Hi there everyone 😀
In May we had a lovely short break at the lodge with mum … and we were lucky enough to have some absolutely glorious weather 🌞🌞🌞
Having had a new hip back in September last year, Mum was looking forward to doing a bit more walking, and we were more than happy to oblige. In fact, as the weather was so good on the day we arrived … we pretty much headed out as soon as we’d unpacked the car … which is pretty much unheard of for us.
We didn’t go far. Only into Pwllheli, where we had another walk to
Gimblet Rock. This time turning the walk into a circular, which did make it a bit longer.
We parked along the embankment and cut across the land alongside the marina and were fascinated by the amount of wildflowers that we found …
… particularly these yellow lupins …
I think it was a bit of a shock to the system for mum, as by the time we got to Gimblet Rock, she was certainly feeling the effort …
At least there are plenty of benches, which we could avail ourselves of, when walking back along the dunes. We were definitely ready for a pitstop at Caffi Largo, the first of our holiday Caffi visits. From there it was only a short walk back to the car …
Day two was another bright sunshiny day and we decided to head to
Plas Brodanw, somewhere that we have visited a few times before. It used to be the home of Clough Williams-Ellis, famous for building Portmeirion. The house itself has been turned into a gallery and there is also a lovely little garden and a very nice caffi. It’s in a lovely spot, surrounded by mountains and, at this time of year, the azaleas are stunning …
Martin and I had also seen on line that opposite the garden is a woodland walk up to a folly and we wanted to see if we could find it.
We started off with a walk round the garden and the azaleas were definitely looking fabulous …
There was plenty of other colour to be found too … with the promise of plenty more to come …
So far we have visited in the spring and the autumn … we really must come back in the summer.
After we’d had a look round the garden we had a look round the gallery. It’s always interesting as the exhibitions change regularly through the year …
We then sat outside in the sunshine and had a quick drink before crossing the road and heading for the folly …
There were plenty more wildflowers along the way … this time the speedwell was my favourite …
Whilst it was a bit of an uphill walk it wasn’t that far …
It was an absolutely beautiful spot …
Martin and I climbed the narrow stairs up to the top. You can see how narrow they were on the next photo. The next two flights were enclosed on both sides and I imagined it felt a bit like climbing inside a chimney …
The views from the top were definitely worth the effort …
We could literally see for miles …
This is zoomed in on the above view. We could actually see The Cob in Porthmadog and the sea beyond …
It was a really lovely spot and I’m so glad we’d found out about it and got to go and have a look.
From Brodanw we decided we would call in at
Glaslyn Ospreys. This is somewhere we’ve passed a number of times but never been and had a look. It’s not something we thought we would be that interested in … how wrong we were …
I had done a bit of homework … I had looked on line and knew that there were ospreys in situ and that they had laid eggs … so I was hoping we would get to see them.
We didn’t really know what to expect and didn’t think we would be there long. Again … how wrong we were.
We parked up and headed for the visitor centre. Across the steam railway line …
… and the model of an osprey’s nest … which was huge …
We decided to head for the far hide first … where we got to look through a telescope and could see the nest, about a mile and a quarter away … with an osprey, Elen, sitting on her three eggs. This image is not brilliant, as it is taken through the telescope, but you can just see the white of her head …
All three of us were fascinated and spent a good while just watching … and asking lots of questions of the volunteers, who were more than happy to tell us all we wanted to know about the ospreys.
In the visitor centre there are more telescopes, focused on other nests, and live webcam pictures …
We ended up staying for about an hour and we will definitely go back. It would be lovely to see the chicks being fed when they have hatched. Apparently they stay for a fair while, before leaving to migrate to Senegal or The Gambia.
Before we left … Martin seemed to be very popular with the locals …
The following day we had another garden visit on the cards. This time we were heading for
Plas yn Rhiw, a National Trust garden a bit further down the Llyn Peninsula from us.
It’s another place we’ve been to a fair few times and I was hoping to get to see the wisteria in full bloom.
It was pretty much the first thing we saw as we approached the garden …
Before going into the main garden we decided to have a look at the woodland walk … we’d not done it before …
Oh my days … it was wildflower heaven. The ground was absolutely covered … bluebells …
… frilly cups … something we’d never seen before …
… and cow parsley … to name a few …
None of us had ever seen such an abundance of wildflower loveliness and we’d loved it. The woodland walk ended up bringing us out round the back of the house … and it was so pretty …
At the moment the house is closed but there is always plenty to see in the garden …
… and the views over the coast are just something else …
It’s not a huge garden but it is like a maze, with plenty of pathways to explore …
… and plenty of benches where you can just sit and take in the sunshine and the view.
Our daily Caffi visit was a real treat too …
We decided to have a quick call in at Abersoch on the way back …
… where we had a wander up the High Street … before trying to find The Cove … somewhere we’d been wanting to try for a while. Walking there was a bit of an effort … but it was worth it for the view …
As the forecast for our third full day was another good one we decided to head a bit further afield.
We were planning on doing a walk in Menai Bridge … out to Church Island and along the Belgian Promenade. We did have a call in at the garden centre in Treborth on the way … the plan was just to just the toilet facilities before starting our walk. We all got a bit carried away … it would be interesting seeing how we fit that in the car when it as time to head home …
For this walk we park up in the car park just past Waitrose and we get to Church Island on a path which takes you down through the woods. It is a really lovely walk and was definitely worthy of a
‘Walk with Us’ post of its own …
Day four and we had a lazy morning as the forecast was for better weather later on. We didn’t go far … just heading to Trefor to redo the Bluebell wood walk with mum. A nice little walk to finish off our stay …
There were still plenty of wildflowers to be found … though this time the chickweed had replaced the wood anemones …
We had crammed a lot into our short break and it felt like we had been there ages. It had been a lovely stay.
On the way home we decided to call in at Erddig as it was not too far out of our way and it was somewhere none of us had visited before.
There is lots to do there including a pretty extensive house to explore …
… and plenty of grounds …
Whilst it was lovely … we were a bit underwhelmed by the gardens, as there was not much in flower at all. I think we’d hit that point in between the spring and summer bedding and that seemed to be their key focus …
There were a couple of perennial borders … but, again, there wasn’t much in flower just yet …
We were impressed with the bug hotel … which was just buzzing with bees …
… and this little chap seemed very happy to spend a few minutes with us …
After a good look round the shop, where a few purchases may have been made, and a visit to the tea room it was finally time to head for home … wondering how our own gardens would be looking after a week away. It’s always amazing what a difference a week can make at this time of year.
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