Little Lolly's Small Adventures: More scenic driving and an old toll bridge.

Our route today, more or less

We did another stunning drive down towards Dolgellau, turning off to head down through a pass to Tywyn where we stopped honey ice cream. Yes, I know we had ice cream yesterday and are not winning the battle of the bulge but not we couldn't pass up the opportunity for one last morsel of the ice cream.

We drove along the coastline to Dolgellau and crossed over River Mawddach using the Penmaenpool Toll Bridge. Penmaenpool Toll Bridge is an old wooden bridge which was built in 1879 to replace the river ferry. We paid 70p to go across the bridge which was a beautiful sturdy-made old bridge and well worth the 'costly' 70p. After crossing the river we drove to Barmouth and then up to Penrhyndeudraeth, not far from Porthmadog, using side roads off the main road. The mountainous roads were very narrow with very infrequent passing points. We had to go through a couple of farm gates but the views and the excitement of being on the road was worth it.

From Penrhyndeudraeth we headed to Bets y Coed via Beddgelert and stopped for hot chocolate and scones at Caffi Gwynant which was a church that had been converted into a tearoom/restaurant. It was very nice inside.

From Bets y Coed we drove down to Ffestiniog and took a squiggly north easterly and south easterly route via small narrow roads back to Bala.

We wanted fish and chips for dinner but, after going up and down the main street in Bala, we didn't see any takeaway fish and chip signs. Eventually we saw a chap walking down the road with his fishy meal so we asked him where we had got them. He gave us a few directions and we eventually found the fish and chip shop. The entrance to it was very narrow, squashed between two large shops, so no wonder we hadn't seen the place.

Dinner was yummy...!

PHOTOGRAPHS

Heading towards Tywyn