Next stop Bala

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Time to leave the Lynn Peninsula and the sea for Bala lake in Snowdonia.. All hitched up and sorted. Getting practicised at checking everything on and in the caravan to be secure before moving off. We have of course always done that in the motorhome but in the motorhome you can see if a door has been left open and leap up to shut it. The caravan interior is out of sight and sound when we are towing it so have to be much for careful before setting off.

As usual, car wing mirror extensions were the last thing remembered and fitted just as we left.

All good, though really the roads on the peninsula and anywhere else we have been in Wales, really could do with a little widening in places. We passed through one village where there were two workmen’s white vans parked and a skip. I breathed in as we passed and didn’t dare actually look. Bob said it was Really close.
We headed off to Pwllheli and then due East via Crickieth to the ‘mainland’ and then up and over the hills. Not sure Festiniog was on our planned route but Satnav said it was. We saw lots of sheep, many sitting by the road side and a few crossing in front of us and some pretty scenery. Bala we missed as we turned up to the campsite as we got to the town.
We are four miles out so will be visiting by car not on foot but not today. Today is a bank holiday and we expect it will be heaving so having a day off and staying put at the campsite.

This is a Camping and Caravanning site at £40 a night with electric hook up but not a serviced pitch so no water connection… it makes us sigh and long for the wonderful French campsites with all facilities including pool, bar, shop, restaurant we usually use at less than half that price.



Woke up to a very grey day and drizzly with it. Never mind, just dressed accordingly and set out for Bala. Saw a sign to the lake so took the turn and ended up in the town carpark but didn’t realise until I had paid for 4 hours. Again, never mind. We had driven past a Spar shop and needed some food bits and pieces so went along to it and stocked up.

Found a sign from the car park which said 1 mile on foot to the lake though satnav map said we were already there. Slapped Satnav and set off in the car down the East side of the lake. Bala Lake unfortunately is hidden from view for at least 80% of the shore line and the East side is especially tree filled. We stopped to take a picture at one of the few points where the road was wide enough to risk stopping and I had a conversation with 3 friendly black cows.

I mention them as they were provided some odd entertainment as I was politely asking for a pose for a photo.
Cow no. 1 promptly did a cow 'pat' and I had to query what on earth it had been eating and I offered it a strong dose of Immodium. This was closely followed by Cow no. 2 doing a wee which Cow no. 3 drank from as he was doing it. Just not a polite way to greet English visitors really.

At one point I asked Bob why nobody else was taking this road down the side of the lake as we had seen no other traffic. Immediately a tanker appeared round a sharp narrow bend followed by 2 cyclists… but they were the only vehicles we saw all down that side of the lake.

At the bottom we came to Llanuwchllyn and the station at the end of the Bala Lake Steam Railway. As luck would have it there was a train waiting at the platform so we parked, paid our £30 for a return trip and jumped aboard.

Lovely little trip up to Bala and back in the very small train but lots of steam all the way and as usual I had fun taking photos. Steam trains are great for capturing the reflection of what we pass in the windows.

Back at Llanuwchllyn we visited the Heritage centre and then grabbed some lunch in the café, a very late lunch as usual and then set off back up the lake on the West side. This road is much wider but still very limited views of the water.

Just before Bala we at last came to a touristy stopping spot. I bought us some icecream and went to pay parking only to find it was all day for £5 or nothing. I gave them nothing for being really stupidly greedy and am sure lots of others, stopping just briefly, must do the same. How silly. I would happily have paid for an hour.




I didn’t mention that at some point between leaving Bala and getting off the train the drizzly rain stopped and we suddenly noticed the sky was blue and the sun even made an appearance. Things are looking up.
Still don’t have a full map of the area so a bit hit and miss where we will find ourselves tomorrow 😊

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