Easter with Friends

Hi there everyone 😀

Our good friends Jackie and Phil joined us at our lodge in North Wales for the first time for the Easter weekend and Martin and I had spent a couple of days having a good old tidy up to make the place presentable. We’d already had a good batch cooking session earlier in our stay so we were ready to make the most of the Bank Holiday weekend. 

Our guests arrived safe and sound on Thursday evening and were soon settled in and we were all looking forward to the promise of sunshine for the next few days. 

We decided we’d have a big day out on Good Friday, hoping to catch some of our favourite places whilst things were a little quieter, saving more off the beaten track places for over the weekend, when we were expecting everywhere to be pretty busy. 

We were heading back over to Anglesey … this time via the Menai Bridge and heading right to Beaumaris. As ever it was a beautiful drive alongside the Menai and we arrived to find Beaumaris with blue skies and warm sunshine and pleasantly bustling. Not too busy, no problem parking and a nice holiday feel in the air.

We parked at the far end of town just past the castle and walked back towards the front through the gardens …

We were chuffed to bits to see the big wheel as we’d never visited when it has been there before … though we had spotted it from Bangor pier previously. It looked lovely against the blue sky and whilst we weren’t planning on having a go we did take plenty of photos …

From the wheel we had a wander out along the pier which was just a little breezy today … 

… but nothing like when we visited in January with mum …

We then had a wander around the high street … mooching in and out of the lovely small independent shops, picking up a few bits and pieces here and there …

It was then back to the car to head further on to another of our favourite spots … Penmon Point. The tide was well in this time but the lighthouse was still as photogenic as ever …

We had a bit of a walk along the beach to the sea arch …

… before heading back for a pit stop at the cafe … where the chip cobs went down very nicely whilst sat in the sunshine with the loveliest of views …

The lime green of the vegetation was really popping against the clear blue sky and deep blue of the sea and I think this might be one of my favourite photos of the lighthouse so far …

It was soon time to start to head homeward but not before a quick explore of the priory, church, dovecote and well when passing through …

We did debate on calling at Bangor Pier on the way home but consensus had us ending up at the Treborth Garden Centre instead for a mooch through all of the randomness, before heading back to the lodge for turkey rice burrito bowls, which was nice and easy as we’d made the mixture ahead. 

Easter Saturday and there was more sunshine. We opted to stay local with a very short drive to the beach at Trefor, where we were really pleased that Jackie and Phil loved it as much as we did … in spite of there really being not that much there at all … but then I think that is why we like it so much. Jackie described it as mindful and I knew exactly what she meant …

From Trefor we took a short drive up and down the mountain to Nant Gwrtheyrn with a stop on the horseshoe bend for a look over the edge and down to the village …

We had been thinking it might be really busy but it was nice and quiet and we had the usual wander …

The plan had been for Phil to perhaps have a walk down to the beach whilst we availed ourselves of another very nice cafe but our plans were foiled as the cafe was closed as there was a wedding on.

There was only one thing for it … back to Caffi Ni. We got there just in time to grab a table before loads of other people arrived … the majority of whom we’d seen at Nant so we’d obviously all had the same idea. 

It was then back to the lodge for a bit of a chill out before heading out for the evening … I know, that’s two Saturdays in a row … for a meal at Dylan’s in criccieth. 

It’s the first time we’ve eaten there in the evening and we all really enjoyed it. It was pretty busy but the food and the service were just the job …

As it was such a lovely evening we’d parked along the front and it was a lovely walk back to the car and the first time we’d seen castle all lit up. It was really pretty …

Easter Sunday was spent around the lodge. It was quite a productive day with Phil very kindly using his expertise to do a few maintenance jobs for us.

On Monday, after the loveliest of Easter weekends, our guests headed for home and we holed up in the warm against the weather … which had seriously took a turn for the worse with Storm Noa bringing lots of rain and some very high winds. It ended up being Thursday before we ventured out again. 

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