Instead of taking a more direct route to Portmeirion, we chose to take a route by the sea.
We crossed the bridge over the Dyfi river and headed west.
Like much of England, the roads in Wales have few places where you can stop your car to take a photo of the magnificent view. Marianne took most of the following photos from the car as we were motoring along.
The clouds made for a very grey morning. The Coastal Walker lucked out with much better weather and bright light. She did not walk along the side of the road but took a more inland path.
I would not want to walk on the side of the road here.
Aberdyfi in the distance.
We parked in Aberdyfi and walked around.
It is a popular seaside resort with a sandy beach closer to the mouth of the river.
The sandy beach in the distance.
As usual, the Welsh version comes before the English word.
There were a few fishing vessels with some sort of crab pots.
The mists over Snowdonia National Park. Snowdon itself lies well to the north.
We wished we could stop to take photos but as you can see, that is not possible.
The train bridge at Barmouth.
A small old toll bridge crosses the Afon Mawddach at Penmaenpool. Unfortunately the bridge was closed for maintenance so we had to go further upstream.
It's difficult to comprehend that 15 people drowned here in an accident in 1966 when a ferry hit the bridge.
All very quiet and peaceful.
The George III hotel right beside the bridge. It was built about 1650 and looks like it would be a lovely place to stay. In the distance you might be able to see a railway signal. There used to be a railway line here until 1964.
We crossed the river and headed west to Barmouth. It looks like the river is tidal and the tide was definitely out.
The train bridge at Barmouth appeared in the distance.
Looking back east to the mountains.
It would be a great view from this house over the estuary.
The outskirts of Barmouth to the right. The town itself appeared to be quite busy so we just drove through.
We did not stop in Barmouth and continued on. This is Harlech Castle on the hill. We might have stopped if we had more time but we wanted to get to Portmeirion before it got too crowded or too hot.
There will be a separate blog for Portmeirion.
After we were finished with Portmeirion, we drove home through the Snowdonia National Park.
There was more traffic than I expected and most of the way we simply followed a line of cars.
Again, there were few places to stop to take photos so Marianne took some from the car.
This hillside reminded me of some of the hillside in Cumbria where I did the Coast to Coast walk.
Eventually the mountains disappeared to be replaced by low hills.
We stopped here for lunch and then I had a short nap in the car.
A donkey in the adjoining field.
It was a lovely two day trip. We both agreed that we would like to come back to Wales sometime to see more of it.
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