2020 September – North Wales

It was with some trepidation that we set off for 3 nights in The White Lion Royal Hotel in Bala on the first Sunday in September. It was to be our first “holiday” break since our trip to France at the end of February. We meandered up through mid Wales and arrived at Bala in the early afternoon. We had to wait to get into our room because of Covid regulations and protocols. There would be neither room service nor routine topping up of tea and coffee etc (that was by request through the front desk). Breakfast was to be provided to order from a limited menu in the dining room (socially distanced of course) at a pre-booked time. Nevertheless, we were quite happy with the arrangements.

Our first activity was our customary walk along the banks of the River Trywerin and Lake Bala. We managed to see two Herons in spots where we have seen them before and enjoyed views of the lake with the sun shimmering on the water despite some ominous black clouds above.

The next morning, after a pleasant breakfast, we set off for Bodnant Gardens. The gardens are about an hour’s gentle drive from Bala and we arrived just before our pre-booked entry slot. The arrival procedure went smoothly and we were soon free to walk the gardens. We completed a circular walk of some 2.5 miles and although not the best time of the year to visit, enjoyed many lovely views. The photographs below show various plants including some fungi that were rather impressive in their size and shape. The final photo is of a border we photograph on every visit and it was as stunning as ever!

From Bodnant we drove to Llanberis and down the LLanberis Pass. We didn’t know what to expect on the drive had recently seen news footage of cars parked all along the pass and police activity towing cars away and placing parking tickets on others, What a difference a weekday in September brings. The lay-bys were virtually empty and there were no dangerously parked cars anywhere. We stopped and enjoyed a picnic before continuing down the pass and across to Beddgelert. We parked up and were walking down towards the town centre when we saw a bridge from the road to the primary school that seemed was badly damaged. There had been some very heavy rain a couple of weeks previously and trees and other debris had caused a dam to form. The dam was eventually breached and a torrent of water rushed through the town and across to the river plain. Several shops and buildings had been flooded and during our walk to Gellert’s Grave and along the river, we could see from debris in the fields and against fences that the flood water had covered a massive area. However, despite the short interval the ground was amazingly dry and you could be forgiven for thinking that there had been no flood. However, that wasn’t true for the businesses and properties still closed because of flood damage.

We also saw some beautiful heather on the mountain side.

Our next day saw us head to Morfa Mawddach and our usual walk across the bridge over the estuary to Barmouth. Barmouth was as disappointing as ever and quite clearly the people did not believe in social distancing and also, no masks were required in shops (Masks became compulsory in Welsh shops a couple of days after we returned to Fairford). We enjoyed our walk and just made it back to the car as the weather started to close in. During our walk we had seen a train up close and as usual Gerry couldn’t resist a photo. From Morfa we headed to Fairbourne and were treated to a beautiful site of a train on the Fairbourne light railway.

Although the weather became quite windy and wet we continued our drive down the coast to Towyn and Aberdovey before returning to Bala. The Bala Lake railway was operating although timing prevented us from travelling on it. However, we came across the train when we stopped beside the lake

By the time we returned to Bala for our daily walk by the Lake and river we were treated to a wonderful rainbow.

We returned to Fairford the next day. A lovely stay, but we were happy to return home, lockdown has certainly made us wary of people, busy towns, shops and restaurants!