Tag: North Wales

2018 travel plans

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I like to always have at least one trip planned or booked in advance, which is why it’s very rare for me to enter a New Year without knowing what some of our travel plans will be for the coming 12 months. 2018 is no exception!

2018 travel plans

These are the trips we have booked so far:

March – North Wales
The official reason for the trip is that we’re going to the 2 day Hard Rock Hell festival in Pwllhelli (staying in a caravan, yay!) but it makes sense to have a little nosy round while we’re up there. Despite having been to the event a couple of times before we’ve never visited Criccieth castle which is just a few miles away, so that’s one for this year, and of course some bracing sea air in a walk along the beach.

Criccieth Castle

We’ll catch up with friends, watch bands and ask ourselves why it’s been such a long time since our last caravan break – we love them!

May – Palma, Majorca
Taking advantage of the early May Bank Holiday, we’re going to Palma for 3 nights and my Mother in Law is coming with us. We’ve been on short trips with her before and she’s a great travel companion – she wants to see everything but isn’t a control freak (that will be me, then) so she goes with the flow and doesn’t question my itinerary (I’m making it sound like a bootcamp!) I haven’t been to Majorca since I was a little girl, and that was a beach holiday with my Mom and Dad, so I’m looking forward to exploring the capital city, wandering through the gothic quarter, oohing at the cathedral and eating tapas.

Palma de Mallorca

We’ll also get out of the city for a day and take a train to Port de Soller and possible Valldemossa. Temperatures should be nice without being too hot, and I’ve booked us into a 16th century traditional hotel with a rooftop view over the Cathedral. Happy days!

September – Athens and Santorini, Greece
When the husband and I got together almost 13 years ago, we used to talk about Santorini and how beautiful it looked and how much we’d like to go there. Yet somehow, in all this time, we’ve never got round to it, even though it’s on my list of top 5 places I’d like to visit . So, for our 10th wedding anniversary this coming September, we’re spending a week on the island, with a few days in Athens first (Athens was on my 2nd list of places I’d like to visit!)

Athens

We’ll fly from Birmingham to Athens, enjoy visiting historical sights, wandering the streets of Plaka (the district where we’re staying) and of course fantastic Greek food, before a 45 minute flight to Santorini where we’re staying in Oia (many of the photographs you see of Santorini on websites and in travel brochures are taken in Oia; it’s a beautifully picturesque town built into the side of the volcanic crater with stunning white and blue domed buildings).

Santorini

There’s lots to see on the island so we’ll need to get the balance right between doing and chilling but, being in Oia, we’ll get the very best sunsets every night!. Definitely having some lazing by the pool days, but also keen to get down into the caldera, maybe take a boat trip to appreciate the scale of the volcanic crater, and visit some of the smaller traditional villages.

So excited!

The trouble with loving travel is prioritising where to go next, as there’s always somewhere else on your list (hence why it’s taken us so long to get to Santorini!) I’d like to squeeze in another overseas break but the husband doesn’t like to tie up all his annual leave, and he keeps talking about spending time at home now that we have a lovely private garden to enjoy.

In truth, with 2018’s main trips already wrapped up (unless I get my way!), I’m already thinking ahead to 2019…

What trips do you have planned so far? Or where would you like to go? I’d love to hear from you!

Thanks, as always, for reading. x

Pretty Portmeirion

This one’s a little bit of a cheat because it’s not actually from my most recent Welsh trip; it’s actually from the year before but I figure I can call it a #WayBackWednesday post (I don’t even know if that’s an actual thing, but I can’t wait until #ThrowbackThursday because I have other things I want to be posting about) and shamelessly shoehorn it in; if only because it’s too pretty not to share.

I mentioned that we spent a weekend in Wales last year for my Mother in Law’s birthday, and one of the days we went to Portmeirion. It’s about an hour’s drive from Betws-y-Coed, not a particularly scenic journey (apart from driving through Dolwyddellan with it’s green valleys and castle ruins) but it’s well worth the trip.

It was designed between 1925 and 1975 and pays homage to the Mediterranean and Italy. 60s TV series “The Prisoner” was shot largely on location there. It has a huge beach (which is actually an estuary) and is set in acres of gardens which you can take a little land train journey round.

The colours are magnificent – all of these pictures are point and click; no filters or improvements at all.

Pastel building Portmeirion

Portmeirion 2

Portmeirion

Looking back to PortMeirion

Every year, in September, they host Festival No. 6, and many of the cottages and rooms can be rented overnight or for a longer stay throughout the year. There are shops, a tea room, and a restaurant on site.

Gorgeous, right?

Waterfalls, forests, rivers and lakes – we’re not in Birmingham anymore Toto

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One of the attractions of going to North Wales is, without doubt, the scenery. Stunning views wherever you look; the contrast between dense forests and sparse mountains, rivers that flow powerfully all year round due to the high rainfall (luckily only happened during the night while we were there, the weather was fantastic), lakes, bridges, waterfalls – it truly is a place of immense natural beauty.

 

 

I’m not much of an outdoorsy person – not that I don’t like being outdoors but there isn’t much outdoorsy stuff to do where we live and so we tend to spend our weekends going to the pub for lunch or chilling on the balcony. Certainly nothing particularly energetic. But just being surrounded by such beauty made us want to see and do as much as possible.

Swallow Falls

I can’t see a time when I will ever visit this part of the world and not go to see the Falls. They’re around 2 miles from the centre of Betws-y-Coed, right off the main road. We walked up, forgetting the incline and the heat before we started, it was harder work then we thought! £1.50 entrance and through a turnstile and you’d never believe that such a sight exists just metres from the road. The power of the water gushing down is immense.

Close up of Swallow Falls

Swallow Falls in full flow

There are various viewing points at differing heights. Nature at it’s best.

Me looking over Swallow Falls

Gwydyr Forest and Llyn Parc

There are lots of different signposted walks in and around Betsy, with colour coded signposts to keep you on track. Some of them can be combined into longer walks, or cut down into shorter ones. The landlady at our guesthouse recommended the yellow walk to us, which cuts up through the forest and across to Llyn Parc. The walk continues all the way around the lake and back down, but as we had other plans for the afternoon we decided to get as far as the lake and then come back down.

Maybe (probably) we’re naïve, but anything that’s described as “a walk” sounds pretty civilised. And yes, we knew we were going uphill so expected there to be some level of energy needed, but we weren’t quite prepared for just how hard going it would be, at times. There was no path, fallen trees and boulders along the route.

 

On the ascent we were right in the middle of the forest, no-one around, sheer drops off the side of the hill and 30 meter tall trees surrounding us. Oh, and no phone signal! We were walking 50 metres and stopping to rest our burning lungs! Us city types, eh! But we powered on, and at times found ourselves on an actual path which levelled and widened out and we were treated to hedgerows of bracken and foxgloves, with butterflies flitting in and out of the undergrowth and birdsong all around us. The isolation and sense of achievement was fabulous.

The walk back down was easier, although still treacherous in spots.

Gwydyr forest path walk Betws y Coed

This house is literally in the middle of nowhere. It has no electricity. Sanitation comes from collected rainwater. Incredibly it’s a holiday home! I like getting away from it all, but that’s just too much.

We could hear the waterfall through the trees way before we reached it. It started from a little babbling brook.
Pretty freaked out by what looks like a dungeon built into the rock!
Hidden hidey house Gwydyr Forest Betws y Coed
This weather worn rock looks like a face.
Rock looks like a face Gwydyr Forest Betws y Coed

Back in civilisation (!!) our wanderlust was well and truly awoken and we couldn’t wait to see more.

Pont-y-Pair bridge and the River Llugwy

The bridge in the middle of the village is a big attraction, with people always to be found looking down to the river and the rocks below.

Pont Y Pair bridge Betws y Coed

Rocks off Pont Y Pair bridge Betws y Coed

Again you’re struck by the sheer power of the water. Over the bridge and at the side of the river there are picnic tables and you can walk upstream, along the side of the river, back up towards Swallow Falls (I think you can walk all the way along, but it gets rather gnarly underfoot the further you go, and we’d already been to the Falls the day before anyway).

The river is very shallow in places and my feet were burning from the walk, so I had a cheeky paddle!

Paddling in the River Llugwy Betws y Coed

You can see a wizened old face in this uprooted tree.

Face in uprooted tree Betws y Coed

Llyn Elsi

The landlady suggested we do this in the afternoon, after the Gwydyr Forest mountain hike (I swear it wasn’t a “walk”) so again we assumed it would be easy. Wrong! The path was clear and well established, so we weren’t negotiating tree routes and forest growth but it was bloody steep. The type of steep that burns your calves. At times I was holding onto trees purely to stop myself from sitting down and not getting back up.

Gwydyr forest path Betws y Coed

We were both puffing, red faced and sweaty, but kept going thinking that the lake must be just around the corner. When we finally reached the top I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to see an expanse of water!

Buoyed (geddit?) by our perseverance we decided that we would walk all the way around the lake as well. The  guide book said it was mainly flat. The guide book lied. Still, we powered on, resplendent in our newly found status as true mountaineers. The views were fantastic.

Husband’s phone pedometer recorded an amazing 11 miles walked in one day! Not bad for someone who jumps in the car to pop to the local shop for milk.

Well earned glass of wine Betws y Coed

It’s fair to say I’d earned the glass of wine (or two!) I rewarded myself with at the end!

Back from beautiful “Betsy” – what a weekend!

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Wow, what a fab time I’ve had in North Wales. The beautiful Betws-y-Coed, or “Betsy”, is the gateway to Snowdonia National Park and is a pretty green and mountainous haven for a City girl like me.

We spent a weekend there last year, with my Mother in Law for her birthday, and were so taken with the village, the guesthouse and the scenery that we vowed we’d be back. Despite my wobble a couple of weeks ago (and thanks to Lisa for talking words of wisdom to me!) we approached it with much excitement. It turned out to be even better than expected.

The River Llugwy runs through the middle of the village, and can be crossed by one of two bridges – the iron Waterloo bridge at the entrance to the village, and the stone Pont-Y-Pair bridge in the middle.

River Llugwy Betws y Coed

Pont Y Pair bridge Betws y Coed

St Mary’s church is a big imposing structure right in the middle. It dates back to 1873.

St Marys Church Betws y Coed

St Marys Church 2 Betws y Coed

As well as being picturesque and well placed for sightseeing, mountain climbing and venturing further afield to the Isle of Anglesey, the village has some really good restaurants, which we were surprised at last year. The quality of the ingredients and imaginative menu listings aren’t what you would expect from a small Welsh village.

It’s been a visual and gastronomic delight.

Where we stayed  Mount Garmon View Guest House

Mount Garmon View Guesthouse Betws y Coed

This is, without doubt, the best guesthouse I’ve ever stayed in. It’s perfectly located, beautifully decorated and extremely relaxing. More than that, the owner is fabulous! One of the reviews of TripAdvisor describes her as the Welsh Mary Poppins. Nothing is too much trouble – from special breakfast requests through to lending maps and advising on days out; she always has time for a chat and her wealth of knowledge and passion is amazing. Afternoon tea and scones on arrival, fresh mineral water and biscuits in the bedroom and fresh flowers everywhere make for a delightful stay. I absolutely cannot recommend this place enough, if you were thinking of visiting the area.

Where we ate, evening one Ty Gwyn

This 17th century coaching house is positioned at the entrance to the village and is very popular – booking is essential.

Ty Gwyn Betws y Coed

We missed out last year as we didn’t book in advance and so were determined to not make the same mistake again. There is a restaurant – which is slightly more formal – a lounge and the alcove, which has just three tables. The menu is the same across all three rooms. They also have rooms, including romantic four poster bed rooms and a honeymoon suite. The decor is rustic and welcoming; white washed walls, oak beams, lots of brass and rugs and low lighting.

Inside Ty Gwyn Betws y Coed

We both started with king scallop, prawn and crayfish gratin; followed by lamb and duxxel wellington for husband, and fillet mignon roulade for me. The roulade, rather than being wrapped in pastry, was wrapped in bacon! And stuffed with cheese and spinach before being smothered in creamy peppercorn sauce. There were lots of yummy noises coming from our table. Because I was on holiday (!!) I had already decided I was indulging in a dessert and the honeycomb, ginger and chocolate cheesecake did not disappoint.

Cheesecake dessert at Ty Gwyn Betws y Coed

I magnanimously shared it with husband, even though I could have happily wolfed the lot. Delish.

Where we ate, evening two Llugwy River restaurant

This restaurant is part of the Royal Oak Hotel; there is also the Grill Room and the Stables Bar. We hadn’t booked, stupidly, but were told that if we just turned up we’d be seated when a table became available. We ate in the Grill Room last year and the food was very very good, although the restaurant was very hot. The River restaurant looks more formal, but that’s where we seated this time. Actually we needn’t have worried, because although the restaurant itself is decorated quite opulently, the clientele is very laid back. After all, “Betsy” is a base for walkers, climbers and outdoorsy types, so no-one is dressed up. We ordered from the Grill Room menu – scallops with black pudding and pulled pork, slow cooked rump of lamb with braised red cabbage and really really slow cooked pork belly. More yummy noises. There is also an a la carte menu served in the restaurant, which we’ll be sure to try next time.

As well as restaurants there are pubs and cafes – something to suit all budgets. I had a rather delicious lunch of beef and ale pie in the Stables Bar when we arrived, and a good old cheese and pickle sandwich in the beer garden at the Pont-y-Pair Inn on day two. Both were great!

I already can’t wait to get back there; I have a feeling it will become a yearly pilgrimage for us, and would happily go for longer next time. I’ll post tomorrow about what we got up to during our time there; the scenery is outstanding.

Welsh Wales

I’m having a long weekend in North Wales. And, despite previous panics and deliberations (which you can read about here) I couldn’t be happier.

I love North Wales dearly, have done ever since I was a kid. It’s so green and mountainous and vast. It’s where lamb comes from (sometimes). I love lamb, it’s my absolute favourite meat. I love the Welsh accent. I love Welsh words and spellings that seem to make no sense and have not enough vowels in them. We came across a rather delightful road sign a couple of years back – Pant Cudd. It means hidden dip, rather than the rude dirtiness me and hubby conjured up. We say it every time we go Wales.

I love the rivers, and waterfalls, and castles. I love the grey stone with which many of the villages are built. I love the barrenness of mountain landscapes where it seems nothing can survive, and then you see a random sheep all on it’s own (and wonder how the hell it got up there?!) I love dry stone walls, the technique of which is apparently a dying art. I love the slate quarries and the steam railway and the mirror like lakes.

Ah, Wales. I’m excited to be in you!

Holiday stress (first world problems)

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It’s rather ridiculous that something that’s supposed to be fun, something to look forward to and something to relax you should be stressful. But my head is about to burst this year!

I’m very much of the “let’s use our annual leave to see stuff and go places” school of thought. Husband would happily spend a week at home. I think that’s a ridiculous waste of time. I usually always win.

This year we’re a bit short on annual leave, as we both started new jobs in April and so our holiday has been pro rata’d accordingly. Hence why we found ourselves sitting down with a spreadsheet, no less, to carve up our annual leave. That kind of ruins the fun straight away.

We’d planned on a short break to Europe, 3 or 4 nights all inclusive where we could lounge in the sun, read books, eat and drink loads. I would have shoe-horned in a daytrip somewhere too, just to satisfy my wanderlust. We were all priced up and researched and ready to go to Majorca.

I mean, look at it. Why wouldn’t you?

Majorca

Then, in true us style, we faffed. Not because we didn’t want to go, but because life happens. And by the time we did come to book it, the price had gone up by over £100.

Arse.

I then suggested Greece. Loads of bargains to be had, and as long as you’re all inclusive and paid up front you don’t need money, right? Husband was reticent – pointing out that the hotels may run out of money to buy food. I poo-pooed him and would have booked but I have to say now, with events of yesterday, that I’m glad one of us has a sensible head (I hope he isn’t reading this).

And so we decided on Wales. Now that might seem rather a departure (pun intended) from beach and guaranteed sunshine. But North Wales is one of my very favourite places in the UK – so green and atmospheric and mountainous and just generally ace. And we had plans of going on sunny walks, searching out waterfalls, eating lamb (of course!), sitting in beer gardens and generally chilling out.

North Wales

Our plans were nearly scuppered when the only guesthouse we wanted to stay at was showing no availability online, but a quick call and some jiggery-pokery meant that the owner was able to accommodate us.

All well and good.

Until today when the bloody weather forecast has turned and is now showing a rather unseasonal 14 degrees and rain for next weekend. And husband’s colleague has just come back from North Wales and didn’t see any of last week’s heatwave.

What to do? I have revisited Majorca plans in a mad panic, as the thought of spending precious annual leave in a sodden sulk fills me with dread. And the cost of keeping ourselves occupied will no doubt boost the Welsh trip into the realms of European spend anyway. But am I being a brat? Should I accept my fate and make the best of it, whatever the weather?

Don’t even start me on how we’ll agree on the rest of our leave. I had grand plans for Hong Kong, even offering to pay for us from my redundancy fund, but husband has little desire to go East.

That week at home that he so desires may be closer than he thinks…

Persistent petals and seeing the sea

A couple of weeks ago I bought some pre-potted bulbs. I never think to plant bulbs; partly as I only have balcony pots to put them in but mainly because I always forget until it’s too late. With the job of potting some up already done by the shop, along with the fact they were starting to sprout, I invested in some red tulips, hoping for a sunny day to get them outside.

I carefully transferred them home in a carrier bag…and promptly forgot about them.

So, now that I have remembered them, they’re ready to be thrown away, right? No water or sunlight for more than 2 weeks, stifled in a plastic bag in a corner. They’re bound to have withered and given up.

Wrong! Look at my beautiful tulips!

Curved tulips 2

Not only have they miraculously continued to grow, but they have done so in the most peculiar way; obviously growing towards the air and trickle of light that was available. Searching out the life force to not only survive, but flourish. That’s pretty bloomin’ special.

Curved tulips

I’ve now popped them on my kitchen window sill, flooded them with water, and hopefully they’ll straighten out and grow upwards towards the sunlight; after which I’ll transfer them to my balcony.

I still have some snapdragons from a couple of years ago that refuse to throw in the towel; I thought I’d cleared them all out at the end of the summer but they sprouted back up in November and came into bloom.

Here’s a couple of pictures from the North Welsh coast from my weekend trip.

 

It all looks rather gloomy, but I quite like the power of a wild and windy seaside in cloudy weather. Not as much as I like a clear blue sky and white sandy beach, but the chances of that in Wales in March are slim to none.

And how quaint is this cottage?

Hafan y Mor chalet

Its one of the holiday park rentals; looks like something from a fairytale.