We had a great few days in Wales staying in our friend Steve’s (and wife Cathy’s) cottage. After a couple of hours on the road, we ascended the lane that led up from the village, and found the short track to the cottage. Pulling up in front of the cottage was a real “wow” moment, with panoramic views of hills and forests in three directions, and a steep slope populated by trees and sheep rising up behind. After unpacking we spent a long time just sitting on the patio, with the lawn and a hayfield before us dropping down to the village below, and watched the ever changing light and shadows on the hills over the village roof tops. Obviously we took a lot of photos!
On each day it was just about warm enough to enjoy breakfast on the patio, making vague plans for the day. On the first full day we visited Bala, a small lakeside town 4 miles away – pleasant, but not particularly exciting, and then had a very enjoyable walk around the local village, ending up spending time sitting by the River Dee, which flows past the bottom of the village, photographing the water – sounds boring but there are endless photogenic variations.
We walked back up to the cottage where Chantal discovered that her distance specs, which had started the afternoon on the top of her head, had decided to wonder off on their own. I walked back down the lane to the village – Chantal had looked up several times along the lane to photograph a red kite hovering above, possibly losing the specs in the process. No specs. Chantal then walked the entire route to the river, and I followed in the car (we were driving to a pub afterwards). We searched the riverbank, and as much of the field as we could. No specs.
We gave up after an hour, and headed for the pub, where I enjoyed “Bara bread” – a large cottage loaf with Welsh beef casserole, recommended by all who visit the cottage. Chantal managed the children’s version – “Baby Bara”. Since Chantal was unable to drive without her specs, I had to limit my consumption of the excellent local beer.
The following day started with a repeat of the spectacular search, in the hope that the morning sunshine would reflect off of lenses, sending a flashing Morse code message – “Here I am”. No specs, and so we headed off to Beddgelert, a small picturesque village, famous for a tear jerking 13th century dog tale. Google it. On the way the road ran alongside the Aberglaslyn river, and stopped for a pleasant riverside walk and, obviously, to take photos.
I have to admit that when we got to Beddgellert we did visit Gelert’s grave,even though rumour has it that the story and grave were created by an enterprising 19th century local hotelier to drum up business. It worked
and had a general wonder around the village and shops, but we actually spent more time on the Llanberis Pass on the way home. Chantal wanted to drive up this pass, apparently a traditional Tilley family route to holidays in Snowdonia. We ascended into low level clouds, stopping for photographs of the valley below through gaps in the mist, eventually reaching the highest point of the pass. Chantal got her tripod and camera out of the car. This was clearly going to be a long visit, and so I got the dogs out of the car and we went for a walk. Actually two walks. Two routes up Snowdon commence at the car park, and we headed up the Pyg Track, but since this soon became quite rocky, with mist blowing across the path, we returned to the car park, briefly greeted Chantal and her trusty tripod, and then walked along the much easier Miners Track for about half an hour, returning to find that Chantal (and her trusty tripod) had started to come and find us, but had been distracted by photo opportunities.
On the final day, we headed for Dolgellau, which I remembered as a pleasant traditional Welsh town. I remembered wrongly. It is a very ordinary Welsh town, and we decided to look for alternatives in the area. At this point we realised that the maps were still at the cottage. After a brief browse on the smart phones we headed for Portmeirion, an Italian styled village further north, but after driving for an hour, we arrived to discoverthat there was a £10 entrance fee, and dogs were not allowed. Next stop was the seaside town of Portmadoch, which was quickly rejected in favour of Harlech, which was also not as picturesque as I remembered, although we did locate a nice pub lunch. The pub itself was average. Finally we had a pleasant drive to Betws-y-Coed, which was actually better than I remembered. In the hour left before the shops closed, we managed to find a present for our friends who own the cottage, and I was persuaded to allow Chantal to buy a nice candle-lantern for our house from the same shop. I will not elaborate on the price – sufficient to say that Chantal always chooses quality, and the staff were very attentive.
It was a delightful few days, and we are pleased to say that Steve has agreed that we can use the cottage again.
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.
