Exploring :: Barmouth, Gwynedd

Hi there everyone 😀

It was the Wednesday of our week’s visit to the lodge in June and we were all ready for a big day out.

The weather forecast was good, the picnic was made and we were off down the coast to Barmouth. It’s about an hour’s drive and it was somewhere mum had never visited before. We’d been just once but I really wanted to see if we could get to have a walk on the famous railway bridge across the Mawddach Estuary. 

Martin had done his homework and found us a car park just a short walk from the bridge, the sun was shining and we were looking forward to exploring somewhere new.

It was just a short walk along the road …

… before heading down the footpath that would take us onto the bridge …

… and past the tunnel …

On such a lovely day it was very photogenic so apologies for the number of photos … I promise I’ve just picked a selection of my favourites …

We just walked about half way and stopped to take in the view …

… and the regulation selfie …

… before heading back …

We would have loved to have been on the bridge whilst a train was crossing but we checked the times and decided not to wait. Instead mum and I took a bit of a detour down and under the railway and onto a gorgeous little beach …

… where we got to see the bridge from a bit of a different angle …

We soon heard Martin shouting from up above … TRAIN … and yes indeed there it was …

After we came off the bridge and got back onto the road we took a left onto a footpath which led to a nice seating area with yet more great views of the bridge …

… and back across to the harbour …

… and to the mountains …

We decided to carry on walking back towards the harbour …

… before retracing our steps and deciding to move the car to a car park along the sea front …

Once parked up again we had a walk out along the boardwalk and around to the harbour entrance …

At the harbour entrance the views looking back up the Mawddach and the railway bridge were impressive …

In fact the views in all directions were just fabulous …

As the tide was in we couldn’t walk back across the harbour so had to retrace our steps. Mum and I couldn’t resist a paddle and were surprised to find how warm the sea was. It was lovely …

We then had a quick pit stop at The Bath House for ice cream …

… before investigating an intriguing looking building that we spotted from the road …

It is known locally as Ty Crwn and was originally built in 1833 as a lock-up for drunkards, slatterns and ne’er-so-wells who were disturbing the peace on the harbour. 

According to sources it was built round so that the Devil could find no corner to hide in. 

There was then only one thing for us to do and that was to drive all the way along the sea front, where we found a good spot for our picnic. 

By then we were all about worn out and ready for home.

We’d had the loveliest of days and it’s always good to be able to show mum somewhere new 😀

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Lodge Life :: June 2023

Hello everyone 😀

We just managed the one visit to the lodge for June, taking mum with us for a week’s stay.

The weather forecast wasn’t looking brilliant, which was a bit frustrating as we’d had some glorious weather whilst at home. We just hoped we’d get at least a couple of nice days so we could get out and about and maybe even manage to get a swim in the pool.

After a journey with a couple of stop offs along the way, at Ironbridge and Capel Celyn, we did arrive to some lovely late afternoon sunshine and soon had all the doors wide open to let some fresh air in …

Our first full day was spent shopping and awaiting a delivery of some new furniture for the decking, which we spent the afternoon putting together …

It got warmer and warmer as the day went on and I was delighted that we were able to manage a teatime dip in the pool …

We couldn’t tempt mum in … though she was very happy dipping her toes in …

I took a couple of photos of the pond on our walk back up to our lodge … it’s established really well and was looking lovely in the evening sunshine …

You can see our lodge on the right at the top of the hill …

On Wednesday the weather forecast was good and we had a big day out to Barmouth. Mum had never been before and we’d only been the once and we really wanted to try and have a walk out onto the railway bridge.

We had a lovely day, which I will tell you more about in a separate post, but we did get to get out on the bridge which we were really pleased about …

… and it was nice enough for another swim, when we got back to the lodge.

On the Thursday we stayed a bit closer to home and wanted to show mum the beaches around the Tudweiliog area.

We started at Tywyn … only to find a real heavy sea mist was pretty much obscuring the landscape …

We had been planning for mum and I to walk the coastal path to Porth Ysgaden, where we would meet back up with Martin, but the mist put us off a bit … so we all drove.

We hadn’t planned this very well as, along with the heavy mist, the tide was in, so we didn’t get to go down onto the beach though we did have a bit of a walk to Porth y Cychod. It looked so different to the last time we’d come. In spite of the mist there were so many wildflowers … so whilst we hadn’t got to show it mum at its best it was still lovely …

By now we were all a bit fed up with the mist so headed across to south side of the peninsular for a hot chocolate at the gallery in Llanbedrog, where we finally got to see some sunshine …

… and I managed my third dip in the pool of the week.

On Friday there was plenty of rain so we had a trip to the garden centre Fron Goch, where we bought a new rose for the garden …

… and I tested out my ‘siarad Cymraeg’ in the cafe … and this meringue was stupendous …

Saturday was dull, but dry, so we headed over to Anglesey for another big day out at Plas Newydd, where we had a walk round the gardens and explored the history of the house, which I will tell you more about another time …

We finished our day off with fish and chips from our favourite chippy on the decking …

For our last full day we stayed local, with an early lunch at Caffi Ni, before getting all the cleaning and packing done, ready to head for home on Sunday morning.

We came home via Lake Vyrnwy where this time it was nice enough to make use of the picnic area …

So that was it for June. Not long till we are back though. This time for a longer break and the little man is coming to pay us a visit … I just can’t wait 😜 

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