Just realised my Virgin account where I put my photos is running out of space - ha - they are clearly too busy concentrating on zooming off to space rather than providing me with hosting space :). So I'll have a go putting my pictures on another location - so I apologise in advance if there is any difficulty viewing them.
OK, so after that distraction, on with the important stuff...
I booked a week off work in September, after the kids had gone back to school, so everywhere would be quieter. Sally wanted to visit Anglesey in North Wales because we'd never been there.
Friday
Sally suggested some cycling might be involved, so I strapped the folding bikes to the roof of the camper - not that we used them:
Friday afternoon we headed north west towards Birmingham and then up along the Welsh border. The Camping and Caravanning Club have a POI file I downloaded onto the Garmin Nuvi GPS, so as we headed towards sunset I started looking for campgrounds to use for a stopover for the night - something basic and cheap was called for. We stopped at one and and it was just what we wanted. Just and empty field really, owned by a very pleasant retired couple.
Saturday
Come the morning we checked out the toilet facilities - hmmm, these look interesting:
But quite cute inside:
We headed up further north west through Snowdonia National Park:
We didn't stop - that would come later in the week, instead we headed straight for Anglesey and the historic bridge over the Menai Straits:
Thomas Telford's bridge:
Not much clearance:
We headed up to the north east coast of the island - almost still summer:
After a walk along the beach and some sandwiches we moved inland and found an old copper mine:
Some of the copper mined here would have ended up lining the hulls of wooden warships
Then onto the campground - this one Sally had booked in advance - again, a fairly basic campground, but with a sea view:
We decided to fry some food, but rather than do it on the camper stove covering the camper in grease and making it smell, I had brought my old camping stove - it worked well:
Stay tuned for more...
Steve.
OK, so after that distraction, on with the important stuff...
I booked a week off work in September, after the kids had gone back to school, so everywhere would be quieter. Sally wanted to visit Anglesey in North Wales because we'd never been there.
Friday
Sally suggested some cycling might be involved, so I strapped the folding bikes to the roof of the camper - not that we used them:
Friday afternoon we headed north west towards Birmingham and then up along the Welsh border. The Camping and Caravanning Club have a POI file I downloaded onto the Garmin Nuvi GPS, so as we headed towards sunset I started looking for campgrounds to use for a stopover for the night - something basic and cheap was called for. We stopped at one and and it was just what we wanted. Just and empty field really, owned by a very pleasant retired couple.
Saturday
Come the morning we checked out the toilet facilities - hmmm, these look interesting:
But quite cute inside:
We headed up further north west through Snowdonia National Park:
We didn't stop - that would come later in the week, instead we headed straight for Anglesey and the historic bridge over the Menai Straits:
Thomas Telford's bridge:
Not much clearance:
We headed up to the north east coast of the island - almost still summer:
After a walk along the beach and some sandwiches we moved inland and found an old copper mine:
Some of the copper mined here would have ended up lining the hulls of wooden warships
Then onto the campground - this one Sally had booked in advance - again, a fairly basic campground, but with a sea view:
We decided to fry some food, but rather than do it on the camper stove covering the camper in grease and making it smell, I had brought my old camping stove - it worked well:
Stay tuned for more...
Steve.
Tuesday
The weather this morning wasn't as good, but that was OK, as we would be travelling today.
We set off south across the Island, this time taking the motorway across another bridge (previously a railway bridge) and the set off into the mountains of Snowdonia - note these aren't serious mountains like the Alps or Rockies - they are up to 3000ft high, but they are nice and can get some extreme weather due to the presence of the Atlantic.
We were camping on a sheep farm in the valley - the sheep graze the surrounding mountains:
The weather had improved and although I was starting to suffer badly from a cold virus picked up in London on Friday I insisted we get out onto the mountains while the weather was unseasonably good. The climb up from the farm was difficult as there was no defined path, which meant struggling through heather and thorns:
Feeling ill and finding it very hard work in the late afternoon I did worry if we had bitten off more than we could chew by selecting this climb, especially since it would be getting dark in a few hours. But we persevered.
Sally enjoying the sun on the summit:
We crossed the ridge to the next peak:
We found a route down and back through the farm yard:
We could then relax in the sun (and go to the farm house to get a shower).
The weather this morning wasn't as good, but that was OK, as we would be travelling today.
We set off south across the Island, this time taking the motorway across another bridge (previously a railway bridge) and the set off into the mountains of Snowdonia - note these aren't serious mountains like the Alps or Rockies - they are up to 3000ft high, but they are nice and can get some extreme weather due to the presence of the Atlantic.
We were camping on a sheep farm in the valley - the sheep graze the surrounding mountains:
The weather had improved and although I was starting to suffer badly from a cold virus picked up in London on Friday I insisted we get out onto the mountains while the weather was unseasonably good. The climb up from the farm was difficult as there was no defined path, which meant struggling through heather and thorns:
Feeling ill and finding it very hard work in the late afternoon I did worry if we had bitten off more than we could chew by selecting this climb, especially since it would be getting dark in a few hours. But we persevered.
Sally enjoying the sun on the summit:
We crossed the ridge to the next peak:
We found a route down and back through the farm yard:
We could then relax in the sun (and go to the farm house to get a shower).
Thanks for the comments guys, I'll get back to you individually later. Also glad to see the pictures are now visible.
Monday
We got up a bit later on Monday and started off with a walk down to the beach followed by walk up the cliffs to look down on the campground and the bay:
After a cup of tea back at the camper we then set out for the south of the Island. There is a major motorway that crosses the island taking all the commercial trucks to the port. Rather than sit on that we took the parallel A5 which went through the small villages. The A5 crosses the whole country diagonally - much of it was previously known Watling Street and goes back a few years. At some stage the Romans paved it and straightened bits resulting in it becoming a bit of a race track in places.
The road went through Llanfairยญpwllgwynยญgyllgoยญgeryยญchwyrnยญdrobwllยญllantyยญsilioยญgogoยญgoch but we didn't stop as doing so might require us to attempt to pronounce the name.
Turning east along the south shore of the island allowed us to see the Menai Bridge from the other side:
We then carried on to the decidedly un-Welsh sounding Beaumaris Castle:
Looking back towards the mainland - the Mountains of North Wales aren't very visible:
From there we went on to Penmon where Sally claimed to see dolphins (for the second time on the trip) - I didn't see them - I claim they were merely waves
Walking along the shore line:
A dovecot (capacity of 1000 or so birds) in the remains of the old Penmon Priory (the Vikings made a mess of it some years ago):
We also found an overgrown quarry behind the priory:
I would have posted part of this trip report while on the trip, but 3G reception was at a premium, and aluminum checker plate gets cold on your behind very quickly:
We returned to the campground for our last night on Anglesey before moving on.
Stay tuned for Snowdonia...
Monday
We got up a bit later on Monday and started off with a walk down to the beach followed by walk up the cliffs to look down on the campground and the bay:
After a cup of tea back at the camper we then set out for the south of the Island. There is a major motorway that crosses the island taking all the commercial trucks to the port. Rather than sit on that we took the parallel A5 which went through the small villages. The A5 crosses the whole country diagonally - much of it was previously known Watling Street and goes back a few years. At some stage the Romans paved it and straightened bits resulting in it becoming a bit of a race track in places.
The road went through Llanfairยญpwllgwynยญgyllgoยญgeryยญchwyrnยญdrobwllยญllantyยญsilioยญgogoยญgoch but we didn't stop as doing so might require us to attempt to pronounce the name.
Turning east along the south shore of the island allowed us to see the Menai Bridge from the other side:
We then carried on to the decidedly un-Welsh sounding Beaumaris Castle:
Looking back towards the mainland - the Mountains of North Wales aren't very visible:
From there we went on to Penmon where Sally claimed to see dolphins (for the second time on the trip) - I didn't see them - I claim they were merely waves
Walking along the shore line:
A dovecot (capacity of 1000 or so birds) in the remains of the old Penmon Priory (the Vikings made a mess of it some years ago):
We also found an overgrown quarry behind the priory:
I would have posted part of this trip report while on the trip, but 3G reception was at a premium, and aluminum checker plate gets cold on your behind very quickly:
We returned to the campground for our last night on Anglesey before moving on.
Stay tuned for Snowdonia...
Sunday
Some walking was in order today, so we drove to South Stack - an island with a light house on it, off an island (Holy Island), off an island (Anglesey), off an island (Britain) - very recursive.
Windy on the top - probably because it juts out into the Irish Sea:
From the top we could head down towards Holyhead, where the ferries leave for Ireland:
Sally wanted to walk along the harbour wall - the 2nd longest in the world after San Diego. On the entrance to the harbour wall we noticed there were no barriers and it looked like a great place for some boondocking, then we found out why no campers were in sight:
Though I guess if you had the appropriate fishing license you could at least park during the day:
At the end of the harbour wall we watched the local lifeboat pass:
I think they were just doing some exercises in the harbour.
Stay tuned for more...
Some walking was in order today, so we drove to South Stack - an island with a light house on it, off an island (Holy Island), off an island (Anglesey), off an island (Britain) - very recursive.
Windy on the top - probably because it juts out into the Irish Sea:
From the top we could head down towards Holyhead, where the ferries leave for Ireland:
Sally wanted to walk along the harbour wall - the 2nd longest in the world after San Diego. On the entrance to the harbour wall we noticed there were no barriers and it looked like a great place for some boondocking, then we found out why no campers were in sight:
Though I guess if you had the appropriate fishing license you could at least park during the day:
At the end of the harbour wall we watched the local lifeboat pass:
I think they were just doing some exercises in the harbour.
Stay tuned for more...
