Hi there everyone 😀
This year has been a bit different to usual … with no ‘Lodge Life’ posts for either August or September. We were away in Bude with Family for August and then we spent September at home, whilst mum underwent a replacement hip operation … which thankfully seems to have gone very well.
It was so lovely to get back to our bolt hole for a week during October. The weather forecast wasn’t good but we weren’t bothered. We were just looking forward to hunkering down and having a week of not doing much … other than generally just chilling out and that is exactly what we did.
As is par for the course with that part of Wales the weather was better than predicted … though we did see our fair share of rain and high winds.
We hit some rough weather over the hills on our drive over …
… but once on the other side it cleared considerably …
And on our first morning we actually woke up to this …
We managed to get three good days out during the course of the week … starting with a bit of a wander at Trefor, a favourite spot, pretty close by, for a nice bracing walk by the sea …
This time we were both feeling a bit more enthusiastic than normal and decided to carry on up the hill to see what we could see from the top …
We were so glad we did … the views were fabulous …
… and not only that … we got to see a pod of five or six dolphins swimming about off the coast. It’s the first time we’ve seen dolphins over there so we were both pretty chuffed.
Our second day out was a bit further afield. We headed out towards Beddgelert … having to stop along the way to admire the Glaslyn, surrounded by autumn colour …
We were aiming for somewhere new … the Craflwyn Nature Reserve. It’s somewhere we’ve passed before but never had chance or the inclination to stop and explore. This time we were booted up and raring to go … in search of waterfalls …
There is quite a good walk here but we were just aiming to complete the first three stages, which would take in the waterfalls and felt within our feeble fitness levels.
It was actually a really lovely little walk … up through the woods, crunching over pathways covered with golden leaves and acorns …
There had clearly been some pretty heavy storm damage and we had to skirt our way around this huge fallen tree …
… before continuing on to the ‘dragon bench’ …
We soon spotted the first waterfall through the trees. It really was a beautiful spot. The water in the stream was crystal clear and was littered with copper coloured leaves. It really looked like pennies had been thrown in to make wishes …
We crossed the little slate bridge and got a bit closer to the waterfall. It was only a small one but so very pretty …
A pathway of stone steps took us up the side of the waterfall and on our way. We did take these very tentatively as it was quite wet and they were covered with leaves and we definitely don’t want to be slipping …
At the top of the steps we were back into woodland …
… until we could could the roar of the next, larger, waterfall. We soon spotted it through the trees and were excited to see what we would find.
I have to say … although it was a beautiful spot … we were a little disappointed. We couldn’t see the falls we had spotted through the trees and we couldn’t really see how we could find a way to them either …
Saying that we did stay a while, just taking it all in. More crystal clear water that would be just asking to be dipped in on a warmer day and plenty more autumn colour …
From the waterfall the path continues on to Dinas Emrys but we decided it was time to retrace our steps …
From Craflwyn we headed up to Capel Curig, stopping at the viewpoint to take in the views of Yr Wyddfa in the mist …
At Capel Curig we paid our first visit to Caffi Siabod for a welcome pitstop, where we enjoyed the warmth of the sunshine and the view …
We made our way back via the Pen y Pass, stopping to capture the beauty of the landscape along the way …
We’d had another lovely autumnal day out exploring and got to see yet another spot we hadn’t been to before. This part of the country really does seem to have an infinite number of beautiful places to find … especially when you start to get a little off the beaten track.
Our third, and final, day out was not off the beaten track at all. We had a ride over to Bangor, where we had some errands to run … but not before a breezy stroll along the pier …
And that was it … time to head for home. Neither of us was really ready to leave but hopefully we will be back soon 🤞🤞🤞
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