Durham in a Heatwave :: Day 1

Hi there everyone 😀

If you’ve followed my blog for a while you will know that once a year we get together with old work friends for a few days away.

We’ve been doing it for a fair old while and have been all over the place. This year we were having our get together in Durham … somewhere Martin and I have never been … and we were really looking forward to catching up and exploring somewhere new.

Our time away happened to drop in the midst of a June heatwave … but Durham was predicted to be a few degrees cooler than home … so we were ready to make the most of the good weather.

The car was loaded to the gills … with lots of essentials and plenty of ‘just in case’ stuff. As we were hosting one night … the camping fridge was bought out of hibernation and, instead of stopping off on the way as we normally do, we were making a beeline for our accommodation …’

Luckily we had a really nice easy journey and were able to check in early so, once the food was all transferred to the fridge, we headed straight out for a bit of exploring before meeting up with the others later on.

We were heading for Crooks Hall … a National Trust garden … pretty much on the edge of the city. Our short drive took us over the river, with some fabulous views of the cathedral in the bright sunshine … 

We were already very much thinking Durham had been a good choice for this year’s catch up.

Crooks Hall really was a treat. Loads of colourful borders, lots of small gardens within the garden, a beautiful walled garden, views of the cathedral and the old hall itself. I took so many photographs that it is most definitely worthy of a post on its own so I will tell you more about that later …

Once back at The Mayoress, which was definitely going to be a very comfortable little bolt hole for a few days, it was time to get ready to meet up with the rest of ‘The Gang’ …

We were walking to a local pub, renowned for its lovely beer garden, and it was literally five minutes from where we were staying. I couldn’t resist taking a few photos of these glorious wildflowers on the way …

We were soon settled in the garden … with the others on the way …

They weren’t long and, after lots of hellos and hugs all round, we settled in for a good old catch up and the first of the holiday selfies … which has become a bit of a tradition …

It was soon time to move on to Zen, the Thai restaurant where we were having dinner. It was a bit pricy, but the food was fabulous and it was a lovely way to end the first day of our break …

After a very nice meal we walked back to The Mayoress in the warm sunshine … which sounds just lovely, but did end up making for a bit of a fairly strenuous activity and … there may just have been a bit of a sit on a garden wall at some point for a very much needed breather 🙈🙈🙈

**********************************************

Lodge Life :: June 2026

Hi there everyone 😀

We spent just a week at the lodge in June … with no visitors.

As usual, if the weather forecast were to be believed, we were expecting lots of wet and miserable weather. Also as usual … the forecast got it totally wrong and we ended up having some really lovely days.

We arrived on a Thursday afternoon and, as we believed the Friday would be the only dry day, we had a big day out planned … hoping to make the best of it.

We were heading for Bodnant Gardens, about an hour away. We were hoping to catch the last of the laburnum arch and the best of the roses.

We had the loveliest of days … the laburnum was a bit past its best, but the roses were spectacular …

We ended up walking about 8000 steps, so feel the visit is definitely worthy of its own ‘Walk with Us’ post.

On Saturday we stayed local, with a visit to Lavender House and the gallery at Llanbedrog …

The latest gallery exhibition was fascinating, with each piece created by a different artist, from the wood of a beech tree that was brought down in the gallery grounds in a winter storm in January 2024. The tree had stood for an estimated 150 - 200 years, shaped by the coastal winds and weather of the Llŷn Peninsula.

On Sunday the weather didn’t look good but we decided we would go out anyway … and if we got wet then so be it. We were on a hunt for a waterfall … a new one we’d not been to before … from our Hidden Waterfalls walk book.

It was a nice short walk from a roadside lay-by, taking in the waterfall and a walk through forestry land and the waterfall was a real find … and the rain did not materialise … you can read more about the walk here …

On Monday we ended up walking up to the Stwlan Dam. It was not the plan … it was quite a hard walk … and it was another place we had never imagined ourselves as getting to see … but we are so glad that we did …

After we’d finished our walk and enjoyed our packed lunch of salmon and cucumber rolls … I know, fancy … we decided to call in at the osprey centre on the way back to the lodge.

Since we visited the last time we were here there has been lots of activity with eggs hatching right, left and centre, so we wanted to have another look.

This time we were lucky enough to see both Elen and her partner Teifi on their next through the telescope …

We didn’t stay long but we did get to see the chicks in another nest on the webcam.

We had one more stop on our way back. After four years we finally managed to be in the right place at the right time to meet up with friends who have a place on the Aberdunant Hall Holiday Park. We spent a very relaxing hour or so on the hotel terrace chilling out and catching up. It was a lovely way to finish off a very full and eventful day …

After such a busy and strenuous day walking up to the dam we spent the last day of our June break just hanging around the lodge … not doing very much at all.

Although Martin did finish off fitting some new outside lights …

**********************************************

Walk with Us :: The Stwlan Dam

Hi there everyone 😀

The last walk we did during our week at the lodge in June started at another waterfall, actually not too far away from our first and just up behind the Lakeside Cafe. This time we parked in the small car park at the Cwmorthin falls, somewhere we have been before …

This time we were aiming for a 2 mile circular walk which would take us up beyond the falls and give us chance to explore some of the old quarry workings of the Wrysgan Mine.

It all started well. The falls were in full flow and looking fabulous …

Our route took us away from the falls and towards the Stwlan Dam, somewhere that we both felt was very much beyond our capabilities …

The path soon joined the road up to the dam and our plan was to follow it awhile then head off to the right to circle back on ourselves and eventually end up back where we started. It was an absolutely glorious day and the views were spectacular …

We passed the old incline that lead up to a tunnel high up on the hillside that we’d seen from afar a number of times …

The views looking across the valley continued to impress …

We could see all the way across to the Trawsfynedd plant in the distance …

The next photo is zoomed in and the power station is the rectangular shaped building in the centre …

We continued walking steadily up the road and came to more waterfalls …

… tumbling under the road and into a beautiful looking pool before falling away down the hillside …

We continued on a bit further … spotting the landmarks the walk referred to. It was at some point around here that we realised we must have missed our path, which was supposed to lead away to the right. It was described as ‘faint’ … but we had seen nothing resembling a footpath at all to our right. In fact, all we could see to our right was a flippin’ steep mountain.

At that point we decided that, even if we could find the path, neither of us would be up to scrambling up and over. We had two choices … did we about turn and give it up as a bad job … or … did we carry on to the dam. After all, we were part way there and doing ok.

We opted to carry on. The road carried on slowly upward for a fair old while … this is the view looking back the way we’d come from …

Fortunately there were plenty of well placed huge boulders just crying out to be sat upon. 

Eventually we got our first view of the dam …

It was definitely a bit of a false summit as there were still plenty of zig zag bends to climb before we would get to the foot of the dam. But having come this far we chose to carry on …

Once at the foot of the dam the road continued with more zig zags up and away to the right and, though we were pretty tired, we wanted to see what we would find at the top …

we passed the viewpoint …

… and finally found ourselves at the top …

It really was beautiful up there …

Eventually it was time to start to retrace our steps. We couldn’t resist climbing the steps to the viewpoint … and it was so worth it. The views were fabulous …

Then it was back down the zig zags …

… keeping stopping to get another look back at the dam …

… until we rounded the last of the bends and took on our final view …

The long road back stretched out ahead of us and, with knees starting to creak, we made our way down …

Back past the waterfall …

… and the pool … which looked very inviting …

… until finally we were back at Cwmorthin …

… and it was just a short walk back to the car …

Tired and aching, but feeling very pleased with ourselves, it was time to eat our sandwiches perched on the tailgate of the car … before heading back to the Lakeside Caffi for a quick drink. 

There was just one more view of the dam to be had … from the main road as we made our way back to the lodge …

What a day 😀 We were so glad to have managed to get to see the dam up close. I’m not sure we will be adding it to our list of regular walks … though, of course, we will have to return … and try a different route up to explore the old mine working. 

🚶‍♂️‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️