Winding paths through Wales I: Castles, mountains, lakes and slate

Winding paths brought us to our final travel destination this summer – and winding (often very narrow) paths led us through this beautiful country with stunning and so diverse scenery. Words can’t fully describe this, so I will mainly let the pictures speak to give you an impression and add some information about the location, our stays, places worth to visit.
I tried really hard to choose the best of my photographs for you … but I had to choose out of more than 1000 pics, so I hope you don’t mind that my virtual travel photo book became a bit bigger than initially intended. So, today we’ll start with the first part of what became a Wales trilogy.
Are you ready for following our path through Cymru?

We started our trip in northern Wales, to be precise in Blaenau Ffestioniog, where we used Johns and Ceilias cosy Eco Guest House as our starting point for exploring the surrounding. Not for the last time we could experience the diversity of the landscape: mountains and valleys, slate mines, steam railways and picturesque lakes in Snowdonia, castles and crabs at the north coast, green rolling hills and sandy beaches on Lleyn peninsula.

One of the biggest and most impressive castles of Edward I. – not quite a friend of the Welsh – can be found in Conwy. Even if you’re not that into castles, this one is really worth a visit – you can not only walk on the castle walls, but also on the walls that surround the town, great views included.

On Lleyn pensinsula we’ve first been to Llanbedrog, where there is not only a nice beach, but also the interesting art gallery Plas Glyn-y-Weddw, with a nice café where you can have teatime with scones, cakes, sandwiches etc.

At Porth Oer apparently the sand makes whistling sounds. We couldn’t hear anything, but anyway enjoyed our corned pasty lunch at this beach. After our first beach experiences in Wales we had learned a few general things about beach life in Britain:

Going to the beach is a whole-day-thing and also a whole-family-thing. Around noon it get’s really busy. According to this there is usually only one, all-day parking tax – usually 4£. In return you get standard facilities like a café/bar/shop as well as toilets and changing rooms, which we found very comfortable.

After enjoying some time at the coast, we once again turned towards Snowdonia. We spend a relaxed evening and night at the Cross Foxes with good british food, Snowdonia real ale and a comfortable, modern designed room. Just a few steps up the hill and you had a magnificent view on Cadair Idris, the second highest mountain of Wales.

After a filling cooked welsh breakfast we headed again towards the coast and further south, but not before taking a little break at the Tal-y-llyn, a picturesque mountain lake.

Next time: more about seaside resorts in Midwales and remote places in Pembrokeshire.