Our main UK destination was Devon, but I could not resist taking a quick look at Wales on our way to Manchester Airport to fly to Iceland. So our Wales visit had to be “American style”: very quick! The first part of the car trip to Bristol was a traffic nightmare. There had been an accident on the motorway (like an American Interstate), plus it was Saturday morning and a lot of Brits were on the road heading for various weekend destinations.
After passing Bristol into Wales, the traffic died and at times the roads and the landscape became almost desolate. It was very striking, after leaving the manicured countryside of Devon, that Wales is much wilder and more sparsely populated. It resembles Northern New England. The mountains are geologically related, after all!
Llety Ciero Country Guest House, Our Lodging in Wales
P.J. Photographing the River Dovey in Wales (by Arjan Post)
We spent the night near Aberystwyth, a charming university town with a coastal boulevard that still has a nineteen-twenties/thirties feel. It may have seen better days economically. We had dinner in a restaurant with a view over the wild Irish Sea, whipped up by the residual winds from the remains of ex-hurricane Bertha which still hung around over Europe.
Aberystwyth by Day
Aberystwyth by Night
On Sunday we drove through beautiful Snowdonia National Park, in Northwest Wales, towards Manchester Airport. Someone from our hotel had recommended an especially scenic route, and she was right!
Beautiful Snowdonia National Park
Steep Mountain Road in Snowdonia National Park
We had a simple lunch in Trawsfynydd, in a Welsh pub called The Cross Foxes.
Trawsfynydd, Northern Wales
We now know that “araf” means “slow” in Welsh.
Quiet Life in Trawsfynydd
Photos © 2014 P.J. Gardner & Arjan Post. All rights reserved.