Exploring :: North Wales #2 … Trefor & Nant Gwrthyrn

Hi there everyone 😃

It was Saturday, the first full day of our week’s break with mum on the Llyn Peninsular. The weather forecast was great and we spent the day exploring a short stretch of the coast not too far from where we were staying.

We started off at the beach at Trefor, somewhere we’d never been to before. Although the skies were blue and there was plenty of sunshine it was windier than it looked and the car door was near whipped out of Martin’s hand as he opened it … good job we weren’t parked too close to the car next to us.

It was a beautiful spot … nothing there other than the natural beauty of the coast … 

… and a small pier …

Did I say it was deceptively windy?

From Trefor we decided to head to Nant Gwrthyrn … one of our favourite spots in the area. We particularly love the drive down, though it was sad to see so many of the old majestic trees on the way down had succumbed to the latest storms.

There is plenty of parking at the bottom … thank goodness … as it’s not somewhere we would ever be able to walk to. It really is worth a visit … the views are spectacular …

We started off with a walk round the old chapel, where you can find out more about the people who used to live and work in the old quarry, along with a bit of local legend …

At some point we will get to walk down to the beach but that was not for today …

After lunch sat outside of the café taking in the view we had a bit of a closer look at the old quarrymen’s cottages …

… before heading back to The Crossing where we whiled away an hour or so watching the birds feeding. We could have watched for hours … and in fact we did over the course of the week. We saw all sorts … woodpeckers, jays, nuthatches, robins, chaffinches, blue and great tits to name a few …

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Exploring :: North Wales #1 … Betws-y-Coed

Hi there everyone 😃

Back in March we had fabulous break in North Wales with mum. It was our rearranged trip from the same time last year and we stayed in the loveliest of cottages, well off the beaten track, not far from Pwllheli.

We decided to make the most of our journey there with a pitstop at Betws-y-Coed for a look at The Fairy Glen, which we had missed seeing on our last visit to the area.

It was a glorious day and we had a lovely walk down to the Glen. Finally it was really starting to feel like spring with blue skies and sunshine …

… fluffy lambs …

... and some very dangly catkins …

It really was a lovely walk through the countryside to The Fairy Glen …

Mum and Martin didn’t fancy the walk right down to the bottom …the steps were pretty steep and hard going, but you know me … I couldn’t miss the photo opportunity …

Once down it was a fair slog back up and a breather was definitely needed when I got back up to the top …

From The Fairy Glen we headed into the village for a bit of a wander. We parked at the back of the station on the side of the road and made our way through the station and over the bridge. I love the station … the views from the bridge are stunning … especially in the sunshine …

From here we had a bit of a mooch round a few shops before finding a table in the sunshine for a coffee …

Rested and refreshed there was a bit more mooching and a wander up to the bridge across the river for a look at the waterfall …

… before heading back through the station to continue our journey west ...

It was a lovely drive and we weren’t disappointed when we arrived at The Crossing. It was at the top of a bumpy lane and looked like something out of a fairy tale. We couldn’t wait to get inside and have a look …

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Lodge Life

Hi there everyone 😀

I’ve mentioned a couple of times that our latest break was in North Wales and I do have loads to share with you about our trip … but before I do I have some totally unplanned and unexpected news … we have bought a holiday lodge.

It’s something we’ve been thinking about on and off for years but have never really been able to settle on the ideal location … as there are so many places that we like for so many different reasons … so we’d kind of stopped thinking about the idea, even though I’ve always imagined owning somewhere near the sea.

We had such a lovely time in North Wales, and not for the first time, that the location all of a sudden became obvious to us and when we got home Martin started looking on Google maps for smallish parks at the top of the Llyn Peninsular, which seemed like the perfect location ... Snowdon to the East, the Llyn to the West, Anglesey to the North and Portmerion to the south. Surrounded by mountains, beaches, small villages, castles and steam railways … what more could we ask for.

Within the space of a month we’d made the decision, found a park, visited, signed on the dotted line and done lots of shopping ...

We have visited this weekend to take ownership and couldn’t be happier with our decision. Even though we had a very busy weekend moving everything in and learning how everything worked it was soooooo relaxing.

The car was loaded to the gunnels …

We had a really good journey … it’s a fair way, but such a lovely drive …

The weather was glorious and we couldn’t resist stopping at Criccieth for a quick look at the sea …

… before having our second look round our new home from home …

We didn’t do anything too exciting over the weekend but got to grips with the kitchen and got to use the new Portmerion crockery, which I just love …

We had a rainy day and it was lovely and cosy just sitting watching the rain ...

It was our Wedding Anniversary whilst we were away and we spent it at the roadside laundry …

We had a far nicer trip than usual to Asda to pick up a few bits and pieces ...

In amongst all of the shopping, unpacking and organising we did manage one quick trip back to Criccieth for an ice cream by the sea …

Whilst it was a pretty busy few days it was still very relaxing, we can’t wait to go back again … with a far shorter list of jobs.

Before we can go back though we have a week booked in Kent with mum and the weather is looking very promising indeed …

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Whatever happened to …

Hi there everyone 😀

I feel like I've kind of been a bit absent for a few weeks. There just seems to have been a lot to squeeze in and my ramblings have had to move down the priority list for a while, but I have really missed catching up with you all so am just dropping in for a quick one before we head off for another bit of an adventure.

So ...

Whatever happened to ... booking a holiday, looking forward to said holiday and the time coming round to go and just packing up and getting in the car … nothing else to think about other than what to do when you get there?

The last time this happened for us was in February 2020, when I booked a pretty much last minute break in Windsor. I booked it, we packed, we went, we had a great time ...

Obviously, like for lots of people, things have been more than a little different since then …

March 2020 … We were due to stay in a beautiful cottage overlooking a golf course in Dunkeld. We were going with Lesley and Tom and were all really looking forward to it. We’d watched a Susan Calman programme about the area, had trips planned … including a visit to Glamis castle, one of the 50 things I want to do before I’m 60.

A week or so before we were due to go and Covid was confirmed as a pandemic. It was very much a case of will we/won’t we be going? Should Martin and I just go on our own? In the end Boris made the decision for us by announcing the first lockdown. After lots of conversations with the holiday company they agreed to rebook us for later in the year … though this holiday never actually came off as the cottage owners decided they they were no longer in the market for letting.

May 2020 … we were due to make our annual trip to catch up with old work friends … we were going to Hawes in Yorkshire. Again lockdown thwarted our trip and once again the holiday cottage was taken off the letting market. We found another nice looking cottage and rebooked for May 2021 ...

September 2020 … we had a two week break booked in Sidmouth. We didn’t really know if we would be going. Luckily another lockdown did not get imposed though rule of 6 and social distancing rules were in place. After having been isolated from the outside world for a good part of the year we were nervous of going and packed plenty of sanitiser, anti bac wipes and sprays and pretty much disinfected our whole holiday cottage before moving in for our two weeks stay ...

December 2020 … We had decided to go away for Christmas. Having pretty much spent all our Christmases with mum and dad, my sister and brother and their families, it looked like rule of six would put the mockers on this. We decided to just remove ourselves from the equation and found a lovely cottage in The Peak District. The closer it got to going ... the less likely it looked that it would be possible. Then it seemed we may be able to go ... but just for three days ... only to be thwarted at the very last minute ... as Boris pretty much cancelled Christmas for 2020 ... so that was it.

March 2021 … We had a week booked on the Llyn Pensinsular. Again it was a last minute cancellation as the changing of the rules in Wales lagged a bit behind what was happening in England. We rebooked the same cottage for March 2022 ...

May 2021 … We finally made our rearranged annual get together with friends. Our break coincided with the week that pubs and restaurants reopened, so we got to have our break, but it wasn’t without a fair amount of nervousness on our part. We ended up having a lovely week ... mainly of looking for waterfalls ...

July 2021 … We had a break in The Peak District booked. Mum was coming with us and all was allowed on the Covid front, but things were not straightforward. A few days before we were due to go the cottage company called to say that our cottage wouldn’t be available for the first two days of our stay as they were having a new boiler fitted. We could either go two days later or rearrange. We decided to go, only to find one day in, that Martin was struck down by a rotten stomach bug and proceeded to spend the rest of our break in bed. Whilst it was not ideal, it didn't stop mum and I from getting out and exploring some new places ...

September 2021 … There was no problem with us getting away to Pembrokeshire in September, but it was another eventful break ... with the need for plumbers twice and an unplanned emergency trip to Swansea to try and resolve car problems ...

December 2021 … We had a break in Northumberland booked, with Lesley and Tom. We’d had our holiday planning ‘meeting’, the menus were planned and the Tesco delivery booked. We had a meal booked at The Treehouse and were all really excited to be finally getting away. Then in comes Storm Arwen, leaving our holiday cottage with no power. It wasn’t until the day before we were due to go that we finally decided to give up on our original choice of cottage, as it still wasn’t looking good, and we were lucky enough to find Cuthbert's cottage, which was just perfect ... so all worked out well in the end ...

December 2021 … We were off to Brancaster for the New Year with Jackie and Phil. We had a near miss when one of their household was hit with the Covid lurgy just before Christmas. They did so well in containing the virus and we waited with baited breath over Christmas ... as there were signs that Boris might be tightening rules after Boxing Day. In the ended he stuck with Plan B and all was good ...

March 2022 … We finally made it to North Wales, on the Llyn Peninsular, partaking of our rearranged break from March last year. Mum was due to come with us, but having been in close contact with someone who tested positive for Covid the weekend before, it was touch and go as to whether she would have been able to come. Fortunately a week of negative tests later and all was good. We did have a bit of first night stress with no Internet, but this was soon resolved and all went well. We had the most amazing week, lots of sunshine, and I have so much to share with you about our trip ...

Our next break is due in a couple of weeks. We are off to Kent, with mum again, and hoping to explore lots of new places as this is an area we have only ever been to once. I am keeping everything crossed that we can be back to our normal holiday routine for that break. 🤞🤞🤞

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