Blogs from Gwynedd, Wales, United Kingdom, Europe - page 4

If, like me, you’ve been inspired by team GB’s performance in the velodrom during the London Olympics, you might want to consider bringing your bikes along when you next visit North Wales. Here’s a couple of places for you to consider. Coed Y Brennin Probably the best mountain biking centre in the UK. Miles and miles of rugged trails with fantastic names like ‘Beast of Brennin’, ‘Dragons Back’ and ‘Minour Tour’. The trails are colour coded according to difficulty similar to ski slopes. So all abilities can be confident of having a great time. All the trails start and finish from the new eco visitor centre just south of Trawsfynydd on the A470. There’s a nice café there, a well stocked spares shop, bike wash facilities and shower cubicles. Bikes can also be hired from the ... read more

5 things to do in and around Dolgellau A small and beautiful town, Dolgellau’s story is said to date back to the 11th or early 12th century when it was believed a settlement was created by Cadwgan ap Bleddyn for a town to be created to serve as a ‘serf village’. Later in mid 12th century, Dolgellau was more recognised for its importance when the area was the location of a council of chiefs led by Glyndwr. In the 18th century, the town was recognised for its wool industry, where its output was calculated to be worth 50,000-100,000 annually. More recently, in the 19th century the area experienced decline with the development of wool looms but later, experienced a gold rush with gold being commissioned for the royal family. Today though, Dolgellau’s economy relies on the ... read more

There are a variety of routes up Mount Snowdon but the more achievable of these is the Llanberis Path. Despite this we were still feeling anxious and concerned about heading into the unknown. The ascent begins on the High Street but quickly we were confronted by an incredibly steep hill. It was still a tarmac road at this early stage but the incline was severe. Our calf muscles were burning whilst every step became harder and harder. Surely it can't be like this all the way? Luckily it flattened out or we wouldn't have climbed 100m let alone 1100m. The path was originally used as a pony and mule track. The poor asses were used to carry tourists up from Llanberis. To our right, as we steadily climbed, were stunning views across the Rushy Valley, named ... read more

All the best laid plans of mice and men - this comes from some poem or other and it sums up the way our weekend turned out. We had planned to go north to Northumberland and visit Beamish with its old fashioned village where you can still use pre-decimal halfpennies, pennies, threepences and tanners to buy old fashioned fish and chips and sweets and travel on old tram:, to Alnwick castle and gardens; to Rothbury and Cragside the home of Armstrong and to Lindisfarne and its serene beauty. However things didnt quite work out right. I had thought I would be on strike from work and have an extra day holiday but this was cancelled last minute and it left us with only three days to play with. Northumberland would have to wait. We had been ... read more

Hi everyone, Things are going very well over here in Liverpool. For 2 weeks, I spent time studying education at Liverpool Hope. It was a great opportunity to meet other trainee teachers (they call them PGCE trainees here). Everyone was extremely friendly and I made quite a few good friends. Back at Hope College, they do not split up the education student teachers for our student teaching seminar. We all have seminar together, despite being elementary, secondary, or special ed and all having different majors and minors. Here, I was only with history secondary teachers. This provided a great opportunity to explore and discuss different ways to teach history. It was also interesting because the ages spanned from 22-35. It was incredible to hear all of the life experiences these students have already experienced before they ... read more