Wild Beasts in North Wales

Going back to work on a Monday morning after a week off is always pretty hard. The tube journey from Balham to Bank has already made the holiday seem like it never happened. All of the fresh air, feedom and calmness I felt in the North Wales countryside was replaced in an instant with heat, armpits and delays. The only plus point being that FWD Digital and FWD Marketing are now nearly settled in our new offices at 145 Leadenhall Street now and this is my first day here which is quite exciting.

Brave or stupid?
If you remember the weather over the Easter weekend was not the best. Scotland and Northern areas were even seeing snow storms! Therefore we were aprehensive of a holiday in Wales, let alone the camping holiday we had gone for! Telling people about the holiday we had decided on either had them wishing us luck or asking if we were crazy! (Please note this was not our desired holiday destination, we were somewhat restricted by budget.) After the 6 hour drive we arrived at our campsite in the pouring rain. We were staying at a campsite in Beddgellert which is in Snowdonia national park. Unfortunately due to the rain you couldn't seen Snowdon on the drive up.

The tent was great though, fully equipped kitchen, comfy bed and lots of blankets which it turned out we really needed as the evening got colder and colder as night set in. Eventually after putting on our beer, wine and whisky layers along with 4 jumpers and 3 pairs of socks we went to sleep. As we woke up the sound of rain drops had stopped and as we unzipped the tent and stepped out we found a spot of sunshine had appeared. This miraculously stayed for the whole week allowing us to get great views of Snowdon, go on long walks, have picnics and even sit on a beach at the beautiful Porthdinllaen on the north coast. (This picture was taken on my iPhone and edited using the Adobe Photoshop iPhone app while sat on the beach)

It ended up being a great holiday and one that I would recommend to anyone especially if you like driving. Some of the roads up there are fantastic with mountain views, slate stone walls, fast flowing rivers and waterfalls. Including the journey there and back we drove over 700 miles which provided the opportunity to listen to a lot of music. This is where the Wild Beasts come in. You may have been thinking we had found the Welsh dragon or a ferocious sheep, but what I was referring to in the title are the 4 piece band from Kendal in the Lake District. Their 2nd album 'Two Dancers' was my favourite album to drive to. It set the mood perfectly. The long drives gave me time to think about the best and worst driving albums I have on the iPod and I though I would share them for anyone with a long drive or driving holiday coming up.

My top 5 albums for a driving holiday

1. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
2. The XX - xx
3. Lightspeed Champion - Life is Sweet!...
4. Fat Freddys Drop - Based on a True Story
5. Joshua James - Build Me This

Albums that don't work for a driving holiday

1. St. Vincent - Actor (A great album but too eratic for driving)
2. Bear in Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth (I really enjoyed this when I first heard it but there are some really grating tracks that are off key and tempo...not suited to driving)
3. Diane Cluck - Oh Vanille (Another good album but too all over the place for driving)

I am always looking for new music so would be keen to hear any other recommendations. Oh and go to Wales! It's up there with Scotland, the Lake District and the South Island of New Zealand for hiking and driving holidays.