UK Tourist & Leisure Attractions - North Wales

Outside the cottage in Penmachno there was no mobile phone signal so we explored the little Welsh village and found the phone box, pub, shop, and river running through it and hills behind.

The Wales holiday cottage sure was cosy with TV, video and Sky in the lounge, shower in the kitchen cupboard, toilet under the stairs, bedroom in the converted roof space and a small courtyard.

On our first day in North Wales we visited lovely Betws-y-coed and entered the first of many gift shops, the information centre, then looked at the Conwy Valley steam railway and the Swallow falls.  See our UK tourist links for North Wales websites.

The River Conwy with its little waterfalls in Betws-y-coed was a very tranquil scene - until Belinda let out a cry when she spotted another gift shop!  After a lovely lunch in a nearby hotel, we looked around the Conwy Valley Railway station then headed...

...a few miles along the A5 from Betws-y-coed to the Swallow Falls, with its raging torrents of water.  Belinda made sure she had plenty of photos in the bag while Mike took lots of video footage!

We always have adventures in the kitchen on every cottage holiday we've been on - and this North Wales one was no exception, with scrambled egg remnants sticking to the saucepan all week!

After the first full day of our North Wales holiday we cooked Spaghetti Bolognese, washed down with a good bottle of wine, except Mike choose beer.  Note that Belinda has the mat attached to her glass.

We spent the second day at lovely Llangollen where we cruised on the scenic horse-drawn canal boat.  Although almost midsummer, lightweight jackets were required in North Wales.

We did a short but strenuous walk in Llangollen up the hill to Castell Dinas, an old ruined castle.  We had to be careful because of the foot and mouth problems at the time, but found most paths open - as were the gift shops for Belinda!

The view up the hill to Castell Dinas and the zig zaggy path to the top.  The day was bright and dry which was much better than when we were there three years ago and climbed up in the wind and rain.  On that occasion Belinda ran all the way down!

From the top of Castell Dinas we could see the steam rising from the Llangollen Steam Railway as the train snaked its way along the picturesque valley below.  We took lots of pictures and had a great time exploring the old ruins.

Mike needs to stay in more!  No sooner does he get up the hill than he runs around like a little kid again, maybe he should stay off the scrambled eggs at breakfast!  The Welsh sun even came out for a while and it got quite warm.

Back at the North Wales holiday cottage there were always chores to do after a day's touring, including cleaning our muddy footwear.  Mike left his nearby in the forlorn hope they'd be done but they were ignored.  Ho hum!  Anyway, the following day we went to...

...Criccieth on the Lleyn Peninsula and our first port of call was the putting green after a coffee in the café. The sun shone warmly all day - the best day for weather during our time in North Wales.  Head to the next page for more from North Wales >>>.