Monday 14 June 2021 - Penarth to Caeathro (Caernarfon)

Caernarfon, Gwynedd

14-17 June, 2021

A straightforward journey to North Wales, stopping along the way in Builth Wells, Meirion Woollen Mill in Dinas Mawddwy and Porthmadog. We saw all the weather that’s on offer: brilliant sun in the South, low cloud and fog in Brecon, intermittent light showers through Mid Wales and broken cloud and sun in the North. That’s Wales for you!!

We arrived in Caeathro around 15:30. It’s a tiny place and so easy to become totally lost as we did! Here, the problem was caused firstly by maps showing the postcode as being “Caeathro Bach”. As we entered the village there was a lane of the same name. Turned out to be a farm track leading nowhere. Returning to the drawing board and the original email we identified the house name (nothing as sophisticated as street names and numbers here!) and spotted it. The lane to the side seemed to belong to someone else; there was a van parked there and there should have been off-road parking. Wrong place?

Admitting defeat, I called the host. The van was lazily parked on a shared access and now moved. The parking area was available and we found the entrance. Success!!!

Wow!! It’s a spacious home. Full equipped with anything you’d need and have in your own home. Four people could probably live here full time. The “equipment” is good quality and adequate for 6 people. The kitchen is modern and fully fitted. The cupboards have lots of starter items, more than you could reasonably expect. And for about £80 a night? Ridiculous!

Something to complain about? WiFi slower than a geriatric carrier pigeon. It does the job well enough but takes its time about it.

The location. It’s good and there’s a Londis mini-mart just 2 minutes walk away. 

Tuesday 15 June 2021- Touring Ynys MĂ´n (Anglesey)

Defying the forecasts, the weather sorted itself out and the day was warm and sunny with only “fair weather” clouds. 

Ynys Môn is somewhere we’d only been once and then only as a Whistle-stop years ago. It (Holyhead mostly) hadn’t left that good an impression then, so it deserved a second chance. We were really quite impressed.

We visited Beaumaris, Moelfre, Port Amlwch, Llangefni and Llanfair-PG. Beaumaris was a seriously good place, Port Amlwch produced fish & chips that beat Aberaeron into 2nd place in my F&C league. The others were interesting but not particularly special.

The scenery everywhere was well worth enjoying, especially along the Menai Straits with views back to Eryri (Snowdonia).

Around six hours very well spent.

Wednesday 16 June 2021 - Touring the Lleyn Peninsula 

What a change in the weather! Made worse by listening to our son’s radio show online from “down south” this morning, where it’s sunny and around 20ºC. Here? Low clouds (so low you’re sometimes driving through them!) with a high of around 12ºC. 

That’s Wales for you!

Following the maxim,”No such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing,” we set  out to explore anyway.

To be honest, there’s not a lot on the LLeyn Peninsula apart from some lovely scenery and lots of it was obscured. However, we made a few stops, had a couple of strolls around small villages and seaside areas and overall had quite a good few hours. 

If you’re holidaying in Wales, you take what’s given!

We returned home via almost the same route, stopping on the way at Llyn (Lake) Clywedog, near Llanidloes, Mid Wales, for a light picnic lunch. Desert was later; ice creams in the Brecon Beacons. The weather was much kinder today, mostly broken clouds with an occasional spit of rain.

These AirBnB breaks are just enough to freshen the mood as long-distance travel is off the table, probably for many months to come.