It was another miserable day. But it was Josh's birthday so we had to make the most of it!
The first bit of excitement for the day was taking Josh through Winnat's Pass, a really cool little bit of road in the Peak District that I had been to before when I drove around that area. We parked and got out to take a photo but the light was terrible!
We drove around the Peak District for a bit, looking at the scenery from the warmth and dryness of the car, before driving west towards Chester. We got to Chester at noon, and parked. It wasn't raining too badly, just a bit of drizzle, so we got out to take a look around.
I'd been to Chester as a kid but wanted to go back as an adult. Unfortunately we were there at lunchtime, meaning there were loads of people around, which wasn't great for photos. But what can you do!
Chester is a walled city that was founded as far back as 79AD! The walls were originally built out of piled up earth, as many Roman walls were, but since 100AD, they were remade in sandstone. Parts of this original wall are still visible, but have been incorporated into the current structure. The complete circuit around the city was finished in the 12th century. The walls of today are a combination of restored parts and old parts and require constant upkeep!
You can walk along the walls, so that's what we did at first, before dropping down into the city to have a look around. It's quaint, with a nice old British vibe to it. We also went into the lovely old cathedral to have a look around, it was gorgeous!
We left Chester and drove into Wales. driving up to the coast at Conwy and then down into Snowdonia. I'm not going to lie - the weather was horrible and I was frantically looking for a hotel on Booking.com that we could stay in that had parking. I didn't manage to find anything cheap enough so we steeled ourselves for camping in the rain (again).
It was raining so much that you could barely make out any of the mountains in Snowdonia National Park. We eventually found a campsite at Capel Curig and I donned my rain jacket to go in to talk to the farmer about a spot for the night. Several other people had pulled in after us so we weren't the only ones daft enough to be camping in the rain. We picked a spot close to the amenities block and set the tent up on the sodden ground. I think that's the fastest we've ever set up! We had all the bedding inside the tent, zipped it up, then we drove to a pub nearby for Josh's birthday dinner. It wasn't particularly fancy but at least we were inside, dry, warm and sitting at a table like civilised people!
The next morning, the rain had eased, but the ground was still really squishy and wet. We packed up then went for a short drive to Betws-y-Coed, a little village nearby to have a quick little look, then drove on to Beddgelert. We parked and got out to have a wander. I wanted to show Josh Gelert's Grave, but it had started raining again and I don't think he was overly impressed. I stopped at a couple of cafes but they were all closed! It was early Saturday morning and all I wanted was a cup of tea! Tea-less, we walked around for a bit more then went back to the car.
Our next stop was one that I wanted to go to but Josh was not as keen. Portmeirion is a village built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, a rich architect, between 1925 and 1975. It is supposed to represent an Italian village on the Mediterranean. Tickets were a little pricey I thought, but I did want to have a look around.
Now I've been to some cute little Italian villages on the Mediterranean... Camogli, Portofino and the Cinque Terre come to mind. This was something else... It was a bit like a bad replica of a village, or a theme park of an Italian village. I found it very strange. It would have obviously been better as well had it not been pouring with rain the entire time we were there!
We stopped off at Dolgellau on the way south to grab some lunch and supplies, then I navigated us down some more scenic roads to Hay-on-Wye. This little town was bustling, even as we arrived fairly late in the afternoon. We found a carpark then went to have a look at the so-called "Town of Books" - Hay has over 20 bookstores, with a lot of them selling specialist books. There were also quite a lot of vintage shops, and a cafe where I gratefully bought a cup of tea! It was a lovely town for wandering around, especially now that the rain had stopped!
There was a campsite fairly close to Hay but within the Brecon Beacons so we aimed for it and booked a night there. It was an OK site, but it really could have done with a second amenities block at the back of the site, as it was such a long walk away. There was also a Duke of Edinburgh group there when we were there too, who spent a long time in the bathrooms, and hogged the sinks and mirrors. There was a lovely view from the campsite, but as it would have been quicker to drive to the amenities block than to walk there, I definitely wouldn't go back.
