Day 4 started brightly enough, but with snow or sleet forecast for later and almost 15.5 miles to cover, I cheated a little and took the easier road option for the first section. I soon arrived in Carrog where the information board told me that Paul McCartney’s brother, Mike, was married in the local church in 1968. Presumably Sir Paul was there, but it didn’t say. (See pics 10 – 12).
After that it was up into the hills and the deep snow, which was well over a foot deep in places. (See pics 17 and 20). Back down on the road I came upon a signpost indicating it was only half a mile to the Sun Inn. The pub wasn’t marked on the map and, as it was (last) Saturday, I hoped it would be open. Sure enough it was and I enjoyed a spot of lunch before setting off in the sleet…
The last section followed the canal towpath from the Horseshoe Falls (much prettier in sunshine) all the way into Llangollen.
If you saw my ‘mobile’ post last week, you will have noticed that there was more overnight snow. And it was still snowing when I left the very nice Bwch yn Uchaf B&B. I therefore decided to skip the brief detour from the road up the hill (seen in pic 2) as it simply came back to the road about a kilometre further on. Not surprisingly, I didn’t see any cars come along the road at all.
However, in the hope of clearer weather to come, I did decide to go uphill to take in the panoramic viewpoints marked on the map. I was lucky in that the snow did come and go to give me one or two, albeit very dull, grey pictures of Bala Lake, or Llyn Tegid as it’s called in Welsh.
I rather jokingly said to a few people that it would be downhill to go from the source to the mouth of the river, but how wrong I was! There were several good climbs along the route, and the highest on this day (at 1050ft or 320m) can be seen in picture no. 13.
You may also notice certain recurring themes in these posts. One is the number of different way signs encountered. The Dee Way seems to take in sections of several different paths, including, on this leg, the Cross Britain Way and the Tegid Way. Churches are another feature, not because I’m a religious person, far from it, but they do provide a bit of occasional shelter (if open) and, for me, they hold a certain fascination. It could be their age or construction or the objects seen inside. On this particular occasion, I was touched by the relevance of the “Church Door” text, which was by the entrance to Llandderfel church. Have a read of pic 26 and see what you think.
Pubs or, more precisely, real ales are also a passion of mine, but more of that to come… 🍺😊
First, a little background… Some months ago now, Jude and I were browsing the second hand books in the local, Harlech gallery and I came across a Kittiwake publication called The Dee Way. It describes a walk from either Prestatyn or Hoylake, which straddle the Dee estuary, to the source of the river Dee, or Afon Dyfrdwy, to give it its proper Welsh name. The route can be split into ten ‘doable’ sections, averaging around 12 to 14 miles per day (depending upon which start point you choose).
I like to do things differently, so I decided to do the walk from the source to Hoylake, which any golfers out there will know, is the home of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, where The Open will be held this year. I think of it as my little pilgrimage. 😊 However, ten days in a row is a bit too much for me to tackle at once, so I’ve divided it into two, with the first ‘half’ going from the source to Chirk and I’ll do the second part later in the year.
I booked the accommodation about 3 or 4 weeks ago, so when the forecast was for snow and sleet, I did think twice, but decided to go ahead anyway. As you will see in the coming days, there were challenges… Not least of these was on Day 1 where, almost as soon as Jude had dropped me off, I came across some very slippery looking stepping stones (see pic 2). Not wishing to start my journey with wet feet (or worse), I took a short detour over a bridge. From there I followed a good forest track and I looked and looked for the turn off to the source, but no path was to be seen. (See pics 7 and 8). The book warns that the trek to the source shouldn’t be tackled in bad visibility, so I turned around (at the blue arrow on the detailed map in pic 36) and so began my journey east. Along the way, with no signs and again no obvious path, I had to rely upon my mobile OS map GPS to get across the lumpy, tussocky field in pic 15.
The snow soon dissipated though as I approached Llanuwchllyn (meaning the church above the lake), which is indeed where you will find St Deiniol’s church (see pics 26 to 28) and is the terminus of the Bala Lake (narrow gauge) Railway. (See pics 32 and 33).
I’ve often wondered how easy it would/should be to create posts on the move. Given the quality of mobile phone images these days, it ought to be simple to post something semi-live… (Or is that what Facebook is for…? 🤔)
Anyway, I’ve just downloaded Jetpack on my phone and thought I’d try it out, because…
I’m currently on a 5 day walk along the Dee Way. (Today is day 2). As usual, I’ve been taking photos with my trusty point and shoot, so the full set of 5 posts will be sometime next week… In the meantime to give you a flavour for the weather today (& I hope this works), here is a picture taken from the B&B bedroom this morning and below that one from the evening before – of the Bala railway terminus at Llanuwchllyn.
For the past few days we’ve had our good friend Arthur staying. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before but, he’s an artist and a very good one at that. He’s a Member of the Society of Architectural Illustrators, so it came as no surprise when he walked across our estuary to paint a picture of Portmeirion, which is now posted on his website, here.
Anyway, he had never been to the top of Snowdon (Wales’ highest mountain at 1,085m or 3,560ft) so, on a reasonably clear day, with intermittent showers possible, we set off. We took the PYG Track from Pen-y-Pass to the summit, before descending to Llanberis along the path which runs, for the most part, close to the railway line. For some reason this is called the Llanberis path. 🤔 The top section of the track was closed for engineering works, so the summit was not as busy as usual. (See previous post pic here).
As you will see, we did get caught in a shower, but Arthur came prepared…
I don’t have tick lists as such, but one of my goals is to walk up to the top of all of the mountains that we can see from our house. Moel Hebog is the one which is more or less in the centre of the banner picture at the top of my site and is 782m or 2,566ft high. I’m surprised it’s taken my this long to do it, but on Sunday, with the heatwave still going strong, I set off from the car park between Nantmor and the Aberglaslyn bridge. After 2 minutes, I realised that I was heading in the wrong direction, but I was glad in a way as otherwise I wouldn’t have captured the two butterflies in pics 1 and 2 below. 😀
The route follows the east side of the river (or afon) Glaslyn to the quaint little village of Beddgelert (which was packed with tourists) before heading almost directly up to the summit. From the top, with my binoculars, I could just about make out our house through the heat haze, but the views in all directions were fantastic. Not only that but, while I sat and ate my lunch, I was treated to a fly past by a red kite and several Wall Browns living up to their names on the dry stone wall leading up to the summit cairn.
On my return, I’d hoped to see one of the Welsh Highland Railway steam trains passing by, but I had to be content with a shot of one in the Beddgelert station. (See pic 31).
Every since I walked south along the Wales Coast Path from our house, I’ve been itching to do the same, heading north. So, on Thursday, despite strong overnight winds, which promised to continue all morning and grey skies, I set off. As you will see from the gallery, the weather was changeable to say the least. I had everything from bright sunshine to hailstones, with typical April showers in between, but it was very enjoyable nonetheless.
I wasn’t expecting to take so many photos, given the overcast skies, but I think you’ll agree there was plenty of variety along the walk. For example, I was just bemoaning to myself, how dull the middle ‘road’ section was, through the villages of Penrhyndeudraeth and Minffordd when, firstly, a Ffestiniog Railway steam train came along and stopped in Minfordd station and then I was treated to an impromptu “One Man and His Dog” performance as a farmer sent his dog off to round up some stray lambs and sheep.
The sun has continued to shine here in North Wales and, indeed, across the rest of the UK I believe. So yesterday it was the perfect day to take on Wales’ highest peak at 1,085m or 3,560ft. I decided to do it via the Watkin Path, so called because it was created by Sir Edward Watkin and was Britain’s first designated footpath. It was opened by the then Prime Minister, William Gladstone, in 1892 and there is a plaque on a large rock to commemorate the occasion. (See pic 8).
Snowdon (or Yr Wyddfa in Welsh) is reputed to be Britain’s most walked mountain and you can see why when, on a fine day like yesterday, the hoards ascend (some via the train to the top) and queue very politely to capture that all important summit photo. I’ve been to the very top before, on a much quieter day thankfully, so I was content to take pictures from just below the summit cairn.
To make the walk into a loop, I descended via the South Ridge or Bwlch Main, which I thought would be quite precipitous, but in the event was just a bit rocky underfoot. The path eventually turned to the left to meet up again with the Watkin Path, just below Gladstone’s rock and just above the Waterfalls, where many people were having picnics or taking advantage of the “fairy pools” below.
On the 19th December last year (which seems quite a long time ago now) the weather forecast was set to be blue skies all around – and you can’t say that too often in North Wales! I therefore decided to do a walk from our new home to one of the smaller summits nearby. Moel Ysgyfarnogod* is only 623 metres (2,044 ft) high, but it provides fabulous views all around and especially across the Glaslyn-Dwyryd* estuary.
Despite the glorious weather, I hardly saw a soul all day, but I was a little taken aback to be stood face-to-face with the animals in pic no. 24.
The first few photos below were taken about an hour before I set off, but I thought I’d include them as they sort of set the scene for what’s to come… (and there’s more tomorrow. 😊)
* I plan to do a post on the Welsh alphabet some time (soon, I promise) to help you to at least try to read and pronounce these words correctly. Many of you may be surprised to learn that there are 29 letters in the Welsh alphabet (despite there being no k, q, v, x or z). Certainly I was!
If you like nature and/or steam railways, this is a post for you. 😊 Please read on…
Many people, in the UK at least, will be aware of the narrow gauge railways which were once used to ferry slate from the mines and quarries in North Wales to Porthmadog for onward shipment around the world. Some of those historic steam trains are now being used by the Ffestiniog and Welsh Mountain Railways to take holidaymakers from Porthmadog to either Caernarfon or the old mines themselves at Blaenau Ffestiniog. However, not many, including me before I went on this walk, will know that the area is also noted for some of the last Atlantic oak woods in Europe.
The Coedydd Maentwrog Nature Reserve is described as one of Wales’s “rainforests” and, like all rainforests, is considered of global importance. Conditions here are perfect for the growth of 200 (yes, that’s two hundred) species of mosses and liverworts and 120 sorts of lichen. (Who knew that there were that many on the planet, let alone in one small wood in the corner of North Wales and how do the experts distinguish the difference? 🤔) In addition the woods are home to over 286 different kinds of small moth and the area is the UK stronghold of the rare Lesser Horseshoe bat. (The numbers are truly amazing, don’t you think?!)
In the gallery below, I’ve captured a few images of some moss and lichen as well as some flowers but I’ll leave you to work out what sort they might be. 🤔
As for the route, Judith and I set off from the car park next to Llyn (lake) Mair and walked up a path which runs, for the most part, alongside the railway track, until we reached Dduallt station, where the track does a complete 360 degree loop. We waited there until the next train arrived and we watched the happy, waving passengers go by! (We were just like The Railway Children!! 😊)
We walked back the same way and, on the way, as a special treat for you steam train enthusiasts, I took a video of one of the trains passing by. 🚂 Note that the first two carriages are two of the first ever (and possibly last remaining) fixed wheel carriages built in the UK. At the time, the engineers were worried about the carriages toppling over on the narrow gauge. So, firstly, the carriages are very short (so that they could go around the bends – it was only later that bogies were added at either end to allow the carriages to be longer and the wheels to ‘turn’ independently) and secondly, the passengers sit with their backs in the centre facing directly outwards, (to keep the centre of gravity over the centre of the tracks). You live and learn. I hope you enjoy!
Footnote: All of these images were captured on 11th October 2021.
