Brian and Ruth on holiday: Snowdonia

We reluctantly left Bron Celyn and Betws-y-Coed, after breakfast cooked and served by Jim and Lillian. There is so much to see and do there, it seemed a crime to be leaving after only one night. We met people at the pub who were staying in the village for 2 weeks. We drove through beautiful rural scenery towards Llanderis and were so busy enjoying it that we took a wrong turn and ended up past Beddgelert on a road parallel to the one we should have been on. A woman herding sheep in an area very similar to the one in the book, "I Bought a Mountain", directed us back onto the right road and we headed off thankful that we'd heeded Lilian's advice and left early.

Hazel phoned just as we reached the outskirts of Llanberis to say she, Richard and Charlie were in the carpark for the Mountain Railway. We met up just after 11.00am and were booked on the 12.30 train. So we had a bite to eat and drink, browsed the gift shop and filled in time until it was time to board the train. Ours was a genuine steam engine but at least one that we met was diesel driven. There were lots of people walking to and from the summit as well as some on mountain bikes. Charlie spent a good deal of time waving to the hikers and the passengers on two other trains that passed us. The views were amazing until the clouds closed in near the summit. We had time to walk to the summit and go to the toilet before boarding the train again. The cafe was packed with people eating huge pasties, drinking hot drinks and generally warming up before the hike back down. Richard seriously considered walking down but changed his mind due to the poor visibility and lack of signage to the start of the downward track.

When we returned to the carpark we said our goodbyes and Hazel, Richard and Charlie went home to Amlwch while Brian and went southwards as far as Dolgellau. We were just in time to call at the Information centre where we were directed to a B&B in a listed (historic) house - the man who helped us spoke to the owner in Welsh and told us "Mrs Price will make you very welcome". Fronallt was built in 1840 and Wyn Price did indeed make us very welcome. She was delighted to host New Zealanders as one of her sons had lived there and worked as a shearer. So we started our stay with a cup of tea and a long chat. Afterwards, we walked into the township in search of dinner and stopped off at The Unicorn pub for a drink. Three young mountain bikers approached us asking if we were from NZ - they had recognised our accents and were very proud of the fact they hadn't mistaken us for Australians. At least one of them had lived in NZ for a few months and we had a great time chatting with them about their holiday in Snowdonia and the Lleyn Peninsula - two of them had been hiking on Cadair Idris that day. We ate at a restaurant that had been a place where criminals, particularly witches, were tried and dealt with long ago. Wyn had told us earlier that Dolgellau had some "very bad prisons" in the past. We continued our discussions with her after she'd cooked us a lovely breakfast. She taught me how to pronounce the name of her house and the difference between the "ch" and "ll" sounds - she said my pronunciation was good (better than some English people) and that if I stayed with her for a month she'd have me speaking Welsh!