2021 June – North Wales

We headed to North Wales for a few days towards the end of June. On our way we visited Attingham Park near Shrewsbury for a 4 mile walk. Early in the walk we found ourselves in the very large walled garden and enjoyed meandering around the beds and borders.

The weather was kind and we enjoyed our walk which took us through the Deer Park.

After spending the night in Shrewsbury we headed across to Bodnant Garden near Conwy. On our way we stopped at Betwys Y Coed and Gerry was impressed with the Railway Station.

Readers of the Blog will know that we have visited Bodnant every time we stay in North Wales. The 55 metre long Laburnum Arch and Rhododendrons were well passed their best, but we were mesmerised by a large meadow of wild flowers and grasses.

Cultivated to support a rich mix of flowers, grasses and herbs including the common spotted orchid, yellow rattle, red clover, and common knapweed, the meadow provides amazing colours but above all a rich nectar source in early summer for bees and butterflies.
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For us, the most beautiful flower we came across is shown below although we don’t know its name. – but it was stunning!

After Bodnant, we headed for LLanberis and the Llanberis Pass on our way to Beddgelert. We always find the journey (in good weather) beautiful with amazing scenery and the views down into valleys or up to high mountains equally inspiring. At Beddgelert several shops and properties and the pedestrian bridge over the river Colwyn to the primary school still showed damage from the flooding just prior to our visit in September 2020. This time the river was flowing very gently.

After a pleasant stroll along the banks of the river Glaslyn, we headed for the White Lion Royal Hotel in Bala. The evening was spent with a stroll by Lake Bala and a meal at Bala Spice. The restaurant is nothing to write home about but the food was lovely as usual. In fact, when we visited again the next night, we found our table prepared for us with glasses and bottle opener (it’s a BYOB place).
We spent the next day walking across the Mawddach Estuary to Barmouth. The tide was ebbing quite fast and we were surprised to see quite a few large jelly fish.
Returning across the river we walked to Fairbourne and then drove back to Bala to travel on the Bala Lake railway.

It was certainly the day of trains one at Morfa Mawddach station, and then one of the Fairbourne Railway trains before the Bala Lake Railway.


We had a lovely view across lake bala from our open carriage!

Continuing the railway theme, the next day we drove to Aberystwyth to travel on the 2 ft gauge Vale of Rheidol Railway. When British Railways withdrew steam engines, it retained the three engines (numbered 7, 8, and 9) to run the Rheidol line as a commercial heritage railway. The line was privatised in 1989. Now run by a charity, the narrow gauge locomotives have been returned to their Great Western livery that predated the formation of British Railways in 1948. Our trip from Aberystwyth to Devil’s Bridge took an hour and we were then able to walk to the Devil’s Falls and have a picnic before boarding the train for the return journey. The Loco was absolutely immaculate.

A lovely end to another great trip to North Wales.