9 – 13th July 2022

Days 19 -23

No long walks on these days … but a whole load of fun in sunny Tywyn. Some chilling but mostly active in one way or another …. swimming a couple of times a day, paddle boarding, body boarding on wavy days, boules, cricket, frisbee, running (Steve and Alice that is) and tennis tournaments. Not to mention long board game sessions in the evenings – have loved every minute. It’s been Steve and I, Alice and Jon all week, Anne joined us on Sunday and Matt arrived on Monday – we’re the Tywyn Six!

And the hot tub soothed our aching bones after all the activity … and just became a place to hang out and chat.

We’ve mostly stayed in Tywyn as have everything we need on our doorstep – but we had an outing to Portmeirion one day, travelling there by train. Beautiful Italian lunch in the most stunning of settings. This village is so worth a visit – exquisitely designed, like a fairytale – you imagine yourself on the Riviera.

14th July 2022

Day 24

Anne decided to climb Mount Snowdon today – we all declined as we had done it on our visit here in November. Matt had to work so it was just the four of us who decided to fit in one little coastal walk … Steve got planning. We picked up on a little gap … Llwyngwril to Barmouth.

We caught the train to Llwyngwril and had the lovely surprise on arriving to find it is the Knitted Village – amazing creations everywhere.

The three mile uphill climb at the start was tough but well rewarded with views. The sun was shining, plenty of sheep to keep us company, easy enough terrain … all good.

And then a steady 3 mile climb down through lanes and woodland – a little loose underfoot in places but we managed to avoid too much slippage.

Finished off with 3 miles of flat walking, along Fairbourne Beach, across Barmouth bridge (a grade II listed – Brunel designed – single-track wooden railway viaduct) and into the lovely seaside town of Barmouth. This completed 9 miles walking … and we loved it.

The only snag to the day was that our train back to Tywyn was cancelled and could have involved hanging around for another two hours. So we took the option to walk back over Barmouth Bridge to catch a bus …. what’s an extra 2 miles between friends!?

But the hero of the day was Anne who climbed all the way up Snowdon – solo – hats off to her.

15th July 2022

Day 25 – our last full day so it was a chilled one.

We played tennis late afternoon and I had a spectacular fall resulting in a few minor injuries … but the margaritas helped later and had us all up dancing even before our final dinner together!!

16th July 2022

Driving home today after nearly 4 weeks in Wales. It really has been spectacular. We’ll miss everything about it especially the views of sea and mountains … and the company of family and friends. We’ve covered another 174 miles of coastline in this time – not too shabby!! No doubt we’ll be back for more!