Travels in North Wales
I’m actually back from holiday now but I wrote a series of blog posts on holiday so they’ll be popping up over the next few days! I tried to publish this while I was away but for some reason Windows Live Writer wouldn’t let me publish it via the various wifi connections I managed to find.
I’m on holiday with my family at the moment. I’m writing this without a wifi connection but if I manage to find one anywhere I shall publish it. We are staying at a cottage in Porthmadog, which is great for both Snowdonia and the Llyn Peninsula. And we shall probably venture into Cardiganshire too …. so far we’ve been watching the weather forecast carefully and trying to avoid any predicted rainfall!
On the way there we stopped for lunch in Llanidloes. Imagine my delight when I realised that it is the home of the Minerva Arts Centre which houses a quilt museum and at that moment had its summer exhibition which included the Six Group (including Linda and Laura Kemshall). So I stole 20 minutes to go and see the quilts…
We are staying just opposite the harbour station, and terminus, of the steam railway to Blaenau Ffestiniog. This is a narrow gauge railway which was originally built to carry slate from the slate mines in Blaenau to the coast. Now it is entirely tourist orientated. We travelled on it a couple of days ago.
Here’s the station with the train we had just travelled down from Blaenau on, to the left. Our cottage is just behind those houses in the background. The actual engine is out of the picture being refuelled.
We went down a slate mine at Blaenau – it was very chilly! While I was there I eyed up some rusty machinery …. it would be wonderful for a spot of rust dyeing! Pity it was too heavy to take home…. and the museum might have missed it….
The piles of slate make an interesting picture too…
Back at Porthmadog, the harbour is looking very picturesque:
I loved this colourful arrangement of boats pulled up on the slipway….
More travel nuggets to follow….
I thought Id already left a comment on this but no. I love that area. We went to Nefyn for years when I was 12 to 29! There are lots of other lovely little beaches around there..Llangwanadl and Poth Colman particularly.There’s a nice Craft centre at a college near Caernarfon
You are very near ‘Sesga’ of ‘sesga loves 1950s’ blog.
There’s a nice craft workshop/cafe/woodland athttp://www.ukattraction.com/north-wales/parc-glynllifon.htm just outside caernarfon.
[...] Travels in North Wales [...]
Great photos. I like the boats especially.
Hi liz, as Jackie says – a lovely area. Thank you for bringing back memories of the small railway and the slate mines…. I’d forgotten that I’d even been there and mentally filed that wee railway in the lake district!! Did you see any one napping slate? I remember an elderly guy showing us how they split it so finely.
Hi liz, So glad you enjoyed Minerva exhibition, I am a member of New Horizons so my work was there too, I have heard that it is a very good display of the work but have not yet got there myself. Thanks for posting.
Liz, sounds like a wonderful vacation. The pics are great.
Oh Liz, thanks for sharing the photographs – looks like you had a brilliant holiday! Pity about not taking the rusting machinery though:)
What fun! Pics are beautiful.
[...] More here: Travels in North Wales [...]
I love the recent pics you took. We were visiting my husband’s brother in Bode last year and these look like some of the pics I took, very pituresque.
Wouldn’t it be cool to drape a large piece of fabric over that rusted piece. Ooooh, I can just imagine the rusted fabric you’d get from that. Ooh lala!
Hi Liz,
This is great fun to see what you have been doing!!
I have a blog give-away
~ Diane Clancy
http://www.DianeClancy.com/blog
http://Dianeclancy.com/blog/2008/07/post-500-a-give-away/