Ned Luberecki and Stephen Mougin are touring this month in England, and Stephen is sending along a travelogue of their time across the pond. Day 8 turns involves a happy ending.
Y Caban, Brynrefail
Several people at “Ye Old Rose and Crown” told us that we’d see a bunch of castles on our route to the gig today. They weren’t kidding! The show was near Canaerfron castle, where the Prince of Wales was… “Princed.” It dates from the 1200’s and nearly bankrupt the monarchy in its creation. Construction was halted a few times, and several walls were never built (you can see the masonry where they were supposed to go). In the end, it was never properly used. Yikes!
Currently, the it is a partially restored series of great walls with several towers and more windy staircases and passageways than you can imagine. We’ve never thought of a castle as being warm and inviting, but walking through the stones on a cold, windy day reinforced our belief. It sits on the shore, and the gusts coming off the water were enough to move us around. Standing on the tops of the towers was a bit challenging!!
Turns out that the lovely people from Wales have a different word for everything… Hehe! They all speak English, fortunately, but when you walk around town you hear some strange sounding stuff!
Y Caban was the venue name and turned out to be a neat café-style show. They have all locally sourced food and seemed to know what they are doing! We ordered lamb burgers, because it seemed the most native thing on the menu, and they were delicious!! Eat what they do!
Our host for the evening was Owen Hughes, and he’s been doing shows for years in this area (mostly Folk, Americana, and Bluegrass). The room was in an L shape and they had us set up in the middle. Those are always a little awkward, because you’re mostly looking at the wall in front and have to keep glancing from side to side to attempt any audience interaction.
The show was another fun evening and it was almost like being back home… except for the funny words.
