Pontcysyllte aqueduct, Llangollen

Pontcysyllte aqueduct was one of those you had always seen on pictures and TV shows, so as we had time and were in the area it warranted a closer look. So parking in the free car park, we wandered along to the visitors centre and the start of the aqueduct.

Across the Aqueduct walkway

On the other side we followed the canal around to the next village, just managing to keep out of the teashop.

There was a memorial to the workers who had provided lime, coal and iron ore to the furnaces nearby, using the canal as transportation

Down to the river underneath on a track.... The height of the aqueduct cannot truly be shown in these pictures.
Then back the way we had come.

Horseshoe Pass, Llangollen

On the drive through Llangollen, we had always seen signs to the Horseshoe pass ... so it had to be worth a visit.

Just before the top this was looking back towards Llangollen.

The top of the pass was more rounded than I expected, and complete with the usual tourist trappings, we did see a great bird - could be a Buzzard - hovering above though.

Slate mines

PortMeirion Gardens

The village was now getting packed ... so we went for a walk through the gardens and around the coast line ... peaceful and empty, until we found the "road train" tractor rides which signalled the end of the quiet.

Over to the end of the promontory

Back through the woods 

So back in the village, and then on to dinner in the main hotel ... lived up to all expectations and more

Portmeirion Village

As a special surprise for Sue, I had booked into Portmeirion for a couple of nights' luxury to counterbalance the roughing it in the van.
We were in the Castell part up on the hill looking over to the other side of the estuary, and the road back to Harlech.
This was like a grand manor house and different again to the rest of the site.
The next day we got up early to avoid the rush at breakfast, but also to get to the village at opening time. We walked down from the Castell and wandered in with the first few people ... later it would be crowded, so I was glad to be there with less people and no crush.

We first wandered all the way down through the village to the hotel at the bottom, before setting off on a walk through the woods and then returned through the top end of the village.

Rhinog Fawr, Roman Steps

The day did not promise much ... a rain front moving in and some winds on the tops, however rising early due to the children already charging around we had a hearty breakfast and set out on foot following the steps of last night (not the return)
It was much further than I had imagined .. even after checking the map, and we appeared to be tramping up the road forever.

This peak to the left seems to be the target, but we had to pass it by.
However the upside was we could see this little waterfall over the stone wall which we would have missed in the car, even with the dis-guarded underpants lying in the road!
It was a very tranquil place with a deep pool at the base of the falls.

Once at the lake, we followed the left hand bank to the head, this was actually the camping site we had been to when the girls were young, and then cut up right following some nondescript path to start with ... there were many ways to get from the car park to the route.

Once above the trees the scene opened out the track actually curves around to the left from here and goes up in the gulley to the pass

heading up the steps ... follow the cut to where the route levels out.

final steps to the pass.. then look down the other side

Then as it got crowded - a large party arrived, we headed back down.

Back the same way we came up .. if it had been sunny I would perhaps have gone further, but we were also thinking of the walk back along the road.

Some amusement on the road back ... we had spotted this earlier, but now any excuse for a rest!

Back at the campsite - the van in full display.
Sue worn out had a little rest, but also a photo opportunity to show the insides in operation.

Dinas Camping

we continued across to the coast before turning North to Harlech. and navigating by feel more than the map to Dinas Camping. or this link

We checked in and were allocated our pitch, and were soon setting in for dinner.
With the necessaries over, it was time for a walk .. the notices all pointed to a lake nearby, so we headed off .. wrongly as it turned out as I led us up to a water feed tank.
However a noise over to the right gave us a clue.

After squelching through the bracken for a while we came across a really tranquil lake, sitting in the middle of nowhere.

The other direction (back down the lane) was where I wanted to check out how to get to the head of the valley and the Roman steps for the following day.

We walked back down the farm track to the main gate, and turned up the valley. Several miles later we reached this bridge ... no yet near the set off point , but a good introduction for tomorrow's walk.
Going back we followed a shortcut to get back more directly to the campsite, however this was a very indistinguishable and hard to follow path and thankfully we navigated the field boundaries and arrived back at the campsite entrance.