We are making extensive use of the BBC weather app to plan our days, which, until today, has meant finding out where the rain will stop first. On Sunday Swallow Falls, near Betws-Y-Coed, was favoured with the last of the rain, and by late morning, after the rain had ceased, we were in the wind blown spray generated by the Falls, as the recent rain resulted in vast volumes of water pouring noisily down the rocky canyon, where a boardwalk and steps allowed easy access to the river. People came and people went, the dogs and I moved up the steps and back down again due to limited space on the waterside platform, until Chantal felt that she had taken sufficient photographs. And then we walked up to the top of the Falls and started again.
Opposite the Falls there is the Swallow Falls Hotel. Well, it would have been rude not to pop in, and we enjoyed a reasonable curry, and in my case an excellent pint of Welsh ale. Afterwards we headed up Llanberis Pass, planning on a stroll up one of the easier paths at the base of Snowdon, just a mile or so, but since it was raining at the summit of the Pass we continued down the other side and had a short walk along the lakeside at Llanberis village before driving back to the cottage.
On Monday we re-visited Conwy, abandoned in heavy rain on Saturday evening. We walked the town walls, and explored the town, although didn’t have time to visit the castle. don’t think that Chantal was disappointed. Steven note – my GoggIebox app identified the castle and directed me to the appropriate informative Wikipedia items. Later we drove across the estuary bridge and went back to the Great Orme country park, Llandudno, and had a lovely walk in the evening sunshine, much less windy than previously. Chris note – cyclists were training by cycling up to the summit – from the comments made as they reached the car park, it was clearly a challenging ascent.
Last year when we visited the scenic village of Beddgelert, we discovered the Welsh Highland Railway, one of the “Great Little Trains” of Wales, which steams between Porthmadoc and Beddgelert, and then continues through Snowdonia, past Snowdon, and on to Caernarfon. We promised ourselves a return trip on the Snowdonia stretch, and we caught the train on Tuesday morning.
Since we had the dogs with us, we opted for the “open” carriage, which was perfect since we had unobstructed views of the gorgeous countryside. There were quite a few people in the carriage, and they were all incredibly friendly, everyone chatting and coming to say hello to the dogs. Chantal even found a fellow photography enthusiast, was very impressed with his equipment, and he was happy to discuss it with her. The only person not enjoying herself was Lesia, who found the clanking and vibration of the carriage somewhat disconcerting and at one point tried to climb onto Chantal’s lap. The station in Caernarfon was beneath the castle walls, but we didn’t have time to explore since the return train left after 90 minutes, but we had a nice meal in sunshine outside a restaurant, where once again people came to say hello to the dogs, including, while Chantal was inside ordering food, a young lady from Liverpool who said she had never dared stroke a big dog before, but since Lesia had such a friendly face… How would I ever pull if I didn’t have the dogs?
The return trip was even more scenic, since the sun was shining, and as we passed Snowdon the clouds cleared and we had an excellent view of the summit – one of our fellow passengers even loaned Chantal binoculars for a better view. And Lesia was much more settled.
On our return to Beddgelert ,Chantal fell in front of a bus. She somehow managed to trip over Lesia, who is very big, very visible, and I was on the end of her lead! And the bus? Well, Chantal fell over in the car park, in front of a parked bus full of tourists, and her injuries were restricted to a grazed and bruised knee and shoulder. But once I had picked her up, and she limped to a nearby seat to recover, we had a lovely evening riverside walk, enjoying, for the first time during the holiday, warm sunshine.
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.
