Thursday, 5 September 2024

Lodge Life :: August 2024

Hi there everyone 😀

We managed a 10 day break at the lodge in August, taking in the Bank Holiday weekend.

Weather wise it was a real mix … with a fair number of glorious sunny days, along with a few days of constant rain. We also had some pretty high winds courtesy of Storm Lilian.

We didn’t really have much planned for this visit, and we had no guests arriving that we needed to prepare for, so we did very much go with the flow … with plenty of chill out time for reading and crafting and a fair bit of exploring too … getting to see a fair number of more new spots … all of which were lovely.

We started off with a bit of a mountain drive … heading for Llanrwst. I wanted to find the Tu Hwnt I’r Bont tea rooms, somewhere I’ve wanted see for ages and have never been. It was a bit of a drive, but very much worth it …
The tea room is situated in a lovely spot by the river … just over the bridge …
Part of its charm is the fact that it is literally covered with Virginia creeper … which to be fair, will look better in the autumn when it turns red. It was still really pretty though …
… and did a great choice of scrummy cakes …
I’m so glad we got to finally see it and it’s definitely one for a revisit another time.

As we weren’t that far from Llandudno we decided to carry on and spend the afternoon there. It was pretty busy as it was just ahead of the August Bank Holiday weekend but we got lucky and found a parking space along the front …
We just really walked from there to the pier and back again …
… before deciding to had a ride round The Great Orme, something else we hadn’t done before.

It cost £5.50 for the toll which allows you to drive all the way round the Orme and up to the top and the views were spectacular …
Once we started to head up the roads were quite narrow but easily manageable …
… with plenty of good spots to stop to take in the views …
At the top there is the tram station, a cafe and shop and the cable car station, which wasn’t running on our visit … I guess it was a bit too blustery …
There is also a pretty decent looking mini-golf course, but I didn’t fancy our chances in the wind …
We got to see plenty of tram activity …
… before heading back down and continuing around to the West Shore Beach with more fabulous views … across to Conwy Castle in the very distance …
We did try to see if we could get a bit closer for a better shot of the castle from that side of the river … but this is about the best I could do …
For our next foray we stayed much closer to home and had a ride to the beach just along the coast from Abererch. We parked down a little lane by a railway bridge …
… and it was a short walk down to the beach … which was just stunning and lovely and quiet …
We headed right … up onto the coastal path and walked as far as Hafan y Mor, the Haven holiday park. The views looking out to see and back towards Criccieth were just glorious …
We carried on round to the point where the park is accessed to have a look at their beach …
… before making an about turn and heading back …
I think this beach is the closest sandy beach to us so I can see us definitely visiting here again … as it’s only a very short walk from the car to the sea.

On the Bank Holiday Monday we didn’t venture far … just a hop up the coast to Trefor … somewhere that generally speaking is very quiet. Not this time … we’ve never seen it quite so busy. It was still lovely to have a bit of a walk though …
It was interesting to see the introduction of a coffee hut at the point where we normally walk to. Not sure whether it’s a permanent thing or just for the season, but it certainly makes the area just that little bit less wild and unspoilt … though I am sure there are those that find a coffee or an ice cream very welcome …
After a few lodge days, avoiding the rain we had another ‘big day out’ to Llanberis. This really is one of our favourite spots to visit and it is the place that just keeps on giving. This time we visited the old quarry workers’ hospital and the diving pool … before finding somewhere nice for lunch and walking to the quarry viewpoint … all things we’d not seen or done before. It was a really full day and I took lots of photos so I will tell you more about it in a separate post …
For our last day out we headed over to Anglesey, where we managed to park up in Moelfre, right next to the sea. We had a lovely lunch in the Kinmel Arms before having a bit of a wander …
We didn’t go far, just along the coastal path as far as the lifeboat station but it was lovely to get to explore as the last time we’d tried it had just been far too busy …
We couldn’t resist a quick stop in Beaumaris on the way back for a visit to one of my favourite shops …
… and an ice cream from the pier kiosk …
We had been due to head for home on the Saturday but, as the weather was so good, we decided to stay another day and head home on Sunday.

We spent the day just chilling around the lodge and headed into Criccieth to try out a new chippy for fish and chips for tea with a view …

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Thanks for taking time to comment on my blog. I love to hear what people think about what Martin and I have been up to.