Friday, 15 August 2014

July Tour - Dolgellau

We went to Dolgellau after Shrewsbury. This meant we had to go over some serious hills towing the caravan. We did get over, but the automatic was in bottom gear and I was a little sweaty at the top. Just before the caravan site we had a 1 in 7 to contend with plus a brand new road surface that morning.

We met up with Neil and Jen in the afternoon and went to the New Precipice Walk which gave us some super views.

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Local residents – there were plenty of them!

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Cader Idris 2927 feet (892 metres)

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Our pitch at Cefn Maelen – fortunately we were not at the top of the hill because it would have been a long walk to the facilities at the bottom.

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Stuart and Neil on a bike geocaching trip along the Mawddach Trail.

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View towards Barmouth across the estuary

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The old station at Penmaenpool – the toll bridge (toll still required -70p for a car) is in the background.

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Photos taken whilst cycling below Cader Idris. Most of the morning was uphill. The weather was superb.

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The ladies catch up with us just before the lunch stop – they had the food and drink with them – glad they made it.

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   Barmouth in the distance

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Cregennan Lake

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Top of the hill

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Panoramic view

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Back in Dolgellau was Roberts hardware store which has been converted into a very quaint café, not much of the internal fabric has been changed. They do a very good cappuccino.

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A couple of stone buildings in Dolgellau – The Royal Ship Hotel used to be a coaching inn so what has it to do with ships?

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Wine shop

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On a bike ride up to the gold mines we crossed this bridge. If you just look under the bikes you can see the old collapsing bridge.

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On the way down we stopped for a ‘selfie’. In this area there are lots of mountain bike routes the hardest is known as ‘The Beast’ we didn’t bother with that one – maybe next time!

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St Mary's Church, Dolgellau – extract from Wales Directory website
’The church is on an ancient site and there are records of it in 1254. The current church is Early Georgian and was completed by 1723. Both the style of the church and the materials used to build the church are unusual for this part of Wales. Dressed slate stones have been used to construct the nave, and a mixture of rubble stone and slate for the crenellated tower. The large arched windows have a distinctive style with the corner stones lapping each other log cabin style. The tower was probably begun in 1727, it has two stages with arched openings similar to the windows of the nave. The interior is notable for the quality of the stained glass windows and the eight timber pillars. The huge mast-like timber posts were hauled over the hills from the forests of Dinas Mawddy by teams of oxen.’

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Sue and I were interested in the fact that the slate headstones looked like new despite being over 200 years old.

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Bi-lingual sign brought a smile to our faces

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We had a lovely time here and the sun shone most of the time which we were told was unusual for this area – lucky us.

Thanks to Neil and Jennie for looking after us so well.

Oldie Photos: Summer 1979

Sue on a campsite in Southern Germany

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Stuart on the quay at Bardolino, Lake Garda, Italy (I think)

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