This morning was a damp and misty start so we got moving north. We had a journey planned to stay at or near Dolgellau in the southern area of the Snowdonia National Park but we wanted to see something along the way. Funnily though we couldn’t see much at all in the mist as we travelled. However, we were confident that the sun would break through. We left Pembrokeshire into Ceregidion, we passed Cardigan without even buttoning up. We stopped for coffee at Aberaeron. It turned out to be a colourful harbour and thriving small town. I say colourful because the houses were all painted different colours. It seems to be a common thing to do in the area. Maybe the Welsh Government got a bulk purchase from Dulux and passed the contents around West Wales whereby each household could get one free tin of paint.....or maybe the Welsh are painting themselves out of the recession.
It wasn’t just that row of houses....it was all the houses of the town and they all seemed to be freshly painted.....it could have been a National lock down activity. Anyway, the town was a thriving little place with a decent range of shops. We frequented the fishmonger and purchased half a lobster for lunch.
Aberystwyth was particularly beautiful as the sun had broken through but we couldn’t find a parking place for the van on the front...and we drove the full length. Our lunchtime stop turned out to be at Borth overlooking a long sand and pebble beach.
Our lunch may not have been the height of sophistication but it was very tasty. Borth of us really enjoyed it!
We left Ceregidion into the old county of Merionethshire and into Snowdonia. The road took us inland and over a mountain pass with Cader Idris towering above us on the left. It is almost as tall as Helvellyn in the Lakes but seemed taller. As we descended the other side we arrived in Dolgellau. It was a small town of stone built solid looking buildings and very different from where we had been in Pembrokeshire. We particularly noted that it had a lot of pubs and restaurants. I think it is a base for many mountain walking holidays. The long stay car park looked very inviting and we found our place for the night at the far end next to the rugby club. The sun was still scorching so we had a little sunbathe in the car park (we were the furthest vehicle and we were hidden from view by the vans position).
You can see the summit of Cader Idris in the distance.
It is quite surprising how different areas of the same country can feel so different. We have, after all, travelled 3 pages of the AA Road Atlas from Fishguard and I think we will definitely be entering ‘Welsh Wales’, where locals routinely speak Welsh. We had expected to see some of the towns we passed to be rather depressed looking but so far they haven’t. I don’t suppose there is much industry or employment in the area. There seems to be a communal effort being made to make the areas appeal to tourists, ie by painting houses pretty colours. Maybe they will benefit from the ‘staycation’ boom that is currently happening. There are certainly plenty of motorhomes driving around and many of the sites I have contacted have been full.
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