September 2018 – North Wales

As the school holidays ended and places would be less crowded, we decided to visit North Wales for a few days.

As usual we based ourselves at the White Lion Royal Hotel in Bala. The weather was pleasant as we arrived and so we set out on our usual walk along the banks of the River Tryweryn to its junction with the River Dee and then down along the northern edge of Bala Lake. We did this walk every evening of our four night stay and, on one night, were lucky enough to spot 2 herons on the opposite bank of the Tryweryn and then the next night one heron on the bank of the Dee. 

The first full day we spent travelling around Anglesey including a visit to Beaumaris Castle and the coastal town of Moelfre.

 

The second day was a busy day but one we enjoyed immensely. We travelled on the Talyllyn Railway from Tywyn Wharf to the other end of the line at Nant Gwernol.  The engine and carriages were spotlessly clean and pristine despite it being near the end of the season. Gerry had not realised that the Talyllyn Railway was the inspiration for Rev Awdry’s Thomas the Tank Engine and other books – he worked as a volunteer on the railway in the 1950s. The museum at Tywyn Wharf Station is well worth a visit and occupied us for some time. We then drove to Morfa Mawddach, a railway station on the southern side of the River Mawddach and repeated the walk we had done on our last visit to North Wales. We walked across the bridge to Barmouth and wandered around the town before returning.  As usual we encountered trains! The photo shows a south bound train that had just left Barmouth.

Our final full day was spent visiting Bodnant Gardens. The gardens were splendid and we thoroughly enjoyed a lovely 2 hours spent walking around the perimeter of the Gardens and the terraces.  

We decided not to climb Snowdon! but instead drove down the beautiful LLanberis Pass and on to Beddgelert. We walked south along the banks of the River Glaslyn before crossing a bridge over the river (beside the Welsh Highland Railway Bridge) and returning along the other bank to Bedgellert. It was only as we got back to the town that we saw a map which showed several slightly longer circular walks based on the River.  After our usual river and lake walk at Bala we ended our visit with yet another brilliant meal at Bala Spice – a wonderful curry house that we rate as one of our two favourites!

Bala Lake in the late afternoon sun is quite a sight.

.

The weather had been very kind to us during our stay and proves once again that in good weather the scenery in North Wales is absolutely beautiful. 

We shall return!