Category Archives: travelphotography

Travel: Talyllyn, Wales

Find out about what life is like where I live in Bath, England by seeing my guest post on Alesha’s blog: Lifeology. Another week begins in September and I look forward to telling you more about our time in Wales. Today it is about our rainy day spent in the town of Talyllyn, Wales. To get here we took a ride on one of the steam engines in Wales, which I blogged about last week. We were quite ready for lunch so we walked through the town and found a perfect little cafe where inside we hit out from the rain. I ordered the tomato soup with a side of chips and it ended up being the best possible choice for lunch. Not only was the soup made fresh that morning, but the chips were made from scratch upon order. It was my family’s turn to cook dinner that night so we stopped at the butcher in Talyllyn before heading home. My husband purchased two different kinds of sausages to go with our sweet potato mash. All in all it was the end to another perfect day, even with the rain.

Barmouth Beach Pt. I

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Since so many of you enjoyed the post about our evening at the coastal town of Barmouth in Wales, I thought it only fitting that I follow up with a couple more beach themed posts in the town. We spent sunset at the nearly empty beach on this particular evening and it inspired a follow up beach day later that week. During this occasion it was quite windy and tiny sand particles stung our face as our hair flew about in the wind. The tall grasses seemed to dance and the sand was textured by the ribbed pattern the wind created like art. In our exploration of the beach we found an Easter Island type statue watching out towards the ocean in solitude. My hawaiian raised boys had fun playing in the sand and running up and down the dunes. With the setting sun and the picturesque town views behind us, I walked away to the car leaving my regular glasses (I was wearing my prescription sunglasses) and my hair clip in the sand. Luckily once in the car I realised it was not on my person and we made a mad dash to locate the items. Needless to say the area had a way of capturing my heart and keeping my attention away from worldly matters and onto the details of simple beauty and the wishes that the ocean holds.

Q: Do you have a place that can put you perfectly at ease or capture your heart, mind, and/or soul?

Travel: Barmouth, Wales

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Yesterday I took you to Corris, Wales to the King Arthur’s Labyrinth. After our memorable day there we headed into the coastal town of Barmouth for dinner. Our lovely hosts at the Penycoed Hall Guest House recommended we try The Mermaid for their infamous fish & chips. My sister Zoë had arrived a few days later than the group and had yet to eat this British delicacy on this trip back…and was craving it! I have had some delicious fish & chips and some i-regret-ordering-this-meal fish & chips during my time living in the UK. I can definitely say that our experience at the Mermaid was wonderful, the service was fast, and the food was eaten before we knew it. We were able to snag a two tables for our party inside, but it ended up getting quite the que of people waiting to make their orders. It must be a very popular spot in Barmouth.

Afterwards we walked around the town, found a grocery store to stock up our kitchen back at the B&B, and took a stroll along the beach. The beach photographs to follow soon as I recap our lovely 10th Anniversary adventure in Wales. It was a lovely evening and a perfect end to another beautiful day leading up to our Vow Renewal.

Q: What are some of your favourite aspects or memories from visiting seaside and coastal towns?

King Arthur’s Labyrinth – Corris, Wales

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Our third day in Wales we decided to take everyone to one of the visitor attractions in the area that would interest both the kids and adults a like. Since there is a lot of Arthur legend found in Wales, we opted to visit the King Arthur’s Labyrinth in Corris. We arrived with the typical UK weather of not knowing if it would rain or not. Luckily spending a day at King Arthur’s Labyrinth means there are plenty of places to duck in side if does start to pour. Luckily for us we did not have to deal with the rain during our stay. We started off by going to the cafe for lunch to feed our group. They have a nice picnic area outside where you can sit and the kids can later play on the playground equipment in an enclosed area. We then ventured around the nine different craft shops that boasted local goods like the wooden Welsh love spoons, candles, and leather goods.

When our group was ready we went on the Cave tour which involved donning a hard hat and following our hooded tour guide of very few words. What followed was a dramatized boat ride into the old abandoned slate caverns where we followed on foot underground in the dark and winding labyrinth. Every so often we would stop to hear more of the legends. The atmosphere down there is quite interesting as it is very cold (so remember to bundle up), quite dark, and many low ceilings where even tall children would have to duck their heads. When we finished we let the children play at the park again until we were ready to leave for the day. Overall it was a very nice visitor attraction for families and groups. There was also a tour of the abandoned mines where you can see the remains of the miners that sounded really interesting. Due to the iffy weather it was not available to us but something for a sequential visit for sure.

Q: What do you think of King Arthur’s Labyrinth? Would you go into the caves?

Cadair Idris

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I am linking up today with Casey from True Colours for the travel series: Wanderlust. The theme for August is Natural Wonders and I continue our recap of our trip to Wales with a sneak peek of our mountain hike. We stayed in the town of Dolgellau in Gwynedd for our 10th Wedding Anniversary. Dolgellau is located next to the mountain Cadair Idris in the southern end of Snowdonia National park. The famous peak on Cadair Idris is a popular location with many paths from which to choose from to get there.

The day before our hike my husband and I had prepared our boys for the trek with a stop at the local sporting store in town for hiking boots. While there we talked to the store keeper about which path to take to the top. He told us of two ways: one easy path and one more challenging trail. On the day of during our hike we got to the point where we had to choose either the longer easier path or the ‘shorter’ more challenging path. Since we take our sons, six and eight, on regular country walks in England we decided we could bypass the easy way.

Our journey took us up the grassy sides of the mountain, through a trail of rocks and boulders, pass rock formations created by the passing of a glacier, and next to crystal clear lakes and rocky streams. All of which were frequented by sheep, which became a common sight through out our ten hour hike.

While the path we chose was more challenging than the easy path which our trail met up with eventually, it was nothing compared to the way back down. Imagine making your way down a steep trail where your feet constantly have to secure their footing on the loose rocks before taking your next step. However it was all worth it to make it to the top peak with my husband and sons. To be so high up that the clouds practically touched our heads, to see the towns so small below, and see as far out as the ocean where it met the land.

My Wanderlust for Wales has only deepened since our journey. This is Cadair Idris. Our first mountain to climb with our boys, and the first to many more to come. Both for hikes and for upcoming photographs from our time in Wales.

Driving Through Wales

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Thank you everyone for all your messages yesterday for my family and for the feedback on my post yesterday The Story of How He Died. Yesterday was our five year mark since my dad was killed and it definitely makes it harder as an expat when you cannot return to any one spot with all the family to remember a loved one. However, I hope it encourages all to make good choices and to always think before getting behind the wheel.

It is happenstance that the next part of my trip from Wales to share on the blog today is about driving through Wales. As we do not have a car in England, getting to drive through the countryside on our journey through Wales was quite the treat. It is just as you would imagine it: winding country roads, hillsides dotted with sheep, green fields with horses, and cute little villages brimmed with history.

Of course when you are not used to being in a car and you add in the factors of twisting roads, round-a-bouts, and being in a car where someone constantly weaves in their lane you are bound to get a little motion sick. For Ronan it was being the the back of the car with all the winding roads and so we stopped to get some fresh air. Luckily his Nonna, my mum, is a dōTERRA consultant who travels with a variety of essential oils. So with a little peppermint and some fresh Welsh air we were back on the road again.

Since I usually do photography posts on Thursday I wanted to showcase a few portraits I have taken up to this point in the trip in Wales. The composite above was taken while we were taking a break from driving to get Ronan to feel better from feeling carsick. There was complete cloud cover which creates a natural light diffuser for a perfect lighting situation. I had a reader a while back ask me what to do when you live somewhere where it is always cloudy. To them I responded, ‘take photographs every day!’ It can be the sun that can be your worst enemy when it comes to getting nice portraits. I lived in Hawaii for years and I would only shoot in the very early morning or close to sundown since the sunlight was so strong without the use of shade. Here are a few more portraits from the past two days of this portion of the trip.

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I am happy to introduce you today to my featured sponsor

for the month of August, Gillian from Gladley.

She is also an expat, but a Brit living in the USA.

Recommended Posts by Gillian:

My appearance on HuffPost Live

Three things I say incorrectly

The other kinds of long distance relationships

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Crickhowell Town, Wales – Travel Tuesday

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This is my first post about our trip to Wales for our 10th Wedding Anniversary. We drove from where we live in Bath, England to Dollegau, Wales. Instead of driving straight through we decided to stop somewhere halfway so that the kids could all get out and run around for a bit. It was in the town Crickhowell, Wales where we got out and met up with our friends. Up to this point Wales had been seen from behind the glass windows of the car in awe. The countryside is so beautiful and dotted everywhere with sheep.

Upon arrival in Crickhowell we found the remaining ruins of a castle that became the majestic backdrop for the childrens’ park in town. Adjacent to the playground a cricket match was going and there was a neighbouring field of sheep. It could not have been a more perfect setting for our first experience in Wales for this trip.

There were five kids among the two families and they had an amazing time playing together despite the rain. At one point the rain was just coming down in buckets while they screamed and ran and enjoyed every drop. All in all it was a lovely place to stop and definitely worth a look for this week’s Travel Tuesday post.

A Compass Rose

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