Heading to high country

 Saturday 

20 July 

Day 20

76 to go

When we parked yesterday, we paid until 6pm and this gave us overnight parking until 8.40am, so we knew it was another early start. It didn’t bother us though as we were awake by 7am. Unfortunately the sun not setting til after 10pm and throwing light back at us at 4am, means our sleeping patterns are well out of whack and are now more inline with the long summer days of the northern hemisphere. Well at least mine are. Paul gets his usual amount of rest only. 

We settled into our morning routine, breakfast, dressed, packed and gone, heading for Caernarfon. Being early Saturday, the roads out of Aberystwyth were quiet and we snuck away easily. Our journey to our accommodation, a converted barn, was to take us two hours. 

The drive was a spectacular and picturesque one. We passed through numerous, quaint towns and between these there was no end of incredible views. The cloud was low over the green range, the roads were winding and we zigzagged our way through high country. 

I checked the weather forecast, it was saying 100% chance of rain from 10am and sure enough it was right, with the first spits of rain hitting the windscreen. We opted to drive into Porthmadog, instead of going to the accommodation. After finding parking, we walked along in the drizzle and then the rain. This is another beachside destination, but there would be no sand castles today. 

We had watched a steam train wind through the town, leaving its tell tale sign of smoke puffs, as we drove into town. They do tours to Snowdon and through the high country. 

We opted to walk the Main Street, dodging the umbrellas and coated people. Paul had seen the Purple Moose Brewery Store, so we stopped in there for a few take aways, before heading on to Holyhead. 

The drive was well and truly wet now, so the sight seeing would be limited we feared. 20 miles out from Holyhead, we crossed over Britannia Bridge and then travelled across the Isle of Anglesey all the way to Holyhead. 

We found a park and began walking through the town. This again is a seaside travel spot, but being wet, it was not that impressive. We were hungry, so stopped for lunch at a small cafe. Following filling up, we did a quick walk around and then went back to the car, ready to retrace our steps. We stopped before crossing the bridge at the town with the longest name; Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. It means The Church of Mary In The Hollow Of The white Hazel Near The Fierce Whirlpool And The Church Of Tysilio By The Red Cave. Here’s how to sat it https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fHxO0UdpoxM  The town doesn’t go by this long moniker rather the train station is Llanfairpwll Station and it serves the village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyll. 

After taking obligatory pictures, we joined the long line of traffic returning over the bridge and making our way to Caernarfon. This was the largest town to our accommodation in Nebo. We stocked up on supplies and then drove out to the Old Stables, arriving via very narrow lanes amongst the farming lands by 2.45pm.

The rain was still peeing down and we were happy to just get in and enjoy the lovely space. 

We had dinner at 6pm. The rain had stopped finally, so we went outside for a walk across the small paddock. The clouds were low across the mountains so the view was somewhat veiled. We could see across to the sea, looking in the direction of West. We walked up the lane, checking out the rushing water from the stream. A horse came out from its stable to say hi, but the fencing didn’t allow it to get close. 

We returned to the barn happy for a quiet night in.