Post-Lockdown trip to Llandrillo

 Sunday 25 April 2021

It's over eight months since we were last out in the van and we're very happy to be back! Our last trip away was a couple of days on the Llyn Peninsula in early August 2020, although the last time I blogged was our stay on a C&CC CS in the village of Cynwyd in July last year.

We're now on a CL about 3 miles south of Cynwyd, very close to the village of Llandrillo. We've had a relaxing day, enjoyed our dinner and are now chilling out in the van with a cup of tea and a cherry bakewell, having watched the sun set over the hills to the west. The CL is full, so it's clearly a popular one.

With some Lockdown restrictions only recently lifted (although pubs, restaurants and cafes are still closed in Wales) we didn't want to travel too far from home.  So the hour and a half's journey here was about right.  We'd packed up the van over the past few days and loaded some foodie treats to celebrate our first van trip for many months. Salty loves being in the 'vanny' but for some reason he seemed very spooked during the journey.  Over the past months he's spent quite a bit of time in the van as we worked on a few internal improvements, but that was static on the drive.  He seemed very unsettled and ended up crouched under my driving seat, unwilling to come out.  It didn't help when we stopped at the Rhug Estate - just a few miles short of our destination - to find the car park rammed with hundreds of revving motorbikes.  

Shortly after we arrived at this C&MC CL - called Tynant - part of a working farm.  It's a lovely spot, with 360' views and surrounded by newly born lambs.  It's a long time since we had a van trip, so it took a while to get back into the routine of using the levelling ramps, getting hooked up to electric and getting the kettle on!  Lunch was a quiche bought at Rhug and a sliver of lemon drizzle cake!  The sun was shining in a cloudless sky, although the breeze was quite chilly.  We relaxed for a couple of hours, soaking up the peace and quiet. The CL has an information 'shed' - literally a wooden shed with lots of information inside.  Some local walks from the site are displayed, so we decided to take a short walk along a footpath track through the forest, mainly to give Salty some exercise and work up his appetite, as he hadn't eaten all day.  The track took us through a lovely old deciduous forest, with a few delightful old Welsh long-cottages and small-holdings.  This is shooting country and there were a lot of pheasants on the path and close by in the woods. Our passing flushed them out of cover and poor Salty didn't know which way to turn!  He's a terrier; flushing and chasing prey is instinctive, so he's always on a lead.  The sun felt warm in the still shelter of the trees and we enjoyed listening to the birdlife and the river flowing below. This path is part of a longer walk we'll do on another day, so we didn't go too far before retracing our route back to the van.  On the way down we met one of the owners as we walked through the farmyard and Cathy had a good, long chat with her entirely in Welsh, whilst Salty said hello to their docile black labrador in his usual grumpy terrier style!

Dinner was pre-cooked fried chicken with salad and a bottle of white wine, enjoyed in the warmth of the van, looking out over the fields and hills.  The sun eventually set over the  wind turbines set on the brow of a hill to the west and the sky slowly turned pink then purple.  The wind has dropped and the silence is only broken by the new-born lambs calling for mum.  Salty has settled down thankfully and spent the evening sat in the driver's seat watching the lambs (from the safety of a locked van), before snoozing.  

We've recently invested in a new memory foam mattress, replacing the uncomfortable coil-sprung one; it's going to be much kinder to our backs, the springs won't be sticking in me and we won't be rolling into the middle any more!  I think the deafening silence here, combined with new mattress and pillows, will result in snoring all round....not too long from now!  Tomorrow we'll explore a bit more, with a walk up to a circle of cairns in the Berwyn mountains.  Goodnight all.

View from the Galley

Relaxing after a stressful journey for Salty

Monday 26 April 2021

We slept really well and didn't surface until gone 0800, mainly due to Salty reminding me that he really needed to go!  It was warm, sunny and still, so we had breakfast outside.

Our walk today started off in the same direction as yesterday, but instead of heading into the forest, we took the right track and started to quickly ascend, pausing regularly to take in the view (aka - get our breath back). The tarmac track soon turned into rougher ground as we climbed, passing through a few gates and past some 'christmas' tree enclosures.  Just past Coed Elin, we left the path and headed north-east uphill to the summit of Moel Ty-uchaf.  There we found a cairn circle with a depression in the middle.  It wasn't hard to imagine this as a meeting place in the Bronze age, with panoramic views all around.  We stopped a while (to 'take in the view' again!) with a panad, before descending back to the path and continuing south east, climbing steadily.  

Just before the summit of Moel Pearce, we sat on the dry, mossy grass and had our lunch. We took the same route down back to the campsite for a panad outside the van, before a dinner of chicken jalfrezi (which I had cooked at home) heated in the Remoska and naan (warmed up on the gas stove in the Ridge Monkey).  As the evening cooled down I could feel the heat of the sun on the back of my neck - must remember to spray the suncream there tomorrow.  We're now relaxing in the van with a cup of tea, Salty snoozing on the passenger seat and again deafened by the silence surrounding us.

According to the forecast, the weather will start breaking down tomorrow - cooler, cloudy, 50% chance of rain showers.  The clouds are already building from the west. We have a walk planned but we'll play it by ear.   

Circle of Cairns - Moel Ty-uchaf

View from our lunch stop

Tuesday 27 April 2021

A cloudier and cooler day with the threat of a few showers, but not enough to put us off our walk.  

Today's route took us back through the forest we explored on the first night here, firstly through Coed-y-Glyn, then Coed Llynor, running alongside Afon (River) Llynor and out the other end and up on to open moorland, before descending to cross the river at Pont Rhyd-yr-Hydd.  We stopped here to sit on a lovely slate bench, provided in memory of Maureen Stone; a peaceful spot with a small waterfall and pool.  There's also an old sheep-dip here, with dry-stone walls forcing the sheep down and into the river.

Climbing back up on our homeward route along the Tegid Way, we walked above Coed Llynor with lovely views to the west, noting some rain on the distant mountains.  Now descending, we turned right on another path that took us pass the farms of Ty'n-y-cae-mawr and Moel-is-y-goedwig-isaf, before returning to the path by the yard of Ty-Nant, where the CL owners live.  A short walk down and we were back at the van, walking boots off (and feet steaming!) and kettle on.  Sat in the van with tea and cake, a few gentle rain showers came through, but not enough to dampen the grass.  The rest of the afternoon has been spent by Cathy and Salty snoozing (gentle snoring to the left and right of me!), while I caught up with some Mon SAR emails and sorted out the photos.

Tonight's dinner is baguette and bratwurst (both cooked in the RidgeMonkey) and some salad.  We're all tired after two good days of walking and it'll be an early night tonight before we pack up to head home tomorrow.

Poor photo of a red kite

Pont Rhyd-yr-Hydd

"Maureen Stone - a woman of grace, joy and laughter"

Sheep dip

A small splash of colour

Nido....panad a teisan!

Wednesday 28 April 2021

A rainy night, but it had stopped by morning, which made striking camp a little easier.  I'd looked for a place to stop for lunch and we decided on Llyn Brenig.  There were a couple of stops marked on the Park4Night and Search for Sites apps at the adjacent Llyn Alwen, but we decided to visit Llyn Brenig instead, which was just as well, as the Alwen car park is closed until 18 June.

We parked up near the Llyn Brenig Visitor Centre.  I paid the £2.50 daily charge for parking and we walked along the lake, past the Sailing Club and towards the Osprey exhibition and hide.  We could an Osprey on the nest perched on a large post on a small island in the distance, but didn't have binoculars to get a better view.  There's a livecam of the nest on YouTube if you're interested.  It was much colder here, so we didn't hang around for long.  But we noticed plenty of other parking areas away from the visitor centre, so on returning to the van, we drove to one of these for a better view of the lake and the Osprey nest.

Kettle on, I 'baked' a baguette in the RidgeMonkey and we had a tapas lunch, followed by a panad and cake sat overlooking the lake.  It was a really peaceful spot.  It's possible to walk (a long walk!) or cycle around the lake.  We were happy to sit, relax and chat.

Our journey home didn't take long, with a quick stop at Betws-y-Coed as I wanted to look at some walking shoes in Cotswold Outdoors, but I could only look at the shoes 'by appointment' (due to Covid), so I'll get them online, with my SAR team discount.

We enjoyed our few days away.  We stayed on a lovely CL, enjoyed some great walks, had some excellent weather (on the whole) and relaxed.  We'll be planning another trip shortly, perhaps towards south-west Wales - or anywhere else we fancy!

Before

Nearly after!

Camping in Cynwyd, Denbighshire

Tuesday 21 July 2020 

Nido's parked up at the very peaceful and beautiful Felin Uchaf campsite, in the village of Cynwyd, which is just south of Corwen in Denbighshire. We have the site to ourselves and the friendly owner has been across for a chat. It's a Camping and Caravanning Club 'Certified Site' with 5 pitches available to club members. 

This is our first trip away since some of the lockdown restrictions were lifted in Wales. Campsite facilities still remain closed until later this month, but as we're self-sufficient we're allowed to stay. We did go away for a few days in February, to New Quay in Ceredigion, which was Salty's first trip away in the van. But the weather was pretty dreadful and, apart from a couple of hours on the beach, we were stuck inside most of the time. It did feel a bit strange leaving Anglesey this morning, the first time we've been off the island for 5 months. It's also taking some time get used to the van routine again - what goes where, what switches to press and so on, but we'll soon get back into the swing of it! 

We left home at 1000 this morning for the 1.5 hour journey here. We'd packed up most things in the van yesterday. Salty seemed off his food last night and this morning and we eventually worked out that he wasn't sure if he'd be coming with us - bless him! He does love being inside the van and has a choice of several different snoozing areas (none of which are on our bed though!). The roads through Snowdonia were fairly quiet; a marked contrast to the weekend just gone, when the crowds descended (and ascended). The Police had to eventually take charge of the cars parked along narrow roads (so that emergency vehicles could get through) and I heard the illegally parked cars were all issued tickets. 

The 5 pitches here are all hardstanding and we were soon parked up, electric plugged in and kettle on. A cuppa was in order first thing, sat outside under a cloudy but warm sky. We also enjoyed some bara brith made by our next-door-neighbour. We had a bit of an explore of the river (Afon Trystion) that runs just below the campsite and, walking upstream, discovered the Rayadfa Cynwyd (waterfalls) next to the mill house where the owners of the campsite live. It's a beautiful waterfall with a small but quite deep pool at the base - perfect for a dip after a hot day walking in the mountains! Salty took advantage and really enjoyed sliding down the rocks into the water! He was a bit timid with water when we first got him, but loves a dip and zoom now. 

We walked out of the site and followed the road running up the side of the valley, with some lovely drystone walls and ancient trees. We stopped half way on a long bench (perfect for social distancing!), before reaching the reservoir, where Salty again had a swim and a bit of a crazy run around. Back down the hill to the site, by the time we returned the sun was starting to break through and we sat outside with another cuppa. I'd prepared most of our meals at home yesterday, so they just need warming up. We were hungry so had an early meal of dhal and naan before sitting outside reading and snoozing. Later on we went back to the waterfall, which was now bathed in beautiful hot sunshine and had a paddle. We followed the rocky path up to the next level and discovered another waterfall and pool above the first one. Supper was a cup of tea and some toasted crumpets and butter and we're now relaxing in the van, listening to the silence. 

I've mentioned Salty and this is the first time he's appeared in the blog. He's a Patterdale Terrier and about 18 months old. We adopted him last December from a rescue centre in South Wales. Just a few days before, he'd come over from Ireland. We don't know his full history, apart from he hadn't spent much of the first year of his life outside, so even grass was new to him and we had to teach him how to play with his toys. He was quite timid but has settled very quickly and is now a full (and the most boisterous) member of the team! He loves running on the beach and in the dunes, although he does tend to bolt if he sees people and other dogs - he's too sociable for his own good! 

We're here until Friday and plan to do some walking over the next couple of days, so long as the weather holds. There's no phone signal so I can't check the forecast, but it also means there's no temptation to check up on the news or Twitter - a bit of a social media break, which is no bad thing. It does feel a bit strange writing this blog after such a long break; I've not written since our month in France last year, so it'll take a bit of time to get back into the swing of it. Reading this back, it does feel a bit like a narrative, so I'll need to up my game and penmanship! We're all very sleepy now, so an early night I think, ready for what I hope will be an enjoyable walk in the Berwyn mountains tomorrow. 

Interesting fencing

Wednesday 22 July 2020 

It rained softly and gently in the night and morning brought a cloudy sky but a warm day. Today's plan was a circular walk through the forest and into the Berwyn mountains, about 8 miles in total. 

The first section was a repeat of yesterday - following the 'North Berwyn Way', up the steep road and past the reservoir. We continued on past some smallholdings and into Cynwyd Forest, dark and thick with mature pine trees. The valley sides were steep and the path traversed this, before dropping down onto one of the many tracks used by the lorries to remove the chopped trees. Quite a bit of forestry was ongoing, although the heavy machinery used to access, cut and move the trees had made a dreadful mess of the ground. In some places the trenches from the tracks were over 2ft deep and filled with mud and water. As we like to say....'custodians of the countryside my a**e!'. It was sad to see the forest turned into such a quagmire. 

We left the forest behind and climbed steadily along a stony track into heather moor - as far as the eye could see. There was little to break up the monotony of the hills, except for the odd lonely pine tree and areas of heather that had been cut to no doubt favour the grouse shooting up here. We were hit by a short, sharp shower that we watched creep up to us from the valley to the west, so had to don waterproof jackets for a while. We walked up to the ridge line, where the North Berwyn Way turned left to reach the summit of Moel Fferna. We instead turned right and followed a barely visible path through heather, with boggy, peaty ground to our right, following a wire fence steadily uphill. This was quite hard going as we couldn't see where we were placing our feet and I slipped over once, falling in slow motion to a soft landing in the heather, accompanied by a chuckle behind me (and it wasn't Salty laughing!). We stopped at the summit - Cerrig Coediog - for lunch, sheltering from the wind behind a small, rocky outcrop, looking east towards even more heather-clad hills, with not a building in site. The sun broke through and stayed with us for the rest of the walk. 

Descending, we met up with the local warden and his assistant, who advised us that our return route was 'quite challenging' - he wasn't wrong! We could see our target - a light-coloured track in one corner of Cynwyd Forest. But the route followed a rough line along the edge of several streams. The problem was, there was no defined path and we had to walk through heather, gorse, chest high bracken and wetland bogs! It took a couple of hours, lots of re-checking of the route on the map, some very wet feet and quite a bit of swearing! It was really hard going and, had I known the terrain would be like that, I would probably have just reversed back the way we came. But we made it eventually for a long walk back along forest tracks and the road past the reservoir, back to the campsite. 

We were pretty shattered and aching, but a hot shower, a pre-cooked chicken curry and some alcohol helped deaden the pain. Even Salty was soon snoring in his favourite chair in the van. An early night was had by all! 

Destroyed forest undergrowth

View from our lunch spot

The walk off back to the forest - through 'challenging terrain'!

Thursday 23 July 2020 

We all slept well after our epic walk yesterday. It was agreed we'd try and give featureless grouse moors a miss on future walks....and I agreed to stick to clearly defined footpaths when planning them! After a hearty breakfast (Salty enjoyed a little piece of toast and butter too), we walked 5 minutes down the road to the village of Cynwyd. The village has a compact centre with a square at its centre. There used to be two pubs until recently, but only the Blue Lion is still in business, currently closed due to COVID-19. The Spar shop and Post Office was doing good trade though. There seemed to be a lot of renovation work going on in the small terraced cottages and the village had a nice community feel. 

Our walk today was much gentler, starting in large, open fields, silage recently cut and gathered in. The path ran alongside the river Dee as it winds its way towards Chester via Corwen. There was plenty of wildlife, including quite a few geese in the fields and on the river. The wide, flowing river, open fields, abundance of mature trees and old, stone buildings really had the feel of the Dordogne - green, timeless and ignorant of current world events. With no mobile phone signal, it's been lovely to forget about the news for a few days and just enjoy the peace and quiet of this part of Wales. The footpath eventually joined the old railway line, which is part of the North Berwyn Way we followed yesterday. The railway line and sleepers have all been removed and nature has been allowed to reclaim it, with just a grassy path to walk through. The route took us north, again following the Dee, towards Corwen. The line reaches the very busy A5 about a quarter of a mile from Corwen and, not wanting to walk along a road full of HGVs, we reversed our route back to the village. 

On the way back up to the campsite, we met again with the owner, who was cleaning a cottage they own and are about to rent out. We had a good natter about the village and what goes on in the area; it seems community is a big part of life here, which is lovely to see.  

The rest of the day has been spent lazing around the van, reading and snoozing. Dinner was a steak of beef skirt, a cut often known as the 'butcher's cut'. It's very tasty although not as tender as some steaks, but it cooked really well. I made a salad and some garlic bread to go with it, enjoyed with a glass of rosé. Salty has spent most of the afternoon and evening (and still is) asleep on the passenger seat - his favourite spot. I think we've really worn him out the past few days! 

Tomorrow we head home. It's been good to get away even only for a few days, and not that far from home. We've enjoyed relaxing in and around the van again and exploring a part of Wales we haven't visited before. I'd recommend the area and particularly the campsite - Felin Uchaf - thanks Nan and Gwyn for a warm welcome and enjoyable stay. Hopefully if we visit again the village pub will be open and we can a pint after our next walk.

River Dee

Enjoying a paddle

Old railway line to Corwen

BBQ time!

Cité Europe - homeward bound

Saturday 13 July 2019

Nido’s parked up with many other motorhomes on a busy Cité Europe car park.  We’ve only spoken to three other Brits in our 4.5 weeks away, including one last night and, come to think of it, we’ve hardly seen any British vans at all apart from the last couple of days.  We’ve done our shopping at Carrefour, eaten our supper and will have a final brew before prepping the van for the off at 0430 tomorrow morning.

We’ve enjoyed our few weeks away, seeing and doing some great things. If we had to pick one highlight each, for me it would driving up and wild camping on the summits of some of the iconic Tour de France mountains and Cols, with snow still on the tops and lovely, clean, fresh air.  For Cathy (and me too), I know she loved kayaking in the Verdon Gorge - perhaps this is something we’ll do more of in the future.  The heatwave in Provence and around the Camargue wasn’t fun and we had no choice but to cut our time short there and head north to cooler air.  But it’s the coast we’ve enjoyed too, particularly the Pink Granite Coast of north Brittany - truly spectacular.  When we return to France, we think we’ll spend a lot of time just in Normandy and Brittany and only venture a little further south if the weather’s not great.

We’re really looking forward to getting home and have lots to do, especially as we’ll be spending September in the USA, visiting our daughter and son-in-law; we’re really looking forward to that, in particular the week we’ve booked in a beautiful water-side house in Charleston.  After that, we’ll be UK bound for quite a while I think.  We’re planning lots of small trips to different parts of the country, focusing on country walking.  Maybe our next trip to continental Europe (depending on how the Brexit madness pans out), may see us turning left at Calais and heading for the Netherlands and Denmark.

Until then, thanks for reading my ramblings and happy travelling one and all! 

Berthed alongside the Seine

Friday 12 July 2019

Nido’s parked up at a lovely aire alongside the river Seine at La Mailleraye-sur-Seine.  Each pitch is grassy, facing the river and has plenty of space to spread out.  Our original intention was to head for a wild camping spot on the coast, but the drive in was a bit cloudy and rainy so, when we stopped at Pont l’Eveque for lunch,  some re-planning found this place. There’s about 35 pitches and it’s not too busy, considering it’s the Bastille Day weekend.  

A couple of French old boys were hanging one on last night, talking and laughing loudly until about 0100.  Combined with a late coffee at the restaurant last night, I didn’t get much sleep and was awake early. I wish I’d known who it was as I’d have got my own back this morning!  Still, it’s a rare occurrence and it sounded like they were enjoying themselves - I bet they had a ‘Pen Mawr’ (Welsh for hangover) this morning!

It was about a four hour journey here, broken with a lunch break, and we’ve not done much - just chill out, watch the ships and eat.  It’s still quite warm and the sun returned as we arrived, so we’ve sat outside most of the time.  It was nice to bump into Joanne also staying on the aire, who is @Trundelbus on Twitter and has a very good blog: trundlebus.co.uk.  It’s always nice to put a face to a name.

A quiet night tonight, then the final run of about another four hours to Cité Europe in Calais tomorrow.

Proudly flying the Anglesey flag

Saint-Jean-le-Thomas - one of our favourite places in Normandy

Thursday 11 July 2019

Nido’s parked up at the aire in Saint-Jean-le-Thomas.  It’s at the bottom of the Cotentin Peninsula, with a huge, shallow bay that completely empties at low tide.  Across the bay is the iconic Mont-Saint-Michel, a place we’ve visited a couple of times.  We’ve stayed on this aire before and it’s one of our favourites.

We made a fast passage to here this morning, a journey of about 3.5 hours.  We’d made the decision to head home early, for no other reason than we’ve seen all the places we wanted to and have a bunch of things we want to do at home.  We live on the beautiful island of Anglesey - Ynys Môn - in a house we love within a quiet village, with lovely neighbours.  We have the garden to tend to and plan the next stage  of its development and it’s summer, so there’s plenty of sea swimming right on our doorstep.  We’re looking forward to getting back with the ‘Silver Slashers’ working in a team of volunteers each Friday to improve and maintain the footpaths and coastal path on the island.  Cathy is also involved with the local botany group, hunting out and recording rare plants.  I’m also become much more involved with the Anglesey Lowland Search and Rescue team - Môn-SAR - a fulfilling role helping find vulnerable missing people.  My neighbour has also just bought a road bike, so I now have a ‘roadie’ to go out for spins with; we plan to train over the year and complete next year’s Tour de Môn.  So, as much as we love France, we’re looking forward to getting home.  We’ve enjoyed this trip, seen some fabulous places and done some great things, like kayaking through the Verdon Gorge and wildcamping on the summit of Col du Lautaret at 2058m, surrounded by sheep and their guard dogs.  But it’s being back at the coast that we love the most - we’re ‘Coasties’!  So I think future trips will be spur of the moment bookings, particularly if the summer at home’s not great, and then it’ll be to more explore Normandy, Brittany, the Vendée and the Charente Maritime regions more.

Despite a cooler forecast, today was hot again and it was in the low 30s when we arrived here.  A quick set up and we were again heading down to the beach.  The tide was almost in so we had a quick swim.  The sea was very warm (it’s a shallow bay) but a bit ‘muddy’ and with large rocks so difficult to find our feet.  We had a bit of a wallow in the shallow water then helped each other out like a pair of oldies (as we probably now are!).  Back at the van for a brew and a shower, we again donned our best clothes - jeans, a loose Moroccan top and leather moccasins (ex-RN tropical footwear) for me!  - and walked back to the beach to the Le Jardin des Dunes restaurant, overlooking the bay and with a great view of Mont-Saint-Michel.  We had probably the best moules-frîtes we’ve ever had, simple and friendly service, with a pudding (cheese for me) in a lovely relaxed atmosphere with families around us enjoying their food and the evening.  If you come to this part of Normandy, I’d highly recommend the aire and the restaurant; there’s also an adjacent municipal campsite right on the beach.

Tomorrow we have another long run to a wild camping spot on the beach, before our final run into Calais on Saturday, with our tunnel crossing rebooked for 0720 on Sunday morning. 

Mont Saint Michel across the bay

View from our restaurant table