STRIDERS BIG ADVENTURE DIARY

Striders Diary - Monday 23 October 2006

Striders Big Adventure

Strider learns Welsh at a couple of schools in Conwy, then gets his tongue tied on Anglesey.

Bore da!
That is Welsh for "Good Morning".

I had a very confusing weekend - I got very lost! Eventually I found some helpful people who pointed me in the right direction. I had to catch a coach to make sure I was on time. I arrived in Wales very early on Monday morning. I was very tired, but very happy to be here.

Ysgol Glan Conwy

I started the morning traveling beside the beautiful River Conwy to arrive safe and sound for morning assembly at Ysgol Glan Conwy.

The whole school gave me a warm Welsh welcome, ‘Croeso Strider’. That really woke me up! I had a chance to learn a few more words of Welsh, as well as telling everyone about why walking to school is five times better than the school run.

Nearly half the pupils have started walking weekly to school and are looking forward to getting their October badge. Well done to them. In the County of Conwy some schools take part in CWL ‘Cerdded Wythnosol’ Walking Weekly, like WoW. They get very excited and support it well. See photo below.

Ysgol Deganwy

Later this morning, I visited Ysgol Deganwy at Deganwy. From the school you can see Conwy castle. We had a bit of a geography lesson, where I was able to show Year 3 and some of Year 4 where I’d already been in October. One clever boy was able to show on a map where we are today.

The children at the school are very keen to get walking. We celebrated a whole year of walking weekly, and they are now starting a second year. Well done to them. It was fun and I enjoyed meeting them all. See photo below.

Ysgol Babanod Mochdre

Last but not least I visited the pupils at Ysgol Babanod Mochdre, near Colwyn Bay.
As well as learning that ‘Bore da’ means ‘good morning’ and ‘Pnawn da’ means ‘good afternoon’, did you know the welsh for ‘school’ is ‘ysgol’ and ‘infants’ is ‘babanod’.

These young children made me feel very welcome. I was honoured to give a certificate to the school for ‘Walking on Wednesdays’ all last year. They are starting again this year too.

We did a bit of counting, so I can now count from 1 to 5 in Welsh and do my 2 times table in English. See photo below.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrob-wllllantysiliogogogoch

This is the longest placename in the United Kingdom, and one of the longest in the world. It is the name of a village and railway station on Anglesey, the island at the top of Wales. It translates in English to mean "St Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave".

The name dates from the 1860s when the town decided to try to attract tourists. It was a success, and the town is now world famous.

Llanfair PG (as it is known for short) is a very pretty little village. I started by having my photo taken next to the railway sign - it was so long! It does helpfully tell you how to say the whole name, but I still can't get my tongue around all those L's!

I then went to a shop in the village where there is a distance sign pointing the direction to places all over the world. I worked out that if, instead of travelling all over the UK, I had travelled the same distance (2295km) in a straight line, I could have reached Athens in Greece by now - how cool is that?

See where I have been

You can now follow my journey on a map. Check it out!

I can't continue my journey without your help - so keep walking!

On Monday, only 56 Walks to School were recorded on my website. I think this is because it is half term in England. I really need the help of everyone in Scotland, Wales and Ireland to help me on my way. Find out how to record your journeys to school, and keep me on my Big Adventure. Keep walking!