Spending three nights in Loch Lomond was awesome; to spend a
week in North Wales pales Scotland into insignificance. Julie has been blown
away by the scenery here. Me? I cannot believe that I spent more than 9 years
living in this area.
Spending three nights in Loch Lomond was awesome; to spend a week in North Wales pales Scotland into insignificance. Julie has been blown away by the scenery here. Me? I cannot believe that I spent more than 9 years living in this area.
The cottage we are staying in is fantastic to say the least
although we did have a few doubts as we drove up to our rental cottage called Ty Isaf.
The first issue was the narrow road leading to gates guarded
by a small herd of cows. Not that they objected to our presence but more of a
‘watchful eye’ on our passage through the gates.
I’m still not sure if they
were ensuring we closed the gate behind us or wishing we would leave it open!
Driving around here is a bit precarious to say the least. It
certainly is NOT recommended to drink and drive;
there’s a real risk of
spilling it if you do.
Our days are spent touring the area and showing Julie the area
of my playground from years gone by. An advantage of the rain is that the
rivers are full and the waterfalls are in full flow – spectacular doesn’t come
even close to describing the sights.
Swallow Falls in Betws-Y-Coed are probably the most
photographed falls in the country. OK, Victoria Falls or Niagara Falls probably
have the edge but these are by far the finest I have ever encountered.
In Julies words; “You say when you are ready to go; I could
stay here all day”. So, we tore ourselves away to pay a visit to Bangor. We
find that we take any turning, possibly aiming to visit a town or village but
just driving around and viewing the mountains and valleys on the way.
We spent a day in Conwy, ‘Wet Conwy’ as I have listed the
photos. It rained most of the day but somehow the beauty of the place rose
above the weather and we simply ‘didn’t care’!
Just following the side roads took us to Caernarfon and its
imposing castle. Of note the entry cost here was half that of Stirling Castle
in Scotland and easily far more value. It is extremely well preserved and a
testament to the work of the National Trust.
The rain has stopped and the raw cold has entered the scene
with a heavy frost this morning. Something of a shock for poor Julie, being a
third generation Aussie but she survived. The drive into town was somewhat
precarious with icy roads but we survived the trip without incident. During the
day the temperature never rose above 2 degrees.
Spent a day in Betws-Y-Coed today; in my mind one of the most
beautiful places on earth. OK, I admit I’m biased, having lived near here for
almost 10 years. I have delightful memories of drives with the girls in a
former life (20 years ago) but the village still grabs me. Little has changed
since our time here, the shops and stores are still the same. It’s almost as if
time has come to a standstill.
At the moment I’m feeling very nostalgic and dread leaving the
place. The only consolation is that we are moving on to greener pastures at the
weekend and, yes we are looking forward to Ireland.
It was great just walking around and visiting all the stores
and specialist shops in the village. It doesn’t take long but then the days are
short and we have a lovely cosy retreat to return to. Tomorrow is our last day
in Wales and we move on to Ireland for 4 days. There are few plans set for
tomorrow; we’ll just wander and see where the road takes us!
Our last day in North Wales! We made the most of it by taking
a trip to Anglesey and timing our trip to Holyhead for tomorrows ferry to
Dublin.
Once again the journey was more important than the destination;
the mountains of Snowdonia are all snow-capped now and incredible to view. We
stayed for a brief period in Holyhead itself but found the town to be dull and
unimpressive so we moved on to –
LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGILLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWLLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH
Yep! Its’ one word folks. I’m not even going to try to
pronounce it; I’ll leave that to my daughter, Lyndsey who mastered it years ago
whilst living in Wales.
To save you all the hassle of counting, its’ 58 letters in
length and reportedly the longest place-name in the country (the world?).
Translated it means;-
THE CHURCH OF MARY IN THE
HOLLOW OF THE WHITE HAZEL NEAR THE FIERCE WHIRLPOOL AND THE CHURCH OF TYSILIO
BY THE RED CAVE.
Go figure!
Our main camera battery decided to fail on me and we then
spent an hour in Bangor trying to find a replacement. No luck there so it was
then onto Llandudno where we struck success! Yeah! Another 40 Quid to splash
out.
We’ll be packing up tonight ready for an early start to
Dublin, Ireland.
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