Wales, Wales, Wales

The beginning of our “countries visited” list.  After all, it’s not a list if it only has England on it.  We have started on our three day sojourn in this beautiful country and yes, as Aimee said, I have been looking forward to it because I fell in love with the country almost 20 years ago.  And it does not disappoint! 

However, I can’t really same the same about our accommodations the first night.  We stayed in a lovely campground in what they referred to as a “pod”.  Translated, that means a wooden hut with three beds.  And I don’t mean nice, comfy, beds.  Think more like steel cots with really crappy mattresses.  Really neat looking hut from the outside but you could barely move around inside and there was no interior storage for anything.  Did I mentioned that it rained most of the time we were there?  Oh yeah.  Cold, nasty rain.  Have I also mentioned that our children still talked us into swimming in the outdoor, heated pool?  After a long day of driving crazy Welsh roads (see example below of Welsh roadsigns) it seemed like a good idea, and it really was.  Pool was great, just the getting in and out in the cold rain that was tough.  No pics from this one, evidently neither Aimee nor I thought enough of the pod to take any. 

So the first campground was in southern Wales, and our accommodations for the next two days were on the central western side of Wales in another campground outside of the town of Bryncrug.  This one however was made more for what they call “static campers” and not motorhomes or travel trailers.  It was located in Snowdonia National Park and was really out in the middle of nowhere.  My kind of place!  This time we had a “chalet”, so were expecting a bit more than the night before.  Our chalet was called the “Bumblebee Lodge” and is very appropriately named.  Evidently the owner has a fascination with bumblebees and everything from shower curtains to bee lights in the bushes outside was related to bumblebees.  Not a bad place though, way up at the top of the campground, views were unbelievable.  We spent two nights and had a lot of fun learning how to use things like electric showers (there was a pull cord to turn it on), and a stove that was both tiny and really hard to cook on due to some basic differences from American appliances.  Really hard to explain but all the appliances are just so different and sometimes really hard to figure out.  Lots of pictures on the dials but no explanations, kind of like IKEA furniture. 

Whilst in Snowdonia we went to the coolest park – called Arthog Bog in Morfa Mawddach, which led us onto a path beside a narrow-gauge train across a bridge to the town of Barmouth.  Aimee found the house she would give all her worldly goods up for (including me, I’m afraid) and when I say house, I really mean mansion or perhaps castle.  Played in a tidal pool, walked on some dunes that were in the middle of the bay but accessible because the tide was not in, and had a great time rolling down a grassy hill after a picnic lunch.  Had a great day and survived another foolish stunt acting like I’m still a kid!  Just had to do it once!  Wales has not disappointed, once again.  The majestic hills, the narrow, goat-like roads, the beautiful coastline, the oh-so-blue ocean!  What a great country!