More North Wales Adventures

Hi there everyone 😀

After a few very quiet days around the lodge recovering from our hectic visit from David, Alison and Bobby, it was time to welcome Jackie and Phil for a few days of North Wales fun.

Once again, the weather forecast was looking a bit mixed, with Storm Floris on its way, but we were hopeful we could make the most of any sunny spells.

Jackie and Phil arrived on Saturday at lunchtime and, thankfully, the weather was glorious ☀️☀️☀️ We decided to make the most of it and spent the afternoon on the deck… swimming, relaxing, and enjoying a barbecue.

Sunday: Steam Trains & Mountain Views
We woke up to rain on Sunday and enjoyed a lazy morning, but had an exciting afternoon adventure planned … a trip on the Welsh Highland Railway from Porthmadog to Beddgelert.

As usual, the station looked lovely …

… and we had time for a quick pitstop at Spooner’s before boarding …

As we were nice and early, we managed to grab seats in the open carriage … deciding to take our chances with the weather and the effects of the steam …

Departing from Porthmadog station is pretty cool, as the train actually crosses the main road and traffic has to stop. We’ve often watched it happen, but this was our first time on the train as it crossed …

The route follows the Glaslyn River, with fabulous views of Snowdonia’s mountains along the way …

… before steaming through a lengthy tunnel and into the spectacular Aberglaslyn Pass …

There were plenty of people out and about, most stopping to wave as the train chugged past … we just had to wave back. 

Having visited Beddgelert many times by car, it was fun to spot familiar landmarks from a completely different perspective. 

We had just over an hour in Beddgelert, so wandered into the village for something to eat and a look at the river …

… before heading back to the station in time to bag seats in the open carriage again for the return journey …

As we crossed the bridge back over the Glaslyn … where we’d walked just days before with David, Alison and Bobby … it was lovely to see so many people cooling off in the river and enjoying the sunshine …

Before we knew it, we were back in Porthmadog … 

… and then heading to Criccieth for fish and chips on the seafront, followed by an evening back at the lodge … trying our best to locate Sherlock Holmes in our latest escape room challenge, which ended up being a bit of an epic task …

Monday: Rain, Swellies & a Bit of Sun
Day two brought another wet morning as the tail end of Storm Floris cleared through. Once the skies started to brighten, we headed to Y Felinheli for our usual wander along the front …

… followed by a quick drink at The Swellies …

Back at the lodge, the sun had returned, so we had another swim and a lovely sit in the sunshine … before another evening of escaping … this time it was The Pharoah’s Tomb. 

Tuesday: A Big Day Out to Anglesey
For Jackie and Phil’s last full day, we had a big day out planned. We were off to Anglesey … starting with a visit to Plas Newydd in the morning, and then heading to Beaumaris in the afternoon, where we were hoping to ride the big wheel that’s there for the summer season.

We were at Plas Newydd nice and early …

… and began with a wander around the arboretum, making our way to the treehouse … a perfect selfie spot …

From there, we followed the path along the edge of the Menai Strait, taking in the views across the water …

We found ourselves at the old port, with its crumbling outdoor pool and a lovely view back to Y Felinheli in the distance, before looping back to the front of the house …

Here we split up for a while … Jackie and Phil went for a longer walk while Martin and I explored the terraced walled garden …

It was looking stunning, full of colour, with both hot and cool borders bursting with blooms … 

… and even more lovely views across to Y Felinheli …

Jackie and Phil soon joined us and we had a good look around the house, followed by a very welcome ice cream in the courtyard. 

Then it was time to head back to the car, via the shop of course, and enjoy our picnic in the sunshine before setting off for Beaumaris …

Beaumaris by Big Wheel
Beaumaris was busy but we managed to park by the castle and made a beeline for the giant ferris wheel. With no dithering or hesitation, we were soon all aboard, enjoying a completely new view of the town from above. We all loved it and would definitely recommend giving it a go if you get the chance …

Afterwards, we had a bit of a wander … mooching in and out of the pretty gift shops … before heading to the tea room in the park by the castle for a sit in the sunshine and a bit of a refuel, complete with a pretty decent view …

We were all feeling pretty shattered by the time we made it back to the lodge, where the latest episode of Sewing Bee was all any of us were fit for. 

One Last Spooner’s Stop
Wednesday morning was time for Jackie and Phil to head home … but not before one final visit to Spooner’s at Porthmadog railway station, where we finally got to try their breakfast… and very good it was too 😋

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A Visit to Anglesey

Hi there everyone 😀

On the Wednesday of our first week in North Wales this year the weather forecast was for sunshine all the way.

Low tide at Penmon Point was also at a very sensible time for us … 1.10pm. As we both really wanted to be able to walk out to the lighthouse … which is only possible at low tide … a visit to Anglesey was definitely on the cards.

We were up and out pretty early for us so, after a very quick and unfruitful visit to Dunelm in Bangor, we made our way across the Menai and along the coast to Beaumaris.

The plan was to have a bit of a wander, maybe some lunch and then head on to Penman in time for low tide.

It was a glorious day and I had Martin stop on the way in so I could capture some photos of the brightly coloured houses …

… and the view across the Strait …

We were soon parked up and heading for the pier in the warm sunshine. It was lovely … but then Beaumaris always is … especially when it’s nice and quiet and the weather is just right …

The sun wasn’t in the best position for photos along the pier and it was quite hazy over the mountains but it was still pretty stunning …

By the time we’d finished on the pier we were both ready for a comfort break and lunch so managed to get lucky and find a table in Beau’s … a lovely quirky and cosy tea room in the High Street …

We both opted for the Welsh Rarebit …

… before sharing a piece of the most tasty Battenberg cake ever …

There was just time for a quick mooch round a few of our favourite shops before heading off to Penmon to catch the low tide …

We parked up and, whilst you can’t actually see how low the tide is from the car park … it was looking promising … we’d never seen as much of the red bouy or Puffin Island as exposed before …

This is the path that takes you down to the lighthouse and we were excited to see what we would find …

The tide was certainly the lowest we’d seen it …

… it wasn’t quite low enough to actually get down to the lighthouse … not without a very good pair of waders anyway. Whilst we had been really hoping to get closer it was impossible to be disappointed … it was still beautiful …

Whilst we are not experts at understanding the tides … low tide on this visit was 2.7m. Later in the week it did get to -0.4m. We can only hope that means that it does get lower and next time we will leave it a couple of days and hopefully catch a low, low tide …

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