In Search of Waterfalls

Hi there everyone 😀

The forecast for the second day of our first lodge visit for the season was for more good weather. After that things looked to be taking a turn for the worse with plenty of rain on the way … so we really wanted to make the most of it while we could. 

We decided to head out a bit further afield … in search of waterfalls.

A couple of years ago, when in Betws-y-Coed, we bought a book about hidden waterfalls in North Wales. We’d been a bit reticent about trying the majority of the walks as our fitness and mobility levels weren’t brilliant … but with our new found enthusiasm for getting out and about we decided to give a couple of them a go.

We started off by heading for Trefriw and our route took us through Beddgelert and past one of our favourite viewpoints of the mountains … where the weather was just right for a pull in …

From here we carried on up to Capel Curig and onto the A5. We headed right towards Betws-y-Coed and it was when we reached Ty Hull, or The Ugly House, that the satnav decided the main roads were not for us.

It was a long and windy single track road from here into Trefriw and, luckily for us, we didn’t meet any traffic … or there would have to have been some very nifty reversing going on. We definitely would not be returning that way 🙈

Once in Trefriw we found the car park we were looking for and decided to have a quick look in the Woollen Mill, before seeing if we could find The Fairy Falls.

The Woollen Mill is the building to the left of this photo and was full of all kinds of lovely bits and bobs and the most beautiful Welsh woollen fabric …

To find the falls we headed across the river, via the bridge you can also see in the above photo. The next photo shows the view looking upstream, again with the Woolen Mill to the left … 

We took the road opposite The Fairy Falls Hotel and walked up just a short way before finding the footpath we were looking for which would take us to the falls.

The path hugged the river and we passed plenty of cascades …

… before reaching the main event, which we were pretty impressed with …

The path carried on and took us back to the road … a bit further up from where we’d started. It had been a lovely little walk.

We headed back to the car and set off towards Llanrwst … looking for a little car park for another little walk. This time we were looking for Grey Mare’s Tail …

Again … it was a nice little walk up through the woodland and it was very easy to see where this waterfall had got its name from …

We decided to head into Llanrwst, where we parked up in the library car park and had our flask of soup … before another short walk along the river and back through the village.

It was time to start to head back for the lodge … but we made one last stop for a drink at The Swallow Falls Hotel in Betws-y-Coed. It had been closed for a fair few years and we’d not been in since it had reopened and we were interested to see what it was like.

It was absolutely lovely inside. Nice and cosy and very comfortable. We could have sat there for a good few hours just chilling and maybe sampling the menu .. but that was not for us this time …

We had a quick drink and were soon on our way 😀

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Colourful Character & Coastal Charm :: Discovering Portmeirion

Hi there everyone 😀

Finally … after a long and very wet six weeks it was time for us to head back over to our lodge in North Wales … for our first visit of the season … and we were so looking forward to it.

There really is something special about being over there. It is a stunningly beautiful part of the country, we normally have a pretty chilled out time while we are there, the lodge is comfy and cosy whatever the weather and it is just lovely to be away from all the usual ‘jobs’ and things that need doing when at home.

We were planning on staying for about 10 days and, whilst the majority of the weather predicted was wet, we did start off with a couple of very bright sunny days … which we were determined to make the most of.

We spent our first full day at Portmeirion. We have been once before a few years back but the weather was dull and we were both looking forward to seeing it with a bit of sunshine. There was the added bonus of it being out of season so the prices are considerably reduced 😜

Following Martin’s knee replacement, and us both losing a bit of weight, we are finding ourselves a bit more enthusiastic about getting out and about. So rather than us both looking at a day with lots of walking with trepidation … contemplating whether or not we would be able to manage to get around ok … we were both actually just really looking forward to a good day out.

On this visit we decided to take a different route to the last time and we started off by heading left down towards the coast, once under the arch, rather than straight on and into the centre of the village …

This route took us down some steps to what would call a bandstand … for some great views back up to the village and across the coast …

We went through the shell grotto underneath the bandstand …

… and followed the gravel path through the gardens …

… bringing us to another great viewpoint …

From here we went down a few steps to a concrete walkway which took us right alongside the estuary. Luckily the tide was heading out at this point or we may have ended up with wet feet …

The walkway brought us out just before the hotel …

We carried on for a short way along the coastal path … where there were some lovely views looking along the coast and back towards the village …

… before retracing our steps and heading up into the heart of the village …

We had a brief pit stop in the Town Hall Cafe … before having a good look round the shop and exploring the rest of the village square …

It was then back up to the top where we had a bit of a breather before heading off …

We did have a quick stop in Porthmadog on the way back where we both surprised ourselves by walking from the harbour to Borth-y-Gest … something neither of us had ever imagined ourselves doing.

We did need a rest break and sustenance though … before heading back … and this was our view whilst taking our refreshment break …

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Twycross Zoo :: Lanterns of the Wild

Hi there everyone 😀

Back in February we had a very wet, but brilliant, evening out with mum and my brother and his family at the Lanterns of the Wild light trail at Twycross Zoo …

Martin and I have been to see this kind of lantern trail before … at Longleat … a number of years ago and we were quite excited to have something similar on our doorstep.

The weather forecast was a shocker … heavy rain all evening … and we just decided we would just all have to get wet and make the best of it.

We were all dressed for the weather so were soon on our way …

Obviously before we began there had to be something for Bobby to wave about crazily. He thought this was very cool as, if he waved it fast enough, when photographed it looked like a WiFi symbol 😂😂😂

It was a really well laid out route … with lots of big reveals along the way and something fabulous around every corner. We started off with, what was claimed to be, the World’s first Gruffalo lanterns … reached via a footpath lined with butterflies and tropical flowers … we could see there was going to be lots of photo taking going on and we were really glad that the weather seemed to have kept the crowds away …

We met up with The Gruffalo and his friends …

… before a toasted marshmallow stop for David and Bobby …

We carried on from The Gruffalo trail, along a rose filled walkway … the flowers were all absolutely stunning …

We arrived in North America where the salmon were leaping …

… and the moose were roaming against the backdrop of Mount Rushmore …

We then found ourselves, with the penguins, in the Antarctic …

Judging from the number of cacti I believe our next stop was the desert … though it was maybe not quite as dry as it should have been …

I think you can tell from this photo that, although pretty wet, we were all in very good spirits. The lanterns were fabulous and they were laid out in such a way that we couldn’t really tell what was coming next. There were certainly plenty of oohing and hanging going on. 

We moved on from the desert to the Asian Jungle … where the weather was far more authentic …

I think the next area was my absolute favourite … the Great Barrier Reef. The colours were just so vibrant and there was so much going on.  It was absolutely stunning …

The lantern trail finished on the African Plains …

It had been absolutely brilliant and, whilst not quite as big an area as the display we’d seen at Longleat, it was definitely every bit as spectacular. We were all wet, we’d waded through mud and puddles, but we’d all had a fabulous time. The rain hadn’t spoilt our enjoyment one bit. 

There was just one more stop before a well deserved hot chocolate …

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