The Moelwyns from Croesor, Gwynedd, North Wales

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The weather has been so bad recently that, last Monday, while the sun was out (and, crucially, no rain was forecast) I simply had to take the opportunity to go for a long walk. Bear in mind that almost every day, from our home, we gaze across the estuary at several mountains – Hebog, Snowdon, Cnicht and the Moelwyns, Mawr and Bach. (See pic 1 for our view of the last of these). So, it was a tough decision to make, as all of them have their merits but, in the end, I settled on a walk up to Moelwyn Mawr and across to its smaller neighbour, Moelwyn Bach, from the small village of Croesor.

I did this walk nearly two years ago, with my golfing buddy, Ian, so I decided to make it a little different this time by taking the direct (unmarked) route down from Moelwyn Bach. And a good decision it was, as the path was wide, grassy and firm, (see pic 22) with only the last 150 yards or so, along the flat, slightly undefined and squelchy underfoot.

I only saw 4 other people all day and, by pure chance, that was 2 on the very top of Moelwyn Mawr (a guy with his grown up son) and 2 ladies on the top of Moelwyn Bach. On the first occasion, I was surprised to see the 2 guys, as I was busy taking photos of the views and, on the second, one of the ladies was surprised to see me as I was sheltering from the wind behind the summit cairn having my lunch! (I at least had heard their voices as they approached).

TransAlp 2012 (Part 3 of 3)

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And so we come to the last few days of our trip. One of the many highlights, apart from all the amazing views and reaching Monte Carlo in one piece, has to be the astonishing structure, which I was told was called Napoleon’s Way, seen in pics 6-8. It was certainly easier than trying to ride, or carry your bike, across all those boulders!

TransAlp 2012 (Part 1 of 3)

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I was reminded the other day that I hadn’t posted pictures of the ‘TransAlp’ mountain bike ride which eight of my work colleagues and I did way back in August 2012. (I mentioned in my Trans-Swiss post of May 2020 that I would publish a post “in due course” – well, better late than never!) The route meandered along the French/Italian Alps, from Orsières in Switzerland to Monte Carlo on the Mediterranean coast.

The trip took 10 days in total and our overnight accommodation varied from the Elisabetta mountain hut (on the Tour du Mont Blanc, where we were squeezed in on the 3rd tier bunks and slept shoulder to shoulder), to a set of suites overlooking a harbour on the French Riviera!

I’m afraid I cannot remember all the places I photographed on the route (and my book is still filed away in a removal box somewhere), so my apologies for not adding text to all the images in the gallery below. But I hope the pictures will speak for themselves and give you a flavour for the trip and the fantastic weather that we had! It was such a contrast to the previous year.

The Dee Way, Part 2, Day 5 (of 5), Parkgate to the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake

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When Dave Berry created this route and wrote his book, I don’t suppose he envisaged a golfer doing it in reverse, as a sort of pilgrimage to the Royal Liverpool Golf Club. Well, that was more or less what it was, especially with The Open taking place there this year. Though I have to say that I was slightly disappointed upon arrival, as the course was not as ‘awesome’ as I’d imagined, partly perhaps because it was still covered in stands which were gradually being dismantled. (It looked just like a building site, with official entrance and exit gates for all the comings and goings of the articulated lorries).

The last ‘leg’ was also pretty boring because much of it followed an old, disused railway track, now turned into a recreational path cum cycleway, which is good, but, with trees and bushes almost all the way alongside, there were very few ‘views’ to speak of – apart from the odd glimpse of another golf course. (See pics 8 & 11). 👍😊

By the time I ’emerged’ at West Kirby, the wind had got up and it was nice to see a lot of people taking advantage of the various water sports now on offer. Though why the guy was running where he was (see pic 19), is completely beyond me! 🤔

My apologies for the quality of picture 14. I saw 4 or 5 similar looking dragonflies during my walk but it was the only photo I managed to get!

Porthdinllaen Peninsular Walk, Morfa Nefyn, North Wales

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One of the beauties of being retired, is that when the weather is fine, you can go out and do ‘stuff’. But that does mean ‘stuff’ gets in the way of blogging… However, when it rains (as forecast for today and the next few days) it means you have a chance to catch up. So, my apologies to Jude’s mum, Angela, who came to visit a couple of weeks ago now. I know she always reads my posts and has probably been wondering whether she missed this series of photos.

We took a trip over to Morfa Nefyn to walk around the peninsular. The coastal path goes around several holes of the Morfa Nefyn 9 hole ‘Point’ or Blue golf course (and as such makes it quite tricky for golfers to play when there are lots of walkers milling around – not that there was anyone on the course while we were there). For any golfers out there, or anyway, check out these flyover videos – particularly the 1st and 4th holes. It’s quite a challenging course.

Anyway, I digress… No sooner had we arrived, I noticed several butterflies fluttering about the bushes at the edge of the car park. After 10 minutes of running up and down, I was particularly pleased to capture a Ringlet, as I don’t recall seeing one since arriving back in the UK. 😊👍

Clwb Golff Brenhinol Dewi Sant (Royal St David’s Golf Club), Harlech, North Wales

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I’ve mentioned a few times before that the main reason I don’t post as often these days is due to joining the above golf club when I came back to the UK and therefore playing a lot more golf than I did in Switzerland. Well, the weather has been glorious for the past week, so I thought it was about time I took my camera down to the club to show you why I’m so distracted…

Yesterday there was a regular “Monthly Stableford” competition and, although I didn’t play very well, I did manage to capture a few photos (if not birdies), including one of an orchid while searching for my lost ball! (Every cloud has a silver lining! 😊)

With thanks to my playing partners, Roy, John and Barry for putting up with me wandering off to take these pictures!

Please note that if you page through the gallery, each image has a caption, which explains each hole.

Chelsea Flower Show

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A few weeks ago now, my wife, Jude, had a rather pleasant surprise when she was offered two tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show – for free! Our ex-neighbours in Switzerland, Cecile and Olivier, had ordered them for the wrong day and they decided to give them to Jude. I don’t think they knew, but it was also for the day of her birthday, so it was an especially nice gift.

This post, therefore, is to say a huge THANK YOU to Cecile and Olivier, as we had a wonderful time exploring the various show gardens and exhibits in the Great Pavilion.

You will note that I’ve not tried to name each photograph as, not being much of a gardener myself, I didn’t want to make any mistakes, but I think the huge variety of colours and shapes speak for themselves.

And, if you’d like a nice Mad Hatter’s tea party water feature (see last pic), it’ll set you back a cool £75,000 (or $92,500) ! 😲

Snowdonia Tour, Day 3 (of 4), Betws-y-Coed to the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel, North Wales

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After a hearty breakfast at the Glan Aber Hotel, we set off on what would be the most climbing of any of the days, at nearly 4,000ft (or 1,200m). Our route was initially along yet another section of the Snowdonia Slate Trail, alongside of the Afon Llugwy (river) and past the Swallow Falls. From there we wandered through the woods and across the moor to Capel Curig. That’s where we parted from the Slate Trail and the ‘serious’ climbing started, up to Y Foel Goch (@ 2,640ft or 805m) and, from there, slightly down to the Miner’s track.

Eager to ‘bag’ Glyder Fach (@3,262ft or 994m), Dave, Pete and I carried on to the top, leaving Tim and Liam to meander down to the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel. The summit was a mass of random boulders, which took some navigating to get onto the actual top but, with Dave’s ‘perfectly safe’ assistance, we managed it. (See pics 29P and 30). We scrambled back down and returned to the Miner’s track to reach the hotel in good time for dinner. 😋

The Pen-y-Gwryd hotel has quite a history, it’s famous for being the training headquarters of the first successful Everest expedition in 1953. Several well known climbers and celebrities have signed their names on one of the ceilings, including Sir Edmund Hilary, George Mallory, Alan Hinkes, Don Willans and Sir Roger Bannister. The Beatles once visited the hotel, but they were not deemed famous enough (at the time no doubt) to be invited to sign the ceiling!
For more information on this rather amazing place, please click or touch here.

With thanks to Pete for the use of some of his photos (suitably watermarked) and the ‘loan’ of his camera to take the summit selfie, (pic 30).

Alnmouth to Warkworth Walk, Northumberland, England

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For my last walk while we were on holiday, I left Jude pottering around Alnwick and drove down to Alnmouth railway station, (where, most unusually, there’s free parking 👍) to do an out and back walk along a section of the England Coast Path. As you will see the weather wasn’t great, though it didn’t rain and there was a small incentive to get to Warkworth (other than the golf course – pic 16 in case you hadn’t guessed). 😋

I was equally puzzled and amused by the signpost in picture 11, indicating north and south, and I wondered how anyone walking the path would not know which way they were going when they got to that point. 🤔