A pub stop and a night near Cymer Abbey

Thursday 10 July 2025

Nido's parked up in the Vanner campsite, just outside Dolgellau, with a view of the ruins of Cymer Abbey and Cadair Idris in the distance.  It's been a hot day, so once we arrived, we chilled out in the shade, taking Salty for the occasional walk down to the river for cooling dip (for him!).  It's my 62nd birthday; for the past couple of years we've been in Scotland at this time, but as we're not visiting mainland Europe this year, we're instead spending a month in Scotland in late August/September, including two weeks in the Outer Hebrides.

Yesterday we left the campsite and took a short drive to the Purple Trees plant and tree nursery, which we spotted on the drive in on Sunday.  The co-owner was watering when we arrived and we had a good chat.  It was really interesting to hear he spends two months in the Autumn in forests collecting tree seeds, ready to plant in the nursery.  We bought six plants which are now travelling with us in the van, spending the nights outside in the cooler air.  Moving on we parked up in a shaded area at the Hafod Estate, now owned by the National Trust.  We had a lovely walk down a chasm to the waterfall, before following the river, then passing through flower meadows and ancient forest.  We had a lazy lunch sat outside the van in the shade of the trees, which was welcome given the hot sunshine.

Pampered plants

Chilled dog!

Last night's park-up was at the Halfway Inn in Pisgah, high on the top of a ridge with views down into the valley and across to the other side.  We'd seen this pub on a Welsh language programme - Cefn Glawd - and they were very happy to let us park up for the night in exchange for a meal in the pub. We both enjoyed a very tasty lasagne, a couple of drinks and a quiet night in their car park.  

It was very hot this morning when I opened the van door and took Salty for a walk.  So a quick breakfast and we drove to Lidl in Aberystwyth for a quick groceries top-up before arriving at Vanner campsite.  It's a mix of static caravans and a couple of fields for tents, motorhomes and touring caravans.  It's quite relaxed with none of the myriad signs and many pages of rules you often find at these sites.  We walked Salty down to the river and he enjoyed laying down in the flowing water.  Sadly it was too shallow for us to have a dip, so we had to be content with sitting under the shade of the awning. 

Later we took a walk around the abbey ruins.  It's small so didn't take long.  Cistercian monks were more than religious men. Worldly Cistercians were also pioneering sheep farmers and some of the first rural entrepreneurs. Their network of abbeys included Cymer, idyllically set at the mouth of the Mawddach Estuary.  Founded in 1198, it was one of their lesser settlements, suffering greatly during the conflicts between Wales and England in the 13th century. Nonetheless, substantial remains survive from this simple abbey church.

Dinner tonight was stir-fried vegetables with Salmon and we spent the rest of the evening chilling out and enjoying the cooling air.  We head home tomorrow. Our son is driving up on Saturday and, if his car survives the journey!, me, him and Salty will be off on a Boys' Road Trip on Sunday for three nights; Cathy is very much looking forward to the peace and quiet!