My favourite second hand bookshop...

[Mantaspook]

My favourite second hand bookshop is in Llangollen, North Wales, it's on the main street above a café, in contrast to today's normal practice of 'in your face' advertising the only way you'd know it's there is if you saw the small poster at the bottom of the stairs that says 'Book Sale - upstairs.'

 

A few years ago myself and three friends ended up in Llangollen, we'd hired a canal boat and spent the previous three days on an epic voyage, think 'The 'Poseidon Adventure' but with lots of stops in countryside pubs… oh all right, we didn't turn the boat over but we did fight off a very cheesed off swan… but that's a story for another time.

 

Anyway, I accompanied Christopher (who is a bigger bookworm than me) up the stairs and as we passed through two swing doors, then, as custom dictates, you stop in your tracks…

 

Laid out before you is the very last scene from the 'Raiders of the lost Ark' - the vast warehouse scene with shafts of vertical sunlight stretching into the distance, picking out shelves and shelves of books.

 

At this moment Christopher whisper hoarsely "We're gonna need a bigger boat…" (Copyright Roy Schneider, Jaws. 1975) followed ten minutes later by "Can you lend me fifty quid?"

 

This vast bibliophiles paradise is overseen by one little old lady, grey haired and smiling, who always seems to have difficulty with the till, sometimes it simply refuses to open.

 

After a profound apology and a comment that "It's always doing this" she then breaks out a small tool kit, which she keeps under her table for just such an occasion, and partially dismantles the recalcitrant machine.

 

Once fixed there is a small panic as the fiver that you offered to pay with has been misplaced under a pile of tools, finally, with relief the cash drawer opens and you smile indulgently and think "Aw, the poor old dears getting on."

 

Then you say "Oh by the way, I'm looking for a book, I can't remember the title but its all about geomorphology in the middle ages…" she looks like a befuddled owl for a moment before rapping out "Go down that corridor, third bookcase on the left, sixth shelf down, near the middle, it has a blue and red spine and was written by someone called Collins, I'm terribly sorry, I can't remember his first name…"

 

Because of the sheer weight of books the floor has dispensed with the traditional horizontal aspect, the floorboards have adopted a sinuous, synclinal waveform and are patched with large sheets of plywood, presumably covering gaping holes where huge bookcases have been grasped by gravity and pulled onto the unsuspecting café dwellers below.

 

After several hours of exploring I finally bumped into Christopher and we had a "Doctor Livingstone, I presume..." moment. His earlier, clean shaven face was showing a distinct 5 o'clock shadow and his eyes were gleaming, and bulging slightly, probably because of all the books he was carrying.

 

"This is great!" he said, "I've found twenty books that I want but I can only afford ten so I've chosen these."

 

The little old lady ran them through the sullen, but operational till and announced "That'll be £25 please."

 

Chris, always honest, pointed out that she'd made a mistake and that they added up to nearer £50. She then pointed out the tiny sign on the till that said 'All books half price.'

 

Chris's expression remained frozen to his face for a few seconds, as the information percolated through his brain his face lit up with a huge grin and he announced "I'll be right back."

 

As we finally left with a huge pile of books that was double its previous size Chris announced to her that he liked her bookshop very much.

 

I'll second that, I absolutely love shopping there.

[Ron Blanco]

That sounds like quite a book shop, Mantaspook.

 

I wonder if she has a copy of "Survive The Savage Sea" by Dougal Robertson. I remember that you recommended this book a while ago and I've been meaning to get hold of a copy. It is £12.95 on Amazon - worth it you think?

 

I have not been to the little old lady's shop, but I have been on the canal. I remember a very impressive aqueduct and a hair-raising moment when my friend decided to show off by hanging over the edge of the boat as we crossed it.

 

Great book shops, impressive aqueducts,... Llangollen seems to have it all!!

[Mantaspook]

Hi Ron,

 

Your friend sounds mad, it’s a 120 foot drop off the aqueduct, however, that didn't stop me standing on the roof of the canal boat to video our crossing.

 

Yes, Llangollen's got it all, nice pubs, cafés that sell cream teas, a steam railway, a huge limestone escarpment called 'World's End' nearby, 'Dinas Bran' Castle (where you can get up to a phenomenal speed downhill on a mountain bike!) and excellent first aid facilities, ahem. I'm sure the little old lady would stock a copy of the book.

 

I'd recommend anyone to read 'Survive the savage sea' simply to sample Dougal Robertson's writing style, his choice of words and the way he builds up the sentences in a very clear, concise manner is exceptional.

 

The story is told in an understated but brutally honest manner, it is almost as though you are reading a précis of a much larger book but everything he leaves in is there for a reason, the tone is authentic and consistent throughout and not only that it's a gripping true adventure story.

 

IMO it's Definitely worth £12, but if you shop around I'm sure you could pick it up cheaper (ie: This AUCTION on Ebay.)

 

There is further information on the Survive the sea website

[Conker2]

It sounds like a great bookshop.

 

The best secondhand bookshop I've been to recently in Sheffield is the Help the Aged shop in Broomhill.

[dafydd]

I know the very bookshop you mean, just opposite the old Town Hall, uphill from the bridge. It isn't just a shop, it's a complete experience, as is most of Llangollen. if you ever want to stop there, there's a brilliant B&B called Ty'n Celyn, (house of the Holly) just out of town, run by Mrs Janet Bather. If you go there, the sausages at breakfast are so goo, you'd want to write a piece about them alone - they are fresh from the next door farm, which is owned by Janet's brother. The eggs are superb and fresh, too. Should you be in Llangollen for lunch, come out of the bookshop, turn right, take the right by the war memorial, and there's an excellent pub called the Wynnstay Arms - the Steak and Ale Pie is exceptional. It's only a short run from Sheffield, over the Peaks, and worth it for a day out. I'm so tempted to put 'Cymru am Byth' at the end of this, but I'll behave myself and refrain!!!

[Mantaspook]

Thanks for the tips, Dafydd, I wish I knew of Ty'n Celyn when I was walking the Offa's Dyke path ("Ten days of underwater camping…") - Instead we ended up at a B&B built of green Welsh slate that appeared to be chiselled into the side of a mountain, even the bloomin' goats needed oxygen tanks to get that high.

 

The bath they had was awesome, it was so huge it must have had its own postcode. We speculated that it came from Belfast and had "Harland and Wolff" stencilled in 12 foot high letters on the side. If you ran the hot tap for an hour and then climbed in, the water was freezing and about a millimetre deep!

 

Just to make our day the B&B's owners were bible bashers and tried to convert us - when that didn't work they put on Welsh male voice choir music, and very nice it was too.

 

Naturally we decided to don our waterproofs and abseil down to the local pub for an evening meal.

 

If it was the steak & ale pie we ordered it must have been 'easy on the steak' because we were weaving quite badly when we got back. (The numerous pints of Guinness may have been a factor…)

 

The next day we visited the bookshop, alas, lack of funds and space in my rucksack limited the number of books I could carry, so I hid some in Garry's rucksack. How he laughed, 30 miles later, when we finally got to Prestatyn.

 

At the end of our 180 mile journey we were very tired and sat rather sullenly on the railway platform. A young lady with a very strong scouse accent came over and asked what time the next train was. Garry replied: "Sorry, I don't speak Welsh." - She stood there for a while, dazed, and then went away looking very confused.

[dafydd]

Sounds like a real bundle of joy!! Is it me or is the scouse accent more difficult to understand than anything else, or is it me? (I have the advantage of speaking Welsh, mind. )

By the way, the pen may not be mightier than the sword, but it's a sight easier to get in to your pocket. The number of shirts I've ripped........