Lodge Life :: March 2026

Hi there everyone 😀

March is when we get to make our first visit of the season over to our holiday bolt hole in North Wales … and you will normally find us chomping at the bit to get back over there early on in the month.

This year was no different and we couldn’t resist pulling in for our first spring view of Criccieth for 2026 …

We have the settling in and unpacking process pretty much down to a T and, after about an hour, we were all unpacked and ready to chill out.

We never do much on our day of arrival. Sometimes we stop somewhere on the way … but this time we just couldn’t wait to arrive.

I always bring plenty of provisions … normally some batch cooked meals to see us over our first few days … so we don’t have to worry about dashing to the shops. We really like to break ourselves into lodge life nice and slowly.

As per usual, for us, the weather forecast looked a bit ropey, but we did have a lovely couple of days to look forward to, before the rain set in … and we managed a couple of full days out. First … to Portmeirion …

And then a bit further afield on a search for waterfalls …

Day three was a bit more sedate … for me anyway. We met up with friends for breakfast then I had a relaxing afternoon not doing very much at all. Martin, on the other hand, had a frenzy of jet washing going on. I did feel just a little bit guilty … but he likes jet washing so I didn’t feel that bad.

We didn’t go far on Monday either … just did a supermarket shop and it was Martin’s turn for a lazy afternoon.

On Tuesday the rain came and we opted for a trip to our favourite garden centre where I treated myself to a new houseplant for home and Martin got one of those heat wrap things that we are hoping will help with his bad neck whilst waiting for a physio appointment.

We then headed into Bangor for a mooch round Tesco where we bought a right random selection of bits and bobs.

Our last stop was Dunelm … one of our favourites … and we found a nice sisal runner which we hoped would do nicely for the lodge. We also bought one of those cordless lamps, which we are hoping will be handy for a spot where we need light but have no power socket.

All in all it was quite a productive expedition and made the best of a day when the weather was pretty rotten.

We were hoping for a better day weatherwise on Wednesday and our objectives were to resand our block paved parking space, which Martin had jet washed and weeded, and then go out and do something nice.

Wednesday ended up being the loveliest of days. Not only did we get our block paving resanded we got out and did the loveliest walk ever. It was pure joy and something we hadn’t really believed we would be capable of again … but not only did we surprise ourselves, we loved every single minute.

You can read more about our walk here but basically we parked up at Ogwen Cottage and did the circular walk round Cwm Idwal in the heart of the Glyderau mountains …

Quite often when we push ourselves a bit harder we are glad with what we did but wouldn’t be hurrying to repeat the experience. This walk was different and I am absolutely certain that we will be doing it again … and probably fairly soon.

On Thursday the weather was a shocker. Heavy rain and high winds all day so we had a well deserved rest day and didn’t venture out at all.

It was a bit better on the Friday, our last full day, so we did venture out … but not far. A mooch round Home Bargains in Pwllheli and an hour in the arcade feeding the slot machines, was followed with a drink at Caffi Largo, before heading back to the lodge for an afternoon of cleaning and packing.

Saturday and we were homeward bound … not really ready to go home but knowing it wouldn’t be that long before we are back 😀

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