Heading back to the Netherlands.

Pen-Y-Bont Caravan & Camping Park

We have fallen in love with the area around Bala and it was heavy hearts that we had to leave and start heading in a southerly direction.

Yesterday we drove down to Brynmawr, sometimes diverting off the main road to shorted our route bit ensuring that the road was still wide enough to tow a caravan.  The drive was pretty so we took longer to get to Brynmawr than what Google maps says. 

Yesterday's route.

It was good to see our friends, Sue and Ian, again as well as their human and furry family.  Initially we left the caravan at the bottom of Sue and Ian's driveway but Ian suggested we bring it up near the house overnight.  So, after a bit of manipulating, Paul managed to reverse the caravan up our friends' driveway and put it on a level spot.  We hoped it wouldn't snow overnight otherwise we wouldn't get down!

Paul getting some attention from Strawberry

Paul had an appointment to attend an appointment in Portsmouth which was a bit of a deviation from our route to the ferry terminal in Dover.  We ended up leaving our friends after the morning rush-hour, making sure we had time to spare for any eventualities along the way.  Fortunately we did leave well in time - parking spots were like gold dust.  Eventually we found parking near a bowling alley that was undergoing renovation, and parked in the bowling alley's car park - hoping that we wouldn't end up with a parking ticket. We got back - no parking ticket, whew.

Today's route into the wee hours of tomorrow morning

Traffic to Dover was fine and we had plenty of time to spare.  We were hungry and found KFC in town and stopped our rumbling stomachs.  We arrived at the ferry port a few hours early and were prepared to wait for our ferry which is at 2am.  The check-in chap was going to turn us away as there is no place vehicles could wait for so long (1 hour maximum and we would be waiting for our ferry for at least 4 hours).  We must have looked tired because the chap asked us where we had driven from, so we told him.  Needless to say he took pity on us, managed to find us a spot on an earlier ferry and waived the earlier departure fee (more expensive). 

So now we are on the ferry heading to Calais, France.  Yippee!  Once we get to Calais we will drive straight to Paul's mum's place in the Netherlands and then get some much needed 💤.

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

Penmaenpool Toll Bridge

Off the main road, somewhere between Frafnant Farm and Bryn Bwbach 

(on a greater map scale:  between Barmouth and Penrhyndeudraeth)

Caffi Gwynant

Between Beddgelert and Bets y Coed with views of lower slopes of Mt Snowdon 

and a lake

Circular drive and beautiful scenery.

Our route today, more or less.

The area around Bala is truly lovely.

Using a book that we had, The Most Amazing Scenic Journeys in Britain by Reader's Digest, we used one of the suggested routes.  We tried to stick to it closely to it as we could, as well as deviating off it now and then but getting back onto the suggested route.

We started off by driving down the east side of the Llyn Tegrd lake near Bala then took an unnamed narrow road over the mountains to Trawsfynnyd.  Farms along the road were remote, the moorland and landscape at times bleak but yet beautiful.  I was given the task of opening and closing farm gates as we went along. 

St. Cybi's Well

From Trawsfynnyd we drove over to Porthmadog, around the Lleyn peninsula via Pwlheli and Abersoch, Aberdaron, over to Nefyn and then Llangybi.  At Llangybi we stopped to see St Cybi's Well - the water of which was believed to have caused miracles - sick people would get well if they bathed in the waters or drank the water.  We took back roads from Llangybi to Porthmadog then went back to Bala via the B4391 and an unnamed road.

Wowwww...!!, when seeing such beautiful surrounds I am so grateful to be alive but humbled by mother nature.  Her formidable forces that craft and make the landscape to what it is: pushing up mountains and seemingly squashing in valleys, or the wind and rain that erodes away at rocks and cliffs; and so much more.

PHOTOGRAPHS

 

 

St. Cybi's Well

On the road again to Wales, and piercings.

Our route today, more or less, taking much longer than what google says.

We were up and on the road early so that we miss the major part of the morning's rush hour as headed for an appointment at the Labyrinth Rooms in Swadlincote.  We ended up parking up, caravan in tow, on the outskirts of the village and walking in - car parks were too busy for us to park up with the caravan.

We were a bit early for the piercing appointment so we went into the pharmacies, looking for numbing cream.  Either they don't sell numbing cream or it was out of stock.  One pharmacist almost read our minds as to what it was for - asking "are you having tattoos or piercings?"!  The stuff seems to be quite popular in the village.

As it turned out, I didn't need any numbing stuff.  Lynn (at the Labyrinth Rooms) used an anaesthetic spray which worked well - a bit sore but not half as what it could have been (having had piercings done without being numbed first).  I had 2 piercings done (I say no more!). Yes, I am walking like John Wayne but it will be ok in another couple of hours.

After getting the piercing done we drove to Pen-Y-Bont Campsite just outside Bala, Wales.  We had a couple of "faithful disciples" following us during our drive along the country lanes after picking up fuel in Oswestry.  The drivers didn't want to pass us just in case they dropped down off the steep roads into the "valley of death" 😉 😆.  We remained their "protectors" until we reached safer "waters" (er,  roads) and "parted company" in fine spirits.

There were very few visitors at the campsite so we were able to choose a pitch.  It seems to be quite a nice campsite, situated near a lake, and the receptionist was friendly with a good sense of humour.  We felt at home.

I miss the underfloor heating in the shower block at the previous campsite.  I'd almost forgotten what it is like to step onto freezing floor tiles.  The shower block here at Pen-Y-Bont has timed infrared lamps and either you can feel a bit of warmth when they are switched on, or you miss it when the timer switches them off.

It has started to rain and you can hear the gentle pitter patter of raindrops on the caravan roof, and the occasional baa'ing from sheep in the fields.  I love the sounds of nature.