Tuesday 31 May

The sun was shining again this morning as I spent the day doing my own thing. The A party climbed the Matterhorn of Wales which looked very impressive.
I think this is the B party with the mountain in the background in Sheila's photo.

 The C party managed to have a ride on the Ffestiniog railway. during their circular walk around Pen-y-Bwich.
I decided to walk from Criccieth to Porthmadog covering the same route in reverse that the group took on Sunday.

The beach at Black Rock Sands is amazing. A huge expanse of hard sand that you can park on all day for £5. It's the first time I have seen a speed limit sign on a beach!

The tide was miles out so no opportunity for paddling here.

 The views were stunning on the way to Borth-y-Gest

Borth-y-Gest

Porthmadog Harbour

After arriving in Porthmadog I had time to check out the steam trains before returning to Criccieth on the bus for an ice cream and an hour on the beach.

 

A very relaxing day in the sunshine.

Monday 30 May

The sun was shining again this morning as we all set off for Abersoch with a choice of three different walks. I did the B walk from Pwllheli to Abersoch led by Brian Humphrey, a first time leading for him I think but probably not the last!

We had a short drinks stop at a lovely beach, Llanbedrog, but we didn't have time to get down on to it because of all the boulders piled up.

The walk was fairly flat but Brian managed to find a hill up to the Tin Man where we stopped for lunch and photos.

After lunch we continued on the coastal path until we dropped down to a lovely sandy beach just before reaching Abersoch.

Shirley swimming!

We spent quite some time there and some of us paddled along the beach to the far end where we reluctantly had to leave it. Shirley had a swim which she thoroughly enjoyed and had time to dry off in the sun before we caught the coach back to the hotel.

Abersoch is a pretty little place and was very busy.

Anita and I had a Cornish ice cream and then walked on to the jetty and the small beach beyond that where we found Sheila having a peaceful time so we joined her for a while.

That was a really good first day enjoyed by everone.

But it wasn't over yet as Andrew had discovered a walk in Criccieth that gave us good views of the castle.

We did this as an after dinner walk.

Criccieth Castle at sunset

Sunday 29 May

Off we go to Wales this time with Alfa Travel. We were a bit late setting off and the coach wasn't an Alfa one but apart from that all was well.
The plan was to get to the Beddgelert area and have a walk before proceeding to the hotel. However it was a sunny Bank Holiday Sunday so there was plenty of traffic around and it became apparent that the plan would have to be changed as time was running out. This was a bit disappointing for me as I had hoped to visit Beddgelert and find a cottage I had stayed in as a young teenager and walk by the river.
The revised plan dropped people off at Porthmadog to walk along the coast into Criccieth or to go direct to Criccieth and settle in. The latter was my choice and after passing the hotel at least three times the driver Alan managed to park outside and the luggage was unloaded and taken to our rooms.

George iv Hotel

It was a very nice hotel, clean and tidy with comfortable beds, very important!
I was sharing with Anita and we set off to explore Criccieth and have a paddle and an ice cream.
There is a fantastic local ice cream shop called Cadwaladers on the way up the hill to the castle so of course we had to join the queue and try one of the many flavours.

It was certainly a popular spot and there was always a queue but they had loads of staff so it soon went down.
Criccieth is dominated by its castle which stands proud between the two beaches.

Of course a paddle was our main focus of the day and we went to the sandy beach for this. Very refreshing after spending a few hours in a coach.

The main group arrived in Criccieth before six to collect their belongings from the coach and get ready for dinner at 7.30, followed by entertainment in the hotel or checking out the local pubs.