Saturday 13 November 2021 - The Vale of Ffestiniog

With Richard disabled due to a knee injury caused by excessive exercise, he was available to take Jenny, Sue and me to Blaenau Ffestiniog for a walk back to Porthmadog through the Vale of Ffestiniog. 

We started from the Queen's Hotel soon after 10am, after shopping for drinks to substitute for a forgotten flask of tea.

Good paths led to Tanygrisiau Reservoir, where we enjoyed coffees and a chat with cyclists at the excellent Lakeside Café, before heading onwards and skipping across a stream, where we disturbed a large brown trout in the shallow water.
 

Hereabouts, a causeway trundles off into the reservoir. Before the reservoir, this was the course of the railway, which now takes a different route.

Lunch was taken by Llyn Mair (Mary's Lake), an artificial lake built by Mary's father, owner of the estate and nearby quarries, to celebrate his daughter's 21st birthday. 

A little further on, we passed a small reservoir, Llyn Trefor.

Meanwhile, on a slightly drizzly day, we spotted a good rainbow.

Towards the end of the walk we skirted Portmeirion, with good views to Porthmadog and Moel-y-Gest. 

By the time we got back to the harbour, after a good stroll along the cob, the sun had set and night was falling.

Richard had not (mostly) been idle, and a fine meal was soon produced.

The map is shown below. We were walking for over six and a half hours, and covered an undulating 23 kilometres. A lovely route that we had been aspiring to for some time.

Click on the image for more detail