Exploring :: North Wales #5 … Black Rock Sands & Borth-y-Gest

Hi there everyone 😀

After our day in the mountains, exploring Beddgelert on Monday, we were back to the coast for Tuesday's adventures, starting with a visit to Black Rock Sands.

We'd never been before but had seen on line that you can actually drive onto the beach ... well that sounded like a bit of an adventure not to be missed and it didn't take us long to find ourselves well and truly ... on the beach ...

It was lovely and quiet and we found that you can actually drive a fair way along the beach ...

... and we went as far as we could ...

It was beautiful and mum and I decided we would get out and walk back, leaving Martin to enjoy the driving on the beach bit ...

The whole of the beach is backed by dunes ... beyond which is a massive holiday caravan park, where mum could remember having stayed many years ago ...

Along the beach loads of huge jelly fish had been left on the shore by the receding tide and I think this may have put me off from dipping my toes in the water, but it would definitely be a lovely spot for a day on the beach with kids, with loads of room to run about ...

Mum and I walked pretty much back to the other end of the beach ...

... where we had some great views of the bay and Criccieth Castle in the distance ...

Jumping back into the car to head back off the beach, we carried on along the coast to the tiny village of Borth-y-Gest, where our holiday cottage owners had recommended a nice 'flat' walk, along the coastal path.

We managed to find a spot to park in the side of the road and had a quick look round the small harbour area, which was lined by cheerful coloured cottages …

… and was really pretty …

We weren’t entirely sure how far we were intending to walk but headed off up the narrow street, passing more pretty cottages, towards the coastal path …

… where the views looking back across the bay towards Porthmadog were just lovely …

We headed along the coastal path, which was fairly flat and not too difficult a walk and before long we had views of some lovely little secluded coves ahead …

With still no real clue as to where we were heading or how far we would go we carried on until we reached the bridge ...
… with this as the view out to see as we crossed over …

It really was a beautiful spot and nice across the bridge there were steps taking us down to the beach and we really couldn’t wait to get down and have a closer look …

We weren’t disappointed, it was an absolutely beautiful spot …

We found a nice spot to sit awhile ...

... and I couldn’t resist dipping my feet in the sea … though I have to say I wasn’t in there long as it was absolutely numbingly cold …

It’s a real shame that we didn’t take our picnic with us as it would have been the perfect spot for lunch.

We decided not to carry on any further along the coast but headed back up the steps and back across the bridge …

… and retraced our steps back to where we’d started from …

… where we found a nice spot … with shade for Martin and I, and sun for mum … where we sat and enjoyed our picnic lunch.

Whilst we were over this way we we decided to end our day with a drive on to Harlech, hoping for a good view of the castle … it was pretty impressive, but we didn’t really stop, just took a few photos and headed back for our home for the week …

... saving a proper visit to Harlech for another time 😀

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Exploring :: North Wales #4 … Beddgelert

Hi there everyone 😀

On the Monday of our March break in North Wales we opted to have a change and head away from the coast ... to Beddgelert.

I seem to recall having visited a long, long time ago, but couldn't remember the place at all, though I can remember the legend of the faithful dog ...

"The story goes that in the thirteenth-century, Prince Llywelyn the Great had a palace at Beddgelert in Caernarvonshire, and as the Prince was a keen hunter, he spent much of his time in the surrounding countryside. He had many hunting dogs, but one day when he summoned them as usual with his horn, his favourite dog Gelert didn’t appear, so regretfully Llywelyn had to go hunting without him.

When Llywelyn returned from the hunt, he was greeted by Gelert who came bounding towards him …his jaws dripping with blood.

The Prince was appalled, and a horrible thought came into his mind …was the blood on the dog’s muzzle that of his one-year old son. His worst fears were realised when he saw in the child’s nursery, an upturned cradle, and walls spattered with blood! He searched for the child but there was no sign of him. Llywelyn was convinced that his favourite hound had killed his son.

Mad with grief he took his sword and plunged it into Gelert’s heart.

As the dog howled in his death agony, Llywelyn heard a child’s cry coming from underneath the upturned cradle. It was his son, unharmed!

Beside the child was an enormous wolf, dead, killed by the brave Gelert.

Llywelyn was struck with remorse and carried the body of his faithful dog outside the castle walls, and buried him where everyone could see the grave of this brave animal, and hear the story of his valiant fight with the wolf.

To this day, a cairn of stones marks the place, and the name Beddgelert means in Welsh ‘The grave of Gelert’. Every year thousands of people visit the grave of this brave dog; slight problem however, is that the cairn of stones is actually less than 200 years old!

Nevertheless this story has great appeal. History and myth appear to have become a little confused when in 1793, a man called David Pritchard came to live in Beddgelert. He was the landlord of the Royal Goat Inn and knew the story of the brave dog and adapted it to fit the village, and so benefit his trade at the inn."

It really is a beautiful village ... at the confluence of the Colwyn and Glaslyn rivers and surrounded by mountains ...

We wandered over the old stone bridge, had a mooch in a couple of gift shops, before following the Colwyn River ...

... to the point where it meets the Glaslyn, when we took a right to head towards 'brave Gelert's resting place' ...

Tourist legend or not ... it really is the most beautiful spot ... 

The path from Gelert's final resting place took us back to the river ... 

... which we followed until we reached the steam railway bridge, where we declared it time for a pitstop ...

... before we needed to cross the river to return to the village along the other side ...

We were so glad that we had decided to hang around here for a while as, quite by chance, we just happened to be in exactly the right spot at the right time ... 

As the railway hadn't actually started running for the season, we were all thrilled to have had such a close encounter with the old engine ... and in such a beautiful spot.

It was time to cross the river and start to head back towards the village ... 

Before too long we were back at the confluence of the two rivers ... 

... where we stopped to take pictures of the row of old stone cottages ... 

... before retracing out steps along the Colwyn and back to the car ... 

It was nearly time to head for home, but we couldn't leave without a quick look at the steam railway station ...

We were all shattered by now, with very achy knees, but we'd had such a lovely day. Beddgelert was a real treat and an absolutely beautiful spot ... if you're in the area and fancy a change from the beach, It's definitely worth a visit.

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Exploring :: North Wales #3 … Nefyn & Criccieth

Hi there everyone 😃

It was Sunday and another glorious day and we decided to explore another new spot that we’d seen on the map but never been to before.

The beach at Nefyn can be found, along with a cafe, at the bottom of a narrow windy lane. We were lucky enough to find a parking spot and the tide was out, which meant we could walk along the beach to the small harbour area …

It was a lovely walk along the beach, which was still a bit soft in places as the tide was only just heading out … 

The harbour was a really interesting spot …

The only vehicular access to the houses by the harbour is along the beach, once the tide is low enough, though there is a footpath up the side of the cliffs at the back of the cottages.

There was plenty of blue sky and warm sunshine and we spent a while exploring the harbour and sitting in the sunshine …

Our second stop of the the day was at Criccieth, which was just lovely. We found a parking spot on the road on the east side of the castle …

... had a wander along the prom, heading towards the castle …

… and the lifeboat station …

We then jumped back in the car to head for the west side of the castle as I wanted to find the pretty coloured houses that I’d seen on line.

I wasn’t disappointed… they looked really vibrant in the sunshine …

The beach on this side of the castle was lovely and quiet …

... and we just walked as far as the castle and back again ...

It was time to head back to The Crossing, but we did drive through Llanystumdwy ... looking for the grave of Lloyd George, which we soon spotted ...

We'd had another lovely day ... exploring new places, with lots of blue sky and sunshine ... long may it continue 🌞🌞🌞

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