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Saturday 20th August
In August 2022, Michelle, Aurora and I headed over to Wales, staying in a coastal village near Porthmadog. After getting the dogs settled with the sitter who’d be looking after them for the week, we headed off for a thankfully uneventful drive across the width of Britain.
Five hours later we got the first sight of our home from home for the next week, a light and airy bungalow in the small seaside village of Morfa Bychan.
Sunday 21st August
After a tiring drive the day before, we needed to decompress a little. We had a relaxed morning in the bungalow, then headed over to the nearby beach for a couple of hours in the afternoon.
After a ten minute walk, we were treated to a wide open expanse of beautifully soft sand. The day was a little overcast but still mild and dry, and I was pleasantly surprised how few people were there.
With the pandemic of 2020, it had been a few years since we’d been to the beach, so with Aurora’s love of swimming it wasn’t surprising that she beelined straight for the water.
Once the swimming was done, no visit to the beach would be complete without pointlessly digging in the sand for awhile.
As the afternoon faded into evening we decided to pack up and head back.
Monday 22nd August
On the Monday we’d arranged to head up Snowdon, the highest UK mountain outside of Scotland. All things considered we’d decided that hiking up it was outside our capabilities, but as luck should have it there’s a railway to get up there.
As it turned out Monday was rather wet and windy, so all things considered we were rather glad we weren’t hiking up there!
Unfortunately as a hangover from the impact of the pandemic, the line had only re-opened up to Clogwyn Station, about three-quarters of the way up. Given the weather, however, this wasn’t a major concern — I don’t think the view would’ve been any better.
The route winding its way up a forested valley, affording delightful view of the deciduous woodland which covers the rocky terrain on the lower slopes.
The route afforded us an excellent view of the upper reaches of the Ceunant Mawr waterfall on the Afon Hwch, flowing under the railway viaduct.
As an aside, “afon” is Welsh for “river”. As far as I can tell “ceunant mawr” means “large gorge” — I’ll stick with the rather more poetic Welsh, I think!
As we got higher the scenery opened out into moorland, populated primarily by cows and sheep, with the occasional hillwalker.
As we approached Clogwyn Station, the clouds rolled in rather and it promised to be a rather wet and windy stop.
As we got closer we had to carefully pass another train on the way down. I’d imagine this requires some careful planning since most of the route only has a single track.
It’s never a good sign for the weather when even the sheep are huddling under rocks…
Finally we stopped and got to enjoy the views, such as they were. It was… Bracing.
The return journey afforded some more beautiful vistas — admittedly it would have been nice if we could seen a little further, but at least it means I can describe the atmosphere of the photos as “moody”.
After some time it was our turn to wait while the next train coming up passed us.
As we returned to the lower slopes we enjoyed more views of the wooded valleys and Ceunant Mawr, as well as occasional glimpses of Llanberis getting closer.
And then we were done. After a quick trip to the gift shop, and the obligatory purchase of the guidebook, we headed off back to our bungalow for dinner.
Tuesday 23rd August
On the Tuesday we took a drive into the nearby town of Porthmadog to wonder around the shops and explore the town.
I managed to take not a single photo on the day, however, so here are some of other people’s to give you a flavour of the place.
