Cymru.
So. We left Thursday for Wales, in the morning. Took a flight to Liverpool and a few train rides until we got to Betws-y-Coed, which is where we were staying. After asking around, we found out that our hostel/inn for the night was a bit further away than expected in a town called Penmachno, so we took a bus there. It was just a tiny little inn in a tiny little town that didn't even have a food shop, so we went without dinner. But it was nice.
The next morning we went into Betws proper, left our bags at our B&B, then went off for a hike to Llyn Elsi, which was lovely. We got chased by geese, walked around the lake, just gorgeous. It's such beautiful country, you wouldn't believe it. Then we came back to the town and soaked our feet in the river. Everyone was jumping off the bridge into the river on the other side of the waterfall, it reminded me of Ithaca. Then we had dinner (fish and chips, but they weren't great) and went back to our B&B where, if I remember correctly, we watched soccer. Came out of the first day rather sunburnt, despite having bought sunscreen.
Day two saw us going to Dolwyddelan by train to see the Welsh castle there, which was really cool. It's just this tiny little tower sitting on top of a hill. There were some really gorgeous views from the top, it was cool. Then we had some ice cream and did another little hike up to the Snowdon viewpoint, where we saw the famous mountain. Well, I lie, first we found ourselves at a bench in a sheep field, so we sat there for awhile and that was fun. Then we went up to the viewpoint. Then we got the train back to Betws, watched the tail end of the England-Paraguay game, and started wandering around and investigating dinner. I got myself a Welsh flag and a sticker and such. We ate at a hotel bar, and I had lamb and leek pie, which was postively delicious.
Day three was our second and last breakfast at the B&B (tea, toast, cereal, ham, sausage, eggs, tomato, mushroom, and baked beans--I love English breakfasts =D). We left our bags there for the day and hiked out to see Swallow Falls. We lost the trail several times due to bad directions in our guidebook, but it ended up all right and we met a Welsh guy who had been to and loved Juneau. The falls ended up being rather pretty, and the trail was fun. We got to see Ty Hyll (The Ugly House) on the way back, too. We didn't take the trail back but just followed the highway, which ended up being a good thing, because along the way we found a lamb with her head caught in the fence. We tried to scare her into pulling her head out, but that didn't work. Chris wanted to leave and tell someone, but I couldn't just leave her there. So I bent down and started calming her down and petting her (Chris was scared she was going to bite) and soon she got used to her presence. Then, with him lifting up the wire of the fence, her yanking backwards, and me holding her head and pushing, we got her free. She was very excited and ran back to her mum right away and hid under her, tail wagging furiously; it was adorable =D
Then we went and got our bags from the B&B and, because the buses weren't running that day, started the 5 mile walk back to Penmachno for the night. This was right after the 5 mile hike earlier, and this time it was with packs. And I've never done that before. AND I have a bad knee. But we did it, and my knee survived; it just decided to swell up that night. We had pasties for dinner, and that was delicious.
Then yesterday we left. We ended up taking a bus from Betws to Llandudno because the train wasn't running, and some guy came and got us at the last minute. We spent a large chunk of time in Liverpool airport, our flight was delayed, but now we're back, and I miss Wales.
Really, just a very wonderful, therapeutic weekend. What a cool place.
I might do pictures later, I just have to upload them. But in the meantime, it's 5 billion degrees here and I have a test to fail tonight.
The next morning we went into Betws proper, left our bags at our B&B, then went off for a hike to Llyn Elsi, which was lovely. We got chased by geese, walked around the lake, just gorgeous. It's such beautiful country, you wouldn't believe it. Then we came back to the town and soaked our feet in the river. Everyone was jumping off the bridge into the river on the other side of the waterfall, it reminded me of Ithaca. Then we had dinner (fish and chips, but they weren't great) and went back to our B&B where, if I remember correctly, we watched soccer. Came out of the first day rather sunburnt, despite having bought sunscreen.
Day two saw us going to Dolwyddelan by train to see the Welsh castle there, which was really cool. It's just this tiny little tower sitting on top of a hill. There were some really gorgeous views from the top, it was cool. Then we had some ice cream and did another little hike up to the Snowdon viewpoint, where we saw the famous mountain. Well, I lie, first we found ourselves at a bench in a sheep field, so we sat there for awhile and that was fun. Then we went up to the viewpoint. Then we got the train back to Betws, watched the tail end of the England-Paraguay game, and started wandering around and investigating dinner. I got myself a Welsh flag and a sticker and such. We ate at a hotel bar, and I had lamb and leek pie, which was postively delicious.
Day three was our second and last breakfast at the B&B (tea, toast, cereal, ham, sausage, eggs, tomato, mushroom, and baked beans--I love English breakfasts =D). We left our bags there for the day and hiked out to see Swallow Falls. We lost the trail several times due to bad directions in our guidebook, but it ended up all right and we met a Welsh guy who had been to and loved Juneau. The falls ended up being rather pretty, and the trail was fun. We got to see Ty Hyll (The Ugly House) on the way back, too. We didn't take the trail back but just followed the highway, which ended up being a good thing, because along the way we found a lamb with her head caught in the fence. We tried to scare her into pulling her head out, but that didn't work. Chris wanted to leave and tell someone, but I couldn't just leave her there. So I bent down and started calming her down and petting her (Chris was scared she was going to bite) and soon she got used to her presence. Then, with him lifting up the wire of the fence, her yanking backwards, and me holding her head and pushing, we got her free. She was very excited and ran back to her mum right away and hid under her, tail wagging furiously; it was adorable =D
Then we went and got our bags from the B&B and, because the buses weren't running that day, started the 5 mile walk back to Penmachno for the night. This was right after the 5 mile hike earlier, and this time it was with packs. And I've never done that before. AND I have a bad knee. But we did it, and my knee survived; it just decided to swell up that night. We had pasties for dinner, and that was delicious.
Then yesterday we left. We ended up taking a bus from Betws to Llandudno because the train wasn't running, and some guy came and got us at the last minute. We spent a large chunk of time in Liverpool airport, our flight was delayed, but now we're back, and I miss Wales.
Really, just a very wonderful, therapeutic weekend. What a cool place.
I might do pictures later, I just have to upload them. But in the meantime, it's 5 billion degrees here and I have a test to fail tonight.