Friday = Isabella Day (59)

Another great day with Isabella, pictorial with captions:

                           Trying to 'twirl' without falling over

"I love tram rides"

The Science and Industry Museum has an 'educational' area

"We built a great big tower"

"Oops!"

An old car - next time I'll record the caption as well

We kept coming back to this, noting how our feet were looking warmer each time we visited

Back at home, it was time to assemble and post some letters,

most importantly a birthday card for Auntie Kate. Will it arrive? We'll see...

"It's Teddy's bedtime - I changed his nappy earlier, he had done a big poo"

"And NO, I don't want to go home!"

But she did go home, and sadly she wasn't able to attend Saturday's short notice dinner date with Auntie Kate and her cousins. Never mind, there will be another time soon.

Smart arse Jacob will no doubt wish to be recorded as Rummikub champion of the day, having won all three rounds that we played after stuffing ourselves with a roast chicken dinner.

"Cheers"

Monday 13 November 2023 - Coed Felinrhyd

Fine weather having returned, we drove 7 miles to a lay-by near the Power Station at Maentwrog. Our objective was a short 4km walk, sheltered by the ancient woods of Coed Felinrhyd on a blustery day. Walk number 27 in Alex Kendall's Snowdonia North guide. 

First we admired the bulging river (above) as we crossed a bridge to join our path. Its level had dropped by some 18 inches by the time we returned a couple of hours later.

The Power Station looks more like a stately home!

A short way up our path, the Ivy Bridge seems obscured by a curtain of vines.

'Mushroom of the Day' remains unidentified. Sue will probably check it for tastiness later...

The good path rose relentlessly to a viewpoint above a waterfall. Not much of the waterfall is actually visible, or so it would seem.

Here, our route turned uphill, high above the river. After more ascent we joined a lovely grassy path that took us all the way to Cae'n-y-Coed.

We passed a ruin. Who lived here, and what was a typical scene at that time?

Cae'n-y-Coed is maybe a holiday home.

Alex's route goes right here, dark blue on the map shown below, returning downhill to the Power Station in one kilometre. 

My ankle seemed to have recovered from its boot rub, so we took a longer (4km) option on paths that were new to us. The route is shown below. It proved to be an excellent choice. We rose to a high point just below a rocky knoll.

Turning to the north west, we passed the eastern end of a reservoir, Llyn Tecwyn Uchaf, with views out to the sea beyond Portmeirion. 

A good track led to a steep slippery footpath on which to finish this excellent 7km outing.

Here's our route - 7km, 250 metres ascent, taking 2 hours.

That's it for now. We returned home via the Portmeirion café/shop in Porthmadog and we are now enjoying a lazy afternoon watching Egrets and other birds in the harbour, before packing up and heading home tomorrow via a visit to Great Grandma Dot.

Sunday 12 November 2023 - A Wet Walk Around Beddgelert

Despite a lie in, we couldn't beat the rain. Dave sent a message saying he didn't want to walk in rain, so he was heading home. I continued with my 'copy editing' for Reg, and Sue continued reading the draft of Reg's book before making lunch. Outside, an oyster catcher scrabbled for food in the tidal seaweed.

We then drove in pouring rain to a pull-in by a bridge over the Afon Glaslyn. We decided on the 9km version of walk number 22 in Alex Kendall's Snowdonia North guide. Here's the view from the bridge. 

Beddgelert sports a fine row of cottages that brighten any day. They were definitely needed today.

Despite a few puddles, feet stayed dry as we walked up to the Copper Mine. 

Reaching Llyn Dinas, photos of a murky view...

A sharp right turn then took us up a steep stone staircase with good views back down to Llyn Dinas. 

After reaching flatter ground we could look ahead to the gentler gradient of our path up to the day's high point.

From the high point we now looked down to our gentle descent into Cwm Bychan. 

By now my feet were wet, thanks to wearing trail shoes due to my boots giving an ankle rub. It was raining hard and my camera isn't waterproof, so the rest of the pictures are thanks to Sue, and may also be seen on her Facebook page. 

We passed the remains of some mining infrastructure as we slithered down Cwm Bychan. 

Lots of black bags full of rocks gave away the fact that this is a popular path requiring drastic improvements. 

Anyway, we sloshed our way down and eventually reached the Pass of Aberglaslyn, where we rejoined Alex's longer route.

The river was in spate.

On reaching the bridge, and our exit to the roadside pull-in, we found that the gateway from which we had started our walk had now assumed the proportions of a minor flood.

So, after that it was back to a nice warm house after a thoroughly wet walk. Here's the route - about 9km, with 300 metres ascent, in less than 3 hours.

Saturday 11 November 2023 - Dolgellau parkrun and a Walk around Brithdir

Dolgellau parkrun had only 33 participants this morning. It's not the height of the tourist season! Sue and I enjoyed the exercise, and the subsequent breakfast at our favourite café, TH Roberts. A happy way to start the weekend, with lots of friendly folk.

Full results are here.

From there it was a short drive to a lay-by near Brithdir, where we squeezed into the last space, changed into walking boots, and set off into the wooded valley after admiring the wider view.

We were on what is known as the 'Torrent Walk' in the wooded gorge of the Afon Clywedog. With a bit more sunshine today, the autumn colours were wonderful. 

Here's our 'mushroom of the day', Honey Mushrooms. Yummy!?

More sunshine lit up the woodland near a Holiday Fellowship establishment.

More woodland followed, as well as paths through sometimes soggy fields.

One particular uphill path through boulder strewn forest was particularly demanding.

Eventually we emerged, beyond Pont Helygog, from the forest to the open fellside of Glasgwm. Forestry operations could be heard in the distance. The trees in this next picture may soon be gone. 

There were good views across to Cadair Idris. 

After lunching and descending to Brithdir, we took a lovely route back to our lay-by, via ancient sunken lanes, with rutting sheep and fine views towards Cadair. Meadow pipits sang sweetly above us and a Buzzard flapped gracefully into nearby woodland. 

Here's our route - about 11km, with 400 metres ascent. A great 4 hour stroll.

We were back in time for a final game of cards with Dave, who returns home tomorrow. (He was, as ever, sent away happy after we let him win yet again!)