Anglesey and Wales

Covers the period August 23 to 29, 2000


The 47 mile trip across to Anglesey from the Isle of Man took ten hours, a third of it motoring, a third sailing, and a third motor sailing. We have had very few long sailing runs all summer as we are often going into head winds. I am reluctant to use the word "summer" for the weather we have experienced in July and August. Since leaving London last April, I think we have had two or three days of warm weather where we could go out in short sleeves . On this crossing, since we were going into the wind, we switched off the autopilot for three hours, as Veleda can steer herself closehauled with her sails in tight and the wheel locked with just a bit of weather helm. This was also the strategy I had to use coming across the Atlantic, as our autopilot broke down a few days out of Bermuda and it was Veleda’s ability to steer herself closehauled that allowed us (me) some rest during the crossing over a two week period. 

Anyway, we got into Holyhead at 1830, at a mooring buoy of the Holyhead Sailing Club. All the mooring buoys are managed by the club. A very co-operative young man came out in a club tender to show us the mooring buoy for us to secure to, and invited us to use the club facilities. The fee was economical, under £10 per night There are no other facilities for private boats in the large basin. At the entrance to the harbour is the large ferry terminal for high speed catamaran ferries. We were now in Wales (53 19.2N, 004 40.3W).

We found the club and its members to be most hospitable. The club’s tender would come over when called on VHF, or it could be flagged down while passing by, to take crews ashore or return them to their boats. There was a good hard, and a shale beach with lines to secure to for dinghies. We lucked in as the club was about to have their sailpast that weekend, and we were invited to participate as the second boat in the fleet as it sailed around the basin and past the clubhouse. We dressed ship overall, sounded our air horn, and had several other crews on board after for drinks. ANDROMEDA, ROWSER, and SAVOURNA came alongside for refreshments, and we were invited over to a couple of other boats as well. At the closing party, we were awarded a bottle of wine for the boat farthest from home. A most enjoyable weekend.

There is nothing in the town of Holyhead except good ferry and train terminals. We used these for two trips. The first was for Judy and me to catch the ferry across to Dublin. It was our first trip on a high speed cat. It was like being in a casino. There were several restaurants, including a MacDonalds, a mini-cinema, a few gambling tables and slot machines, an arcade with a variety of coin operated high tech games and virtual reality rides, a large "duty free" shop as would be found in an international airport, and smoked windows all around. There were only two accesses to the outside, open only for smokers. There was little motion and no nautical atmosphere whatever. However, it was fast.

We toured Dublin by hop-on hop-off bus, visiting a couple of cathedrals, an old palace, and wandering the downtown, a blend of old and new. We did not notice any signs of "the troubles", and we had an enjoyable meal with some Irish folk singing before catching the evening ferry back to Holyhead.

Another day trip I took was by train to Wednesbury, just outside (a suburb) of Birmingham, which is the birthplace of my father who came over to Canada when he was a child. My grandfather, after whom I am named, lived, worked and was married there before the family came over to Peterborough, Ontario, in 1910. His father (my great grandfather), and his father (my great great grandfather) also had the name Aubrey. Where or with whom it originated, I don’t know. 

I had the street addresses of both my grandfather’s and grandmother’s homes before they were married, 50 and 73 Meeting Street respectively (childhood sweethearts?), but when I visited the street, no such addresses were there as a new (25 years old now) housing development in the area had been built since. Similarly, the present house at 9 Brunswick Park Road, where they first lived after their marriage, is probably not theirs, as the current house on that site, doesn’t look 100 years old, maybe 75 or 80, and is now occupied by an Asian family. My grandfather was a steward for the Conservative Club on Walsall Street, and it is still there, along with records listing his name. I had a pleasant talk with several gentlemen in the club, and in the local pub at the end of Meeting Street which would have been there when my grandparents lived on the street. Had I had more than just the one day, I could probably have looked up or found people who remember the Millard or Mantle (my grandmother’s) family. 

The local Anglican Church on the hill is over 200 years old, but was not open when I was there. I could find no gravestones in the churchyard for either family. It possibly is where they were married. It’s a beautiful old church at the top of a hill overlooking the town, but suffers from declining size of the congregation, judging from the state of repair and landscaping. I met a lady there from Vancouver, who was doing the same as I was, looking up her family origins in the cemetery of the churchyard and the environs of Wednesbury. It must have been hard times at the turn of the 19th/20th century, and many people came over to Canada in that decade prior to WW I. 

It is as a result of my father’s English birth that I was able to take out British citizenship, teach in London the winter we were there, and also benefit from the EU agreements whereby I can work in any EU country and have medical coverage (for Judy as well) under the National Health plan in Britain and EU countries. I have a British passport and also have an SSR (the British Small Ships Registry) number for Veleda which entitles me to fly the British Red Ensign if I wish. This feature may reduce Veleda’s visibility if I fly it in countries such as France, Italy, and Portugal, that might tend to ask questions about VAT (Value Added Tax).

I could probably even fly the defaced Blue Ensign (membership with the Cruising Association), or the Canadian Blue Ensign (being a retired naval officer from the former Royal Canadian Navy) under this registry, but it would add to Veleda’s visibility. Besides, its status is questionable, as the Liberals eradicated the Canadian Red Ensign, which is the flag I grew up under, and served under (together with the Canadian Blue Ensign) in my early years with the Navy before Canada adopted the Maple Leaf flag for our Centennial in 1967. The Canadian Red Ensign represented Canada from 1921 to 1964 originating from our sacrifices of WW I, and our independent participation in the old League of Nations, WW II, the United Nations, the Korean War, and our initial forays into peace keeping. But now it has no status.

However, I digress. The walk around Wednesbury allowed me to muse upon the history of my family and say a "Thank you" to my grandfather and great grandfather, neither of whom I ever had the chance to personally know. I had a drink to them in their local pub.

More about Wales in my next log. (Note: we jump now to France. More logs of the UK section will be forthcoming)

Links:
North Wales Yacht Club Directory

What's On In Wales - Sailing

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