Hello readers!
It’s been a little while since my last lifestyle blog on here, and my only excuse is that I’ve just been mega busy.
But I’m back with a good’un: a blog on my recent trip with the folks to Anglesey.
I was in desperate need of a break — I think I had a bit of end-of-work burnout, and as a result, I had a horrid cold to the point where I was nursing a box of tissues on the car journey there. Thankfully the Lemsip’s held the cold away enough for us to go on some family adventures!
We stayed at Ty Croes farm where they had a little holiday home called Snowdon View which homed us for the week.
On our first day, we decided to have a short hike to the nearest beach following the public footpaths to avoid the roads and soak up the local scenery.
After a spot of lunch, we also went to Plas Newydd House & Garden. It was here I realised that we were not in North Wales, we were in fact on an island above it! There was fantastic scenery of the bridge that connected the island to wales (giving me the obvious clue).
As you can see we were blessed with amazing weather, and were for the remainder of the week. I’m writing this in the middle of the heatwave being very thankful that it was the perfect temperature whilst we were away. Warm enough but not sweltering hot like it has been in England since.
On our second day, we adventured over to Holyhead.
I started the morning off with a sea swim on Newborough beach with the dog (who learnt from this occasion that it is not a good idea to drink the sea water… there may or may not have been a doggie accident on the drive to holyhead…).
Whilst the parents had a nosey around the Maratime museum after some lunch, I sat on the beach with the dog and read my book in the glorious sunshine.
It was quite a shock when the sea mist suddenly came in later in the day. From clear blue skies, to fully blown sea mist, it was quite the contrast when we got to the country park.
It looked almost tropical!
Sadly we didn’t bother going to see the lighthouse as we knew we wouldn’t be able to see it through the mist, but it was still a mist-ical trip to Holyhead.
Day 3 has to be my favourite day, but I’ll get to why soon.
Mum had some birthday money to spend on some new hiking gear so her and Dad went into Bewts-Y-Coed for a mooch around the outdoor shops, meanwhile Pads and I went on our own little adventure.
We took the public footpath along the river into Bewts- Y – Coed which ended up being about an 8 km walk. I had tried to extend it by going up a track and looping back onto the main footpath, which we still sort of did….
We ended up bush bashing through lots of brambles (to which my legs still have the scratches to show for it). I should’ve not been stubborn and turned back, but instead I fought through the overgrown ‘path’ back onto the main footpath. Lesson learnt I guess.
That said, it was still a wonderful walk with views of the waterfalls. I didn’t get my camera out too much on this walk as it’s not the easiest when it is just me and the dog but I did manage to capture it on my phone for an Instagram reel which I will link at the end.
After lunch with the parents in town, we then went onto my favourite part of the entire trip!!!!
We had a walk around LLyn Idwar, a Cwn (lake) in the Ogwen valley. I have visited here once before when we walked past the Cwn and up into the glyders to walk up Glyder fawr and Yr Garn, but this time we opted for a gentle peaceful walk with spectacular view of the mountain encompassing the cwm.
And then, I had a swim! This is the most serene and spectacular thing I’ve ever done. the water was so clear and still, and all I could see was astounding views of the mountains. I’ve never felt anything quite like it.
Day 4 was a surprisingly cloudy day with a couple of showers…. and I still managed to sunburn my shoulders #gingerproblems
We had a chilled day knowing that we were having a mountain day the following day, so we had a relaxed walk around Newborough forest and then I had another dip in the sea at the beach.
Clearly I’m becoming a bit of a fan of the wild swimming.
Day 5: The mountain day!
Dad, the least keen Purvis for walking, suggested a hike up Cadair Idris…. and how could we say no.
After a bit of googling we determined that the Pony Path would be the easiest track for walking up the mountain. We parked at the Ty Nant car park and began our ascent up the mountain. It was quite a hot day so this was quite a challenge and despite being the easiest track it was still on the steep side — guess you always have to walk uphill if you’re going up a mountain.
My Dad likes to say once you’ve done one mountain you’ve seen them all. I strongly disagree. These views were amazing. Every walk has its own unique quality, even if you repeat the same walk, the weather or memories you make along the way will always bring a different view or perspective.
Day 6 required a bit of a rest day for our legs, so we decided to have a bit of a road trip around the parts of Anglesey we hadn’t had the opportunity to see yet.
We began in Beaumaris, then explored Benllech, and finally saw Almwch harbour.
Afterwards, my legs felt okay so I squeezed in a run which then made my leg muscles sore again (particularly because I opted for a sandy route… absolute calf killer).
So there we are, one big round up of our trip to Anglesey and day trips to Snowdonia.
Thanks to the parents for still bringing me on the holidays and letting me drag you on adventures.
Abi’s Life in Writing 