Monthly Archives: June 2024

Barmouth

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Half term on the North Wales coast.

Saturday. Our cottage was fairly spectacularly situated high above Barmouth up a very steep road.
View from the back garden towards the Llyn Peninsula. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many foxgloves as this week
Sunday. First on the to-do list: the beach!
Running away from the waves was a fun (but inevitably wet) game
Drier fun
The Welsh flag hill. A little afternoon outing for Dave and Jo
View up the estuary
After being tempted to go further than originally planned, we went to recce Barmouth Slabs as a potential scrambling playground for later in the week.
The rather imposing bottom tier (the upper one was more suitable)
The weather was generally better in the evenings, but a proper sunset from the garden remained elusive until the end of the week
Monday. Cycling across the bridge was another must-do activity
Bumpier than expected thanks to the planks!
Freshly painted
Boats in the harbour (a good chance to examine anchors in situ)
Dunes and bay
Lots of walls to walk on!
Donkey rides
Heading home (shortly after this was the most ridiculous hill I’ve ever attempted to cycle up)
Tuesday. After a morning of heavy rain, we ventured out into the mist for a walk in the local hillside woods
Wet, grassy paths flanked by wet bracken and gorse were a surprising hit. The jelly tots might have had something to do with it
Exploring an old building
Finally we can see the sea
Heading down to town
Barmouth hiding behind the pink flowers that are everywhere, that the girls love and that we don’t know the name of
An astonishing amount of fun was had at a tiny crag and wall near the harbour, before we retreated to Davy Jones Locker for hot chocolate
The walk home along the shore
Wednesday. Another damp day, which Jo and Dave decided to use to run the length of the Rhinogs back to Barmouth (24km and almost 1500m ascent). It was very wet and very misty. It was hard work and a lot of fun.
A lot of the first half was not very runnable!
A view at last
Thursday. A slightly different view up the estuary
On the Panorama Walk
Scrambling
Climbing!
Descending practice
Good view from the crag
Now expert at being lowered
Friday. We cycled to Dolgellau
“I’m hungry” stop a few km in during which Claire ate all of her snacks for the day
After Dolgellau we headed up under Cadair Idris
The high roads were quiet and delightful
A (very) steep descent to Arthog followed
After ice cream we inevitably ended up back on the beach
Paddling
Saturday: Cnicht on the way home.
It looks a long way!
Moelwyns
Scramble maximising
Despite the sunny forecast, we were almost in cloud at the top