Anglesey - Easter long weekend

We are slowly catching up on the blogs after our flurry of trips this past month (lucky us)! This Easter we travelled to North Wales - well Anglesey to be exact - for the long weekend. Although we have spent a fair amount of time in South Wales we have always been intrigued about the area around Snowdonia. We settled on Tan Y Bryn following a recommendation from some good friends. And we weren't disappointed. Its a beautiful barn restoration with every possible convenience. And nestled beautifully in Church Bay - of which we can see from the kitchen window across the fields. The whole idea of this trip was to chill out and relax as a family.

I squeezed out of London Thursday afternoon so we could start our journey north about 3pm. The idea was to beat some of the holiday traffic. A futile exercise here in the UK where literally millions get on the road this time of year. Needless to say we finally found our little "bolt hole" at 11:30pm that evening! The M6 was jammed (no surprise) and the GPS finally gave up and routed us onto secondary roads and through the heart of Snowdonia. Oh well - we were glad to arrive. And Andy - our host - had thoughtfully left the lamps on. Its a pity that the mood music he arrange had played out by the time we arrived! No matter. We unpacked and hit the rack.

It was nice to wake up Good Friday "on site" as it were. And we decided over a delicious breakfast to tackle Snowdonia. The weather for the long weekend was looking bleak - snow was forecast. So we wanted to get the travelling under our belt. Packing some lunch we head off back East into Snowdonia and on to the cogwheel Snowdon Mountain Railway at Llanberis. We jumped on board the carriage just as the rain started. Although I was hoping for the steam engine (Steamy as James likes to call them) we got a diesel. This railway provides a route to the top of Mt Snowdon. Although we were to shortly discover that today we could get only three quarters up due to snow and strong winds.

Our journey took us through the steep ridges with valleys carved by glaciers. Merrilyn and I both thought it similar in some respects to Glencoe in Scotland. Arriving at Clogwyn we were greeted with snow and a howling gale. We ventured out for about 15 minutes before the cold got to us and we retreated back to the carriage for lunch.

In the afternoon we ventured back to our cottage via Dolwyddelan Castle built in the 13th Century. It now stands as a surviving sentinel perched on a hill. We climbed its walls for a spectacular view over Snowdonia - just as a terrific hail storm hit. We made our way back to the cavernous castle interior to see the hail whip into patterns on the floor as it was blown though the window and door slots in the walls. Back at the cottage we lit the fire and spent some quality time perched on the couch with a glass of wine.

Saturday was spent circumnavigating Anglesey; starting with Beaumaris Castle. This was commissioned by Edward I - Longshanks - and is a technically astute design. There are multiple defences and lots of rooms to explore. James had a ball! From there we visited a farm shop to pick up local produce (including carrots that must have been freshly yanked from the fields that morning) and then on to the highly recommended White Eagle pub at Rhoscolyn in Holy Island. It was absolutely heaving (Australian translation is packed). We had to wait before sharing a table with another group - one of which was an Aussie. Food was tremendous.

Saturday night was a special treat. Andy - our host - organised a table at the local seafood restaurant and... a baby sitter! A night alone. Can't think of the last time we had that little luxury. So we tucked into local lobster and wine.

Sunday was a much more subdued pace. The weather had definitely closed in so we lit the fire early and ventured out for a few small walks on the coast. Nothing too strenuous.

Photos are here.