Barmouth Camping

It didn't feel like spring, we've had some serious snow recently and it was touch and go whether we would be able to set off. Most of the local lanes are still pretty unsafe with snow drifts and ice, even the main roads are down to single lanes due to the deep drifts.

Once we got away from Queensbury the snow disappeared and we made good time passing Manchester and Chester by lunch time. Once we got into Wales we headed back into snow. Thankfully as we got nearer to Barmouth it improved.

We headed through Barmouth and quickly found the Hendre Mynach campsite, it didn't take long to Get everything setup. After I had a beer and Andrea a glass of wine we headed into Barmouth for a look around. A 10 minute walk along the front was all it took, we enjoyed browsing in the shops and looking for restaurants and cafes. The kids had some sea food, cockles and muscles and we headed back to the van for tea.

We woke up and decided to do the Mawddach Cycle trail, the weather was cold but dry, so we all headed off into Bar mouth and over the railway / pedestrian bridge and headed along the train towards Dolgellau. Findlay wasn't too chuffed and made pretty hard work of everything. It was difficult to keep him motivated and he just didn't get his head around it. We stopped at the George III hotel for a drink and some lunch. The food was really nice and we all enjoyed the rest.

Andrea and Finlay decided to head back but me and Jack headed onto Dolgellau. We had a walk around town before retracing our steps. Had a quick drink back at the George III, some cheeky devil stole my bike hat! We then headed back to the camp site. Jack was in good form, I could just about keep up, we were soon back at the camp site! In all we'dAndrea and Findlay did 16 miles and Jack and me about 21 miles.

We headed into town so the kids could spend their money, Findlay bought toys and Jack get a skateboard, there was a small skate park next to the campsite, good one Jack.

In the evening the sea was really high and waves were bashing into the front. The kids loved dodging the spray and we spent a couple of hours watching the waves and using the skate park.

Next morning we decided Tobago for a walk , we spent all day on the hills behind the camp site, it was really good to be up high, for part of the day we were above the snow line, so it felt cold. The highest point on the walk was Crag Y Grut, but the whole walk was really good. Unlike the Yorkshire Dales or the Lake District it was very quiet, we only saw 3 people all day and we spent most of the day walking on paths that had not cut through the grass. In all we did about 8 or 9 miles so we'd worked up quite an appetite!

We decided to head into town and had a great meal at The Anchor restaurant. The kids were well looked after and the food was really nice, especially after a day walking on the hills!

Our last full day and we decided to take the train up to Portmadog. It was about an hour on the train, but the views from the train made the time fly. We could see Portmeirion across the bay. We spent most of the day looking around the shops, the kids spent the last of their money and Andrea bought a few things. Jack wanted to go on the miniature railway but we managed to persuade him not to bother.

Our last morning and we got a kite out on the beach, the kids played in the skate park for the last time and I packed up everything in the van. Heading home we were surprised that there was still snow everywhere. Back in Queensbury the snow was just as we left it, roll on better weather.

Barmouth was good fun, even the very cold weather didn't spoil the weekend, luckily there wasn't any reason or snow!