Up until last week the weather in Wales has been fantastic…virtually nothing but sun for nearly 3 months! Of course, this meant that the grass was turning brown and all the plants were withering….but not any more. Whilst it has rained a lot in the past week or so which has meant no painting for me, it has brought Wales back to life. Yesterday we went to Arthog waterfalls about 7 miles from Dolgellau. This is a fantastic walk and within 3 or 4 minutes of the start there are beautiful cascades and waterfalls which, after the rain, have burst forth with gusto. It’s well worth an hour of anyone’s time at the moment!
Walking up past the waterfalls
The source of the falls
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Well, we’ve taken the plunge – we are now baking our own bread!
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As of today Ffynnon has been rated the top
B&B in Wales by Tripadvisor. Needless to say, we’re thrilled and would like to extend a huge thank you to all our guests who posted such wonderful reviews.
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Yesterday was another fantastically sunny day in Snowdonia. We had a few hours off before arrival time so we headed to Creggenan lakes for a walk. It’s such a beautiful place that we didn’t actually walk that far and instead sat on a hill looking at the view. And, of course, Jack went for a swim!
The view over the Mawddach Estuary to Barmouth bridge
Jack! Swimming as usual.
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After an afternoon geocaching what better way to end the day than foraging for your own dinner along the Mawddach Estuary.
Boiling the water for tea in a volcano kettle
This was organised by friends, Sarah and John, who have done this sort of thing before. There were 9 of us in the group led by Heath, a bushcraft and foraging expert. We spent the first hour walking through the fields finding plants and fungi that could be eaten and learning what can be done with them – nettle beer anyone? (fabulous stuff). The next hour was the cooking and tasting. We learned to light fires using Swedish steels and make tea using nettles, gorse and bilberry leaves amongst other things. Heath followed this by baking ‘twisted bread’ and making a nettle and sorrel omlette. What a feast! If anyone gets a chance to try this I would strongly recommend it!
Isaac helping to make the bread
Dinner on the go
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Well, what a fabulous day. Breakfast was over and the sun was shining. After a quick family conflab Isaac decided it would be a good day for geocaching up at Coed y Brenin.
The waterfalls at Coed-y-Brenin
Now, for those who have never heard of it, it is basically a high-tech treasure hunt but with no prize. There are thousands of caches located throughout the UK (4 of which are at Coed y Brenin) which are usually plastic, weatherproof boxes containing a record book of “explorers” and anything else others wish to leave behind for you to find. You are encouraged to take something from the cache but leave something different in it’s place. All you need for geocaching is a GPS unit and the co-ordinates of the caches. The units are widely available from any outdoor shop and a database of caches is available at www.geocaching.com.
Isaac & Debbie on the trail of one of the caches
We had a great afternoon exploring the forest and the best bit? – kids love it and don’t realise they are walking for miles! And after a great afternoon Geocaching we spent the evening Wild Food Foraging (but that’s another post)!
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The weather for the past couple of weeks has been fantastic in Dolgellau so what better way to enjoy it than cycling along the Mawddach Trail – one of the most picturesque estuaries in…well, the world!
Isaac and I donned our cycling helmets and camelbaks and set off (with Jack the dog). It’s an easy trail to walk or ride as it’s completely flat being an old railway track – perfect for an 8 year old just getting his confidence on a bike. A couple of miles out from Dolgellau there’s a chance for a drink at the George III for those that want one or a place to swim for Jack who loves the water. After that, it’s another 6½ stunning miles ending with a ride across the bridge into Barmouth.
For the energetic then the cycle back is equally as stunning (if not more so) or the alternative is to hop on a bus with the bikes and head back to Dolgellau for a well deserved pint!
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Since opening our 5th room in August last year, we have been trying to find the best way of serving breakfast to 10 people around a table big enough for 8. Guests may not have noticed there was an issue, as we always try to maintain an air of calm, but behind the scenes was often fraught as we juggled timings to ensure everything ran smoothly and guests were able to be seated when they wanted. Most of the time, it worked and we were able to turn a table around but at others a guest may have had to wait 5 or 10 minutes. We felt this was compromising our high standards of service so something needed to be done!
It has been a tough decision as the communal table was popular but we’ve finally plumped for funky, individual, Italian designed tables with the most comfortable chairs ever. This has been our first week with the new layout and so far it’s working well. The room is still cosy enough that people can talk and swap ideas about things to do but now everyone has more space. We hope you like it.
Individual table
The new breakfast room
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Walked up the Pony Path to the top of Cader Idris yesterday. It was a beautiful day; clear blue skies and blazing sunshine (like every day in Dolgellau!). Stopped for lunch half way to the summit and just drank in the views down the mountain towards Gwernan Lake.
The Pony Path on the way up Cader Idris
Carrying on up and the evidence of the winter snow started to appear along with a chilly breeze. Walking up the Saddle brought amazing views across the Mawddach estuary towards Barmouth.
Llyn y Gader - still frozen
At the summit there was still quite a lot of snow and Llyn y Gader below us was still frozen. After a welcome rest stop at the top it was back down and back to Ffynnon in time for check-ins. All in all a fantastic day’s winter walking.
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