Hello again, people and pooches. Joe the Cocker here, reporting about our recent and chilly visit to Harlech Castle. It was literally a freezing morning that my human decided to drag me out of the comfort of my bed. This was not a hike but rather a short bimble around Harlech and an al fresco breakfast for the big feller. It was late November, and the temperature hadn’t risen much from the -3C overnight.
The first thing that my human wanted to do was to walk up and down Ffordd Pen Llech, which is repited to be the steepest street in the world. It has recently been relegated to sixth position, but it’s still pretty steep.
We parked at the top of the street close to Harlech Castle and walked down it. As we walked, my human noticed a roadsign that indicated that it was a 25% incline. He had read somewhere that the roadsign on Ffordd Pen Llech stated 40%. So, out came his phone. He checked our location on Google Maps. By this time, we had reached the bottom of the hill only to discover that we had walked down the wrong road. He is a Grade A Numpty! We about turned and scaled the road that we had walked down. We could have walked along the flat section and then up the correct street, but, oh no, he wanted to walk up and down the steepest street.
By the time we were at the top of the hill again, my lump of a human was out of breath and complaining that he was hungry. Before we left our accommodation in the morning, he had Google searched for a dog-friendly cafe in Harlech. He had found one that had an outdoor section that was dog-friendly, just outside of the castle grounds. It had good reviews and so he decided to have a look at it when we arrived. It was very cold, and a sub-zero light breeze was blowing. He took one look at the outdoor balcony of Caffi Castell Harlech and decided that we would definitely have breakfast there. Well, he would have breakfast and I would watch.
The song of the day, I hear you ask! Obviously, predictably and annoyingly, it was ‘The Men of Harlech’. The English version and very little of it due to him not knowing much of the lyrics.
I think that my human had forgotten that we were sat outside, and it was -1C. I also think that he had forgotten that we were a few yards from one of the countries most iconic castles. He also appeared to have forgotten that the view from the terrace was absolutely stunning. All that he was concerned about was filling his face with his freshly cooked breakfast. Even the Robin that cheekily landed on the table a few inches away from me, an apex preditor! To be honest, I wasn’t really paying any attention to anything other than my humans breakfast. I could smell bacon, sausage, and a faint whiff of black pudding. After what seemed an age, I was given a few morsels of said meat products. If I am to be brutally honest, he gave me about as much as would keep that Robin alive for a few hours. He is dreadfully cruel to me!
Eventually, he finished eating and drinking before we both froze solid. It was time to walk down and back up the correct street. Walking downhill was difficult enough for the pot-bellied one, but when we turned back at the bottom of the hill, then he started to mutter under his breath. ‘I’m so full’ and ‘We should have done this before breakfast’ were two of the many complaints I had to endure. I found it quite easy. It’s probably because I wasn’t actually full!
OK, it’s a steep hill, but nothing to compare with some of the mountains that we have climbed together. It was fun, but it has lost some of its charisma now that it is not recognised as the steepest street in the world anymore. I did think that I would be seeing my dad’s breakfast again on one occasion. He needs to get in shape like me! Till next time!
Joe the Cocker's Hikes 