Snowdonia Tour, Day 4 (of 4), The Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel to Beddgelert, North Wales

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The forecast for day 4 was for light rain from mid-day. This was not great news when we were planning to go over Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales at 1085m or 3,560ft. It had to be done though, as Pete and I had been to the top of the other 4 highest peaks in the UK and Ireland on previous walks – the first being Ben Nevis (@1,345m or 4,413ft) in 1997 when Pete, Tim, Liam, Colin & I did the West Highland Way. That was in the clouds too!

For the record, Dave joined Pete and I on a trip to the English Lake District the following year and we did Scafell Pike (@978m or 3,209ft). A trip to southern Ireland followed in 2000 and another friend, Paul, joined Liam, Dave, Pete and I on a 4 day walk, which included Carrauntoohil (@1,038m or 3,407ft). And it would be 14 years later that Tim, Liam, Pete and I completed most of the 19 mile Mourne Wall Walk in Northern Ireland, which included an ascent of Slieve Donard (@850m or 2,790ft). So Snowdon was long overdue…

Although low cloud covered the top 250m or so of the summit, we didn’t actually get rained on once all day. Indeed we had no rain on all 4 days – which must be some sort of record for North Wales!

My thanks go to all the boys for making the effort to come over to ‘my’ little corner of the country and for all the usual banter and fantastic memories (& beers) that we have shared. 😊

Jodie and Alex’s Wedding

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Almost exactly 5 years ago now, I posted pictures of Hannah and Mike’s wedding. Well, after a 2 year delay, due to you-know-what, it was the turn of her sister, Hannah, to marry Alex.

The wedding was held at the Loch Melfort Hotel, which is around 20 miles south of Oban, on the west coast of Scotland. The happy couple were blessed with glorious sunshine all day and the actual ceremony took place in what can only be described as a magnificent setting, right by the side of the loch. Inevitably many kilts were in evidence and a piper played… I hope this video and the gallery below gives you a feel for the atmosphere on their very special day.

(Suggestion: For the optimum “Scottish” experience, after viewing the video, allow the music to loop around while you view the gallery of photos). 😊

Common Blue butterfly

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It seems a lifetime since I posted some pictures of butterflies. But there was great excitement (at least on on my part) in the garden this afternoon when a blue butterfly fluttered by and came to rest. I dashed in and grabbed my camera and, thankfully, managed to get a couple of reasonable shots from above and below to help to identify it. I was hoping for something exotic, but it appears to be ‘just’ a Common Blue male (Polymmatus icarus). Gone are the days I’m afraid when these posts will be filled with several species. 😌

And, yes, our grass does need cutting!

South West Coast Path Walk, Day 4 of 4, Porthtowan to Gwithian, Cornwall, England

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Although Day 4 was perhaps the shortest, at around 11.5 miles or 19km, it certainly had more ascent and descent, as you will see from the pics below.

The logistics of this event were a little more complex than usual, but I’ll not bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that it would be very remiss of me not to mention a few people who supported us during our walk. So a very big THANKYOU to:

  • My wife, Jude, for ferrying me to the start and back from the finish, not to mention helping with our car in the middle.
  • Tim’s wife, Hayley, for similarly providing a taxi service for the boys to the start on Day 1 and for us all on days 3 and 4. And to both Tim and Hayley for accommodating us in their wonderful home, which included a fabulous celebratory meal at the end.
  • Three and a half year old London and her mom, Tiffany, for the welcome banner as we arrived back at Tim’s, (see pic 36). London was an endless source of fun and games. I shall forever be known to her as Grandpa Pig (of Peppa Pig fame), while Dave is “The Naughty Boy”, for not coming down from his bedroom when told.
  • And, lastly, to Pete, Liam, Tim and Dave for their excellent company over the 4 days. It never ceases to amaze me how we fill the days talking about anything and everything, most of which is absolute rubbish! 😉

I hope you enjoyed our little walk.

Cheers! 🍻

Spring has definitely arrived in North Wales…

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There was great excitement here yesterday (on my part anyway) when Jude announced that she had seen a butterfly while pottering around her vegetable garden. No sooner had she uttered the words and I turned around and there it was. (See pic 1). And, later, while admiring all her hard work, I spotted another…

I think the walking season may have just begun. 😊

Christmas Quiz – My Answers

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Firstly a very happy and hopefully very healthy new year to all my followers and a special thanks to all of you who have commented over the past 12 months, it is very much appreciated as I’m sure you all know.

So to the, well my, answers to all those images (repeated below in case you missed my original post), with a little explanation in case you don’t ‘see’ it:

  1. Is obviously a fish – and many commented that it was an Angel fish, which is even more precise. I was pleased that the, albeit quite large, stone was in the right place, making it look a bit like one of those from the deep. The gaping mouth added to the drama!
  2. A tricky one this, which some may have thought was a squirrel and I’d go with that, but I initially though it looked like a deer running away to the left, with its butt in the air. There are two small antlers too, to the top left, so that was my answer.
  3. As soon as I saw this in the sand and maybe it was because we’re now living in Wales and I was hoping to find one, that I thought it was a dragon, breathing fire out of its mouth to the top right and a claw off to the left. But I can also see a lady’s dress.
  4. Again, this ‘spoke’ to me immediately as a roadrunner. My thoughts went back to my youth and all of those wonderful Looney Tunes, with Bugs Bunny (my favourite) and the hapless, but very inventive, Wile E Coyote always failing to catch the Roadrunner. Beep, beep!
  5. Another fairly obvious one which many people got – definitely a scorpion.
  6. Less obvious was what I thought looked like a horse (one of two in this list). It reminded me of one of those sit-on horses on a merry-go-round at the fair, with it’s head in the air and feet never quite touching the ground.
  7. Perhaps the easiest of them all, with it being a rather chic (perhaps Christian Dior?) dress. Maybe the beach is where they got some of their inspiration!
  8. Not so clear is the jellyfish. Perhaps a little bit manufactured to get into this quiz, but at least one person spotted it. Well done Brian!
  9. In the same vane, this horse was not so obvious – particularly with it’s tiny head. but it reminded me of one on those ancient cave paintings, where the perspective is not quite right.
  10. A little clearer was the goose or duck or swan. Again the white ‘eye’ was already there…
  11. …as it was in this image, which looks like a shark to me, but could be many sorts of fish I suppose.
  12. Last but not least was what I thought was a squirrel, with its little legs running off to the right and bushy tail dragging behind.

I hope you enjoyed this little quiz. I think it’s amazing what nature conjures up!

Wales Coast Path Walk, Ynys to Dyffryn Ardudwy

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While you ponder on my Christmas quiz, let me take you for a little walk along the Wales Coast Path… Although it doesn’t actually go by our house, it comes pretty close, like within 300 yards/metres, so it seemed an obvious choice for me to do – or at least a short section of it. The full route is 870 miles (1,400 km) long but, heading south from where we live, this section is ‘only’ about 13 miles (21 km).

These pictures were taken in early November and, as you will see, the weather was fine and it takes in some fabulous scenery, not to mention ‘my’ golf course, which has been taking up some of my time and keeping me away from my walking and blogging duties. (Sorry about that folks!)

I didn’t meet many people on the route, but I did stop to help a man fit a new letter box. My task was to hold the box in place while he fitted and tightened the nuts and bolts. A fine job he/we did I think you will agree. (See pic 13). 😊

Christmas Quiz

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Well, it’s that time of year when (hopefully) you will be meeting up with family and friends and, as I hinted at in my previous post, I thought I would set you a little challenge to keep you and the little ones entertained.

So, there are no ‘right’ answers here, as it’s open to everyone’s view of the world, but the following images ‘speak’ to me in a certain way and all of them look like something (like an animal or object). Of course, I could make it much easier for you by giving you some possible answers but, for now, I’ll let you decide what you think each one is. Depending upon the number of comments that I get, I may repost this in a few days time with ‘my list’ for you to choose from.

Answers/comments by this time next week please, when I will reveal my view of the world, but in the meantime, if you celebrate this time of year, or anyway, have a very merry Christmas and a wonderful, safe and healthy, new year. 🎅🎄

Arrived in North Wales…

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My sincerest apologies for being off the radar for the past month or so, moving house is bad enough, but moving countries has its challenges. There’s been more admin signing out of Switzerland (e.g. changing addresses and cancelling health, accident, house and car insurance) than signing in to Wales (though getting car insurance has also been a bit difficult, due to our Swiss driving licences). And crossing the border, especially out of France, with a van load of our belongings, turned into a bit of a nightmare. (We had to empty almost all the van, which took a day to load, to prove that we had no migrant stowaways). But we’re here now and all is well…

As you will see from the above header photo, we have a lovely view and plenty of wildlife has been to welcome us to our new home. There are 3 buddleia bushes in the garden, so several butterflies have visited over the past 3 weeks, as has at least one dragonfly and a very friendly pheasant. The previous occupant had obviously fed him as he comes running when you open the kitchen window. We’ve called him Phil. (He looks a bit bedraggled below as it was pouring with rain the other morning).

I still have at least 2 Swiss walks to post sometime, but I thought you might like to know that Jude and I are still alive and well… 😊