Thursday 28 November 2024 - Pennington Flash - a bike ride

I'll be brief. We've done this before. It's  a 57km (35 mile) bike ride on the following route:

Timperley Bridge > Bridgewater Canal towpath to Monton > Loopline/Busway > Leigh > towpath > Pennington Flash café (The Hide Coffee House) > return to Timperley along the Bridgewater Canal towpath.

We met in Timperley and Sale, with Sue and me being joined by Paul and Jenny.

Fingers and toes struggled initially to stay warm on the frosty morning, but the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and there was no discernable wind.

The trees are now nearly bare of leaves, but there was still a bit of autumn colour on the loopline.

We paused while Paul dealt with some urgent business. I think the Worsley Woods parkrun passes this point.

At the café we were honoured to bump into Norman and June. Norman has been a stalwart member of East Lancs LDWA for over 35 years. He's not in the best of health, but we enjoyed this mini reunion and he certainly hasn't lost his sense of humour. He appears on earlier pages of this journal.

The team lined up outside the café before heading back home.

We enjoyed lovely sunshine and we had all been warm for most of the ride. Just a few photo pauses including this one near The Moorings.

We stopped in Worsley for coffee and cake that we'd brought with us in case the café was shut. No point in taking it home!

The ride took longer than I'd expected, a bit less than 5 hours. Still less than the original 70km plan, which was adjusted to satisfy demand, would have taken.

A lovely morning, thanks for your company, everyone.

Wednesday 27 November 2024 - Bethesda and Penrhyn

Bethesda is on our way home from North Wales, and there's a good 5km walk from the centre of the town that we walked before on 23 September 2021.

From the town centre we crossed the Afon Ogwen to reach a children's playground. 

A lovely woodland path took us gently onwards.

Soon we were on another path that skirts the old spoil tips of Penrhyn Slate Quarry. 

Elevenses here, before the path entered a shady area.

The boulders and slates of the disused quarry towered above us.

Beyond the spoil tips we passed a small waterfall.

Then our route followed a selection of narrow passageways, some lined with slate fences.

There were good views across the valley to the Carneddau summits. 

We stopped to try to identify some plants.

Membranous pelt lichen

Lanky Moss

Bracken

Nearing the end of this short walk, a sturdy footbridge took us back across the Afon Ogwen and into the town.

Our lunch was taken in a sunny spot on a bench below a graffiti clad building. 

Here's the 5km route. Short but scenic, and an ideal choice to break our drive back to Timperley. 

Tuesday 26 November 2024 - A walk from Plas Tan-y-Bwlch

On a lovely sunny morning we could admire the view from our jigsaw table (Sue) or my reading material (Strange Sally Diamond).

After an early lunch we took a 12 minute drive to Plas Tan-y-Bwlch, and enjoyed the 6km circuit described in Walk Number 26 in Alex Kendall's Snowdonia North Cicerone guide. 

From the car park a path climbs steadily to cross the Ffestiniog railway. 

We met a chap called Mark, with whom we chatted for some 20 minutes. He was not a happy man. Land sales, Airbnb, second homes pricing locals out of the housing market, etc. We listened, then moved around the hillside to get fine views towards the coast, and inland. Last time we were here (it's our fourth visit to this walk) this bit of path was closed to avoid disturbing the nesting ospreys.

After some more level terrain we arrived at Llyn Trefor, a reservoir, where the reflected afternoon sun gave wonderful views. 

There are views to both the Moelwyns and to a distant Cadair Idris. 

The path led down past twittering goldcrests to Coed Llyn y Garnedd, which provided more great reflections. 

Our path led on to Llyn Mair, a lake constructed as a birthday present for the landowner's daughter in times past. Between us we must have taken about 20 pictures of the afternoon light in this area.

At the end of the walk we passed the building that Mark had earlier bemoaned as being sold for a pittance by the National Park body.

Here's our excellent 6km route.

Monday 25 November 2024 - Newborough Forest

We left our nice house at Henllys and drove to Newborough, from where a lovely woodland walk through Newborough Forest led to the coast near Llanddwyn Island.

Time for elevenses...

There were good views back into the forest, and across Caernarfon Bay to Snowdonia and the Lleyn Peninsula. 

A walk along the beach was blessed with wonderfully firm sand.

Returning along the Wales Coast Path to Newborough, we enjoyed lunch on a bench while Sue practiced her pony whispering technique.

We passed the remains of an old building.

Near the end of the walk, we passed this sculpture and its information board.

Here's our route - a flat 10km stroll.

After waving off Richard and Jenny, who have returned home after this lovely weekend, Sue and I adjourned to Porthmadog. Here's the afternoon view across Tremadog Bay from our living room.

Fewer pictures and brief text today as the lack of WiFi here is rather inhibiting.