We're on the Road Again!

Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd May 2019 ⛅🌞🌞🌞⛅🌞🌞🌞🌞⛅
Mileage 156 from Butterley Bank CS near Ripley to Coed-y-Llwyn Caravan Park in Wales.
Parking Co-ordinates 52.93583, -3.9585

After 57 days at Butterley Bank CS (which we now call 'home' because it's situated very near to most of our family) we set off today for a month tour around Wales.  But before I  tell you about that I'll just make a few jottings about how we filled our time while we were 'at home'.   We arrived  (from Spain via France) on 26th March and our immediate goal was to visit all our family and hug our children and grandchildren after our nearly 5 month winter absence!

Paul, Sarah, Max just peeping out from behind Adam, Ben, Evelyn and Louise and Me
Then Thomas and Jack and the extra one on the left is Ellis.
Only  person missing was Vicky - wish you'd been with us x

Thomas

Jack

Evelyn practising her ballet moves

Max looking for a tasty stone

Then next on our agenda was to look after John's Mum while his sister Val and her husband took a short holiday in their motorhome.  But that didn't quite work out as well as planned because during the first few days of their absence John and I developed flu (that was much worse than the kind that men usually get), and  unfortunately, we shared it with Mum!  It was horrible to say the least and I think it's fair to say that while I recovered quite quickly John was poorlier than I've ever seen him in 44 years of marriage, and poor Rose (Mum) ended up in hospital for a week with both flu and pneumonia!

Our illness also initially curtailed a lot of visiting and certainly slowed us down in getting our planned jobs done, and I suppose that was why our stay became prolonged.  But the main tasks of getting the van serviced and 'Up Plated' were quickly completed - we've had a new cam belt and also had air suspension fitted along with 4 new slightly bigger tyres!   All of the above means we can now carry up to 3850 kg and we'll no longer run the risk of being overloaded - therefore we've added a few extra bits of kit  which include a washing machine and a small tent to our already bulging garage!   However, because we're still awaiting the return of our registration documents from DVLA we can't leave the country yet - hence our month long tour of Wales which has facilitated us catching up with friends we made while we were over in Spain last year!

So over the weekend before our departure farewells were said to our family and friends, and then on Tuesday (22nd) we pointed T4rdis2 towards our first destination which was the Coed-y-Llwyn Caravan park near Blaenau Ffestiniog.   Happily we enjoyed a pleasant uneventful journey without any major traffic problems, and on our arrival we were given a very warm welcome by Kev and Gail. Then later our evening was spent with them in the Bryn Arms Pub catching up over a very tasty meal and of course 🍺🍺.

Millie

The 4 of us (+ Millie) also spent Wednesday together and our hosts took us away from the camp site for a spectacular walk over quite rough terrain through the Cwm Bychan Valley and on to Beddgelert, then back to the car park beside the Afon Galslyn River which was a calm and tranquil place today but which showed obvious signs of it's mighty force when it had been in spate.

Some of the fantastic views we were treated to

As we went we were treated to wild and dramatic views of mountains and countryside, and also some of the old workings from both the Nantmore and Sygun Copper mines.  At Beddgelert we picnicked beside the river, and as our walk had been quite strenuous we indulged in a well earned pint in the very quaint Prince Llewellyn Pub, and then even after our walk was complete our day wasn't done.  Gail and Kev invited us home for a delicious paella over which we did a little forward planning for Christmas in Spain later this year.

Kev and Gail

Me taking care not to fall in!

Friday 24th May 2019 ⛅⛅⛅☁☁☁
Mileage 53 miles from Coed-y-Llwyn Caravan Park to Cae Ffynnon CS on Anglesey
Parking Co-ordinates 53.37675, -4.3917

This morning we said good bye to Gail and Kev and thanked them for making our stay such an enjoyable one - we couldn't have wished for a more welcoming and entertaining time and we're really looking forward to meeting up again later in the year.

Today T4rdis2 was heading towards Anglesey but on the way we decided to stop off in Porthmadog for a little exploration.  We parked (without encountering any height restrictions) near the railway station and then headed out through the town (where we found loads of artisan shops of many kinds) towards the marina.

Porthmadog Marina as it is now

And how it was in times gone by 

Nowadays it's full of modern sailing craft but in times gone by it was the main point of export for the many tons of slate that used to be produced in this region.  Then a bit further along we toddled onto the Cob which is a mile long embankment that holds back the sea, and it's also here that the Rheilffordd Ffestiniog Railway starts.  It opened in 1836 with the main purpose of carrying slate from the mountains to the sea, but now it carries tourists on a 13 mile journey from Porthmadog harbour over the mountains to Blaenau Ffestiniog.

After our wander and a quick stop at Aldi and a wool shop (for my next project) we nipped back to the van for coffee, and then we were soon back on the road and heading for our crossing over to Anglesey which we could have done either by the Menai Suspension Bridge (built in 1826) or the Britannia Bridge which was originally  built a bit later in 1850.  We chose the later but the structure we crossed wasn't the original.  That suffered extensive fire damage in 1970 and the rebuilding of it took many years to fully complete.  1972 saw only the railway part of it open and it wasn't until 1980 that road traffic was able to use it.

Once on the island we turned our wheels towards The Cae Ffynnon campsite, but on the way we passed though Almwch which was described as an 'Ancient Copper town' - John's comment was 'is this where retired policemen live'😂!    Cae Ffynnon will be home for the next 4 nights, and it has to be said that it wasn't our first choice!  It's very basic - just a bit of a field really - it's got just one loo and a rusty old shower that costs a quid, but as it's bank holiday weekend it was the only one we could find with a vacancy so it will have to do -  but I think our ablutions will defo be within the comfort of our own little home!  It's about 4 miles from the coast so our bikes will be put to very good use here - especially as John has planned a 40 miler for tomorrow!  I just hope the sun shines🌞😂

Bye for now😙😙

Click here to see our Welsh camping spots