One of the aims of our holiday to Wales/North York Moor was to do some walking. I used to do this quite a bit when I was younger, but now I’m older, wider and far less fit, so the chances of walking up Snowdon was approaching zero.

Fortunately, the fine people of Wales built a steam rail facility that goes almost all the way to the top.

The weather forecast for the whole week was rain, rain, interspersed some with some rain, but on the morning we set of to Llanberis it was quite sunny. Ish.

Llanberis, from where the train starts off, was only a few miles from our hotel, so we went and bought tickets then had a little over an hour to kill before it leaves, so plenty of time to zoom over the hills to Betws-y-coed and back (prob my fave roads so far this year).

The train is a little cramped, but we got a forward-facing seat and the people sitting opposite were of smaller stature, so not too bad at all. Views good on the way up, no rain and recorded commentary very engaging.

At the top, well, Clogwyn (779m), the rain was still absent, visibility quite good, but farqing cold. The views were very pleasing (click on pic above for more).

When it was time to return down the mountain, the rain started to fall. Lots. Perfect timing

One thing I noted from this trip is that the path up for walking didn’t look that challenging, so when I’m a bit fitter, will have to go back and give it a try.

We’ve been back a whole week from holiday but haven’t had much time for posting, so catching up  

In North Wales we stayed at Seoint Manor Hotel, and I wrote a bit about it here. 

It’s a fair trek from East London, so  we travelled part way on the Friday night, stopping at some random motel near Northampton, giving us a fresh start for the rest of the journey on the Saturday morning.

We took the A5 (Telford, Shrewsbury, Corwen) route in. I’d been to Snowdonia before, when I was very young, but don’t remember much, so was very and newly impressed when entering the park. The mountain roads from Betws-y-coed to Llanberis were especially pleasing.

So, the hotel. It’s set in its own farmland and a bit isolated. Click the image above for pics. We were ‘upgraded’ from the fancy room we booked to one with a four-poster bed. Whilst this might sound nice, it’s not really. Four-posters are much smaller than a normal King Size bed, but the room itself was nice. The hotel also had a nice, if small, pool. And a sauna. Certainly a very relaxing place.

The access road to the hotel has lots of speed bumps, and the car park a perfect place for an assortment of birds to dump their breakfast on your car.

As mentioned previously, there is nowhere to walk to of an evening (pub, restaurant) so you either have to drive and avoid drinking or take out a new mortgage and buy food/drink at the hotel.

Would I stay there again? Probably not. Having been all over the region now, I think I’d prefer one of the many mountainside or lakeside inns.

Early this week we stayed at Seiont Manor Hotel in Snowdonia.

This is a very nice hotel: quiet, big rooms, four-poster beds, nice views, pool, reasonable room rates, etc, but it had one major flaw.

It was farking expensive to eat or drink there.

A glass of wine for £8? Beer for £4 A sandwich for £8? No thanks.

Also, it’s quiet remote. No shop or pub for miles, so whilst we could go elsewhere for food and drink, we’d have to drive, so no alcohol for me.

So off to Tesco, 9 miles away in Bangor, to buy some wine and beer and snacks, bring it back to hotel and then…

Ah, no fridge, no ice. Hmm.

So we buy ice*, but ah, where to put it?

At this point I realised what a bidet is for. It’s the perfect size and shape to cool a bottle of wine and two beers along with two big bags of ice.

Perfect!

So civilised drinking and dining for less than the price of a hotel glass of wine and a couple of sandwiches. Hurrah!

* you can also use large bags of frozen peas if no ice is available, although what the hotel housekeeping staff will make of discarded peas is anyone’s guess