North Wales - Day 8

We came home today. After packing and tidying up the cottage, we left about 9.30 am. The roads were good and we stopped only once, for lunch and a walk at Tebay services.

After leaving here, again the roads were fine and we got home about 3.30 pm.

North Wales - Day 7

We decided to go back to the beach we'd been on last Thursday, since Oscar had had such a good run around. This time we drove to Tal Y Bont and parked near the beach. The tide was even further out than last time so the beach was huge, Oscar still prefers the dunes though.

This time we stayed on the beach past most of the Shell Island campsite, only leaving it near to the harbour at the top. We stopped there for some lunch.

Since the tide was still out, we were able to walk across the sand to the far end of the causeway, saving us from having to walk all the way back to the start of it.

The walk was about 11 km long. Rather than walk all the way back to the car, we caught the train from Llanbedr station to Tal Y Bont. Since we still had time left we decided to drive to Dolgellau and walk part of the Mawddach Trail walk, the one we'd done eight years previously.

We walked as far as the George III pub, about 4 km along the trail.

After a drink there we walked back to the car (total 8 km), then drove to the cottage, stopping at the Co-op in Barmouth to buy something for dinner.

For dinner we had pepperoni pizza.

North Wales - Day 6

Most were leaving to go home today, so spent a couple of hours in the morning packing and tidying up. Barry dropped Rachel off at the train station, and the remaining six of us drove to Barmouth for a wander and a coffee. Scott bought some Barmouth seaside rock.

Barry and Tamsin left to go home, so we went with Jenny and Pete for a walk on the dog-friendly part of the beach.

From the pier we had a good view of the railway bridge over the estuary that we'd walked over eight years ago when we stayed near Dolgellau.

We found ourselves at the tap room of the Myrddins brewery, which was a pleasant place to spend an hour of so.

Pete and Jenny then left us to drive home, and we went back to the cottage ourselves.

For dinner we had yesterday's leftover curry which was still pretty good, and later we attempted to play Scrabble.

North Wales - Day 5

Rachel didn't come on our walk today, she spent the day in Portmeirion and Porthmadog. So six of us drove in two cars to Llyn Cwm Bychan, a lake in the Rhinog hills.

The path goes up a stone staircase called the Roman Steps. it's quite steep at times. There were some goats in a field beside the path.

We stopped for coffee at a spot with great views, then carried on up.

We eventually stopped at Llyn Du, a small lake in a spectacular setting. We had a long lunch break here.

The paths going further up from here looked a bit harder than we all could comfortably tackle, so we decided to stop here and have a leisurely walk back down. The sun was very warm by now. The walk was only about 7 km long, but with 430 metres of ascent.

We decided to drive to Porthmadog to meet up with Rachel, so Barry suggested the "scenic" route over the hills. The was a single track road with great views but many steep hairpin bends and gates to open. All good fun though.

We met up with Rachel for a drink in the Australia Inn, then drove back to the cottage.

Later for dinner Tamsin and Barry made us tofu, cashew and spinach curry with rice. We stayed in afterwards for more chatting and drinking.

North Wales - Day 4

Today Tamsin had a blister on her toe so didn't come out for our walk.

So six of us took the bus to Harlech, and first had a wander in the town and saw the castle.

Then we walked down the hill and along to the salt marshes to the north of Harlech. We were following the Welsh Coastal Path but had to take a detour at one point because there was a "No Dogs" sign at the entrance to a field.

At the end of this section we got a good view into the large estuary near Porthmadog. We could see Portmeirion quite well.

From there we walked inland past the salt marshes and canal system near Ynys.

We walked on quiet roads for a bit, uphill to the side of a pond where we had a lunch stop.

After a bit more road walking we found a lovely woodland path, which took us back towards Harlech. The total for the walk was just over 15 km.

After quickly establishing that there are no decent pubs in Harlech, we caught the bus back to Llanbedr.

Later in the evening we all went out to the Victoria Inn for dinner. Shirley had fried lemon sole pieces, and Scott had pork ribs.

Later we tried the third pub in the village, Hafan Arto. They didn't have any good draft beer, but the bottled beer was fine. Back at the cottage we did some more quizzing and chatting.

North Wales - Day 3

The forecast was for rain today, so instead of the original planned walk, Scott decided to lead a local walk from the house taking in some waterfalls.

We left and followed a path through the woods next to the river, the Afon Artro.

After an hour or so we reached the entrance to the Nantcol waterfalls. It turned out there was a £1 entry charge per person, but we went in. We followed the route up to the top waterfalls.

It was still raining a bit so we found a sheltered spot under a tree to have our lunch.

After exiting the waterfall walk we carried on to complete a loop, which involved some nice countryside walking then a bit on the road, with a final stretch by the river. It ended up being about 11 km of walking.

When we got back to the house we used Oscar's drying bag for the first time, it was quite effective and he didn't seem to mind being put in it too much.

Pauline and Stuart said their goodbyes and headed back to Shropshire.

Later a few of us went out for a drink to the Ty Mawr Hotel just up the road, which was a popular place and pretty good.

For dinner Pete and Jenny made a dish of pasta with butter beans and tomatoes. Various puddings followed, including panettone and last night's chocolate torte.

North Wales - Day 2

The others all arrived today, but weren't expected till much later so the four of us went out for a walk.

The weather was much nicer than yesterday, very sunny and a little breezy. We caught the bus to the next village south, Dyffryn Ardudwy. From there we walked down a lane towards the coast, then through the dunes.

The beach was huge, backed by wide dunes, and there was no livestock around so Oscar could be off-lead. He loved running up and down the dunes.

We were walking north, and a section of the beach is for naturists. It was a bit cold for them today though, it was pretty empty.

We left the beach at Shell Island. This is a bit of land separated from the mainland by a causeway, that's mainly a huge campsite. We found a nice spot with a view to have lunch.

While sitting there we saw movement on a rock just offshore. We assumed it was a seal, but after looking at it with binoculars we realised it was actually an otter!

We walked over the causeway back to the mainland.

We walked past Llanbedr railway station, then round a loop in the countryside before heading back to the cottage. The walk was a total of about 14 km.

It was still nice when we got back, so we went to the beer garden in our local pub, the Victoria Inn. It's all of about 2 minutes walk from the door!

While we were there, the others started arriving. Pete and Jenny came by car from Bristol, and Rachel by train from Romsey. Also Pauline and Stuart who were coming for dinner from their home in Shropshire and who had booked into a local hotel.

Eventually we all went back to the house where Scott and Shirley prepared dinner: a vegan pasta dish with cauliflower sauce, spinach and mushrooms with a vegan "cheesy" topping. This was followed by vegan chocolate torte. It all went down well.

We spent the evening chatting, quizzing, drinking and listening to music.