THIS WAS NOT one of my better days, in terms of cycling and weather.

I slept in 'til 10 am as I didn't have to get up for a dumb breakfast before I could wake up. When I did get up, I read a Russian short story from Mr. Thomas' collection then finally got out of bed for breakfast. We had toast with his homemade orange marmalade which was extremely good. I'm going to have to learn to make it. I'm sure it must be quite simple. Water, oranges, sugar, pot, stove, time... marmalade.

Outside, the sky was grey ('there was lots of weather') and every now and then there'd be a light sprinkling of rain. We called the weather service, which said by mid-afternoon, there would be sunny periods. Fine.

After thanking Mr. Thomas and seeing some of the beautiful oak and mahogany furniture he'd picked up at 'junk sales', I was on my way. Getting out to the main road was a good run with winds that were strong enough. But when I headed north it was fine as the winds were from the southeast.

About 5 km from the house, I saw another cyclist who was resting on a stone fence. he asked where I was from (I stopped to talk with him), so I told him, and in a very sarcastic tone he replied, 'No kidding.'. Right then I knew he was an American. Unfortunately, I couldn't just escape so I talked a while. He told me he'd started off camping but it's too wet so he switched to youth hostels. As we talked I mentioned a few of the houses and castles I'd been to. He said he wasn't interested in 'junk like that'. I was really impressed. I was afraid he'd ask if I wanted a riding partner but was relieved to learn he was going the other way. As soon as I could, I told him I was getting cold, so I left. What a jerk.

I had to return to Llanfair PG then cross the Menai Strait on the Britannia Bridge (Telford) then headed to Caernarfon. The rain fell but only lightly so the ride along the coast was pleasant enough even though the winds were in my face.

I arrived in Caernarfon near 2 pm so I stopped for fish and chips. The rain was worse now. I headed to the enormous castle where I locked Bike to a steel rail, took everything off and went inside. Fortunately, I was able to put the red bag inside by the entrance - no carrying!

The castle (as a member of CADW, I saved £2 entrance fee. Now only £1 to reclaim.) was another masterpiece of Edward I from 1283-89. As the king had joined the Eighth Crusade for two years, he'd been to the Middle East where he picked up some of the styles of design. When he built this castle, he used what he'd seen - very similar in design as those in the East.

I couldn't believe how many passages, turrets, steps up and down, and shooting windows there were in the whole structure. I suppose Edward I made this his best castle to suppress the Welsh.

In 1969, Prince Charles was invested as Prince of Wales in its courtyard. I saw where the seats had been, the platform where the ceremony took place, and went out onto the Queen's platform where he greeted thousands of onlookers afterwards. It was the same platform whereupon the Prince introduced Princess Diana to the Welsh.

When I was out of the castle, the weather was dreadful. There were gale winds once again and rain was coming down quite hard. Of course, my direction was straight into the wind. I usually stayed in first gear and had to walk up one hill. Going down I usually had to pedal so as not to stop moving. I was out cycling when it was hard enough (very hard) just standing.

As I cycled alongside Mt. Snowdon, the weather just kept on getting worse until it was 5 pm and I was soaked, tired and frustrated. I'd only come 25 to 30 km today. I stopped at a store to ask where I'd find a B&B.

One thousand metres of a ride later, I stopped at a nice house B&B but found that the woman was leaving. Swell. I hopped onto my bike and skipped along down the road in the fine spring air. I stopped at a small hotel on Llyn Cwellyn where wasters weren't 'placid' - waves were up over the barrier.

They had a single, I took it, then I put on my dry clothes. I went down to have supper and found the owner in many ways to resemble Vincent Price. There was a guest here who could have been James Mason. I wondered if Vincent would cut our throats in the night and went to eat supper with John ('James'). He'd been the manager of a rubber company in Malaysia from 1948 to 1979. He was very interesting to listen to. The only time he'd been to Canada was during the war before heading to Arizona for training.

After supper I sat and talked with James, Vincent and some other guests but was so tired I came to bed by 10 pm. Tomorrow will be a nice day and I will pedal southeast or if not-so-good, I'll go up Snowdon. The storm rages on.