As some of you know we are unexpectedly back in Wales. The plan was to spend two weeks in Cornwall at my Cousin’s cottage in Mousehole, spending a week or so on our own and then being joined by Les, Chantal’s Dad from the U.S, and her brother Alain from Canada for the rest of our stay. But during the phone conversation with my cousin to make key-swapping arrangements, it transpired that the cottage was double booked during week one. And so, here we are, thanks to the hospitality of our friend Steve, back in his cosy cottage in Wales until Saturday.
Yesterday was a first full day, and since it was a nice day, we headed for Snowdon. We walked up the “Miners Track”, a relatively gentle route to start with, before, about two-thirds of the way up to the summit, the path climbs very steeply to join another route to the top. This wasn’t actually a “walk” because Chantal doesn’t do “walks”. This was a photographic expedition. I know that this was a photographic expedition because for much of the walk every 10 minutes of walking was followed by 5 minutes of photography. People passed us, striding by, overheating in a t-shirt. I never had opportunity to be warm enough to remove my coat. We turned back at Glaslyn, a tarn just below the steep climb – I went ahead for a few hundred yards to see people going up the steep track, and it was clear that neither Chantal nor Lesia would have made it up the rocky scramble to the ridge at the top. Nevertheless I was proud that Chantal had managed a 7 mile return trip, including a quite steep and very rocky path up to the tarn.
A much quieter day today – a trip to Barmouth for a wander around the town, an excellent lunch
and a return walk across the 850m long Barmouth Bridge across the estuary, a railway bridge with a pedestrian path running alongside the tracks.
We finished the day with a short dog walk on the beach.
We’ve had a really nice couple of days – just as well as its going to be a trifle wet for the rest of the week.
Technically we live in Oaktree House, but sadly the tree had to go.
We now have a thriving Oakstump at the front of the house.
