Aran and Catrin came down for the traditional goodbyes, a few hugs and tears later and we were all on our way home.
I was taking Ian and Anne back to Chester for the train but, as mentioned before, got a puncture on the way so got there late, I’m sure they can fill in the details of the rest of their journeys.
That’s it, another bootcamp over.
If you’ve managed to read even half of what I’ve written then you have the patience of a saint 
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