North Wales

In the blink of an eye our time in Wales is over. We have covered over 1,000km in this small but beautiful country and have visited some truly magical places and as always met many friendly people. We moved our base from Rhayader in mid Wales to Betwys-y-Coed in the Snowdonia National Park area of North Wales. This little village is set in a valley of two rivers running through town with sheer hill sides behind. Add in the bluestone cottages and pubs and you have a classic Welsh setting. This place is a mecca for adventure seekers trekking, climbing, mountain biking or canoeing across the diverse National Park region.Highlights for us included a train trip to the top of Mt Snowdon  (at 1085m the highest in Wales), the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (a masterpiece of late 18th century engineering) and the adjacent village of Llangollen, Caenarfon Castle and the seaside towns of Conwy and Llandudno.

In some parts you could liken the countryside to the high Australian and Victorian Alps but at lower altitudes it is unbelievably green. Local stone has been put to good use in the buildings and endless boundary fences that give the place its character. Some of the A roads are magnets for English Bikers from Liverpool and Manchester who slip across the border for a ride over these more sparsely populated and more challenging Welsh roads. The Ponderosa Cafe at the top of Horseshoe Pass is similar to Brisbane's Maiala Cafe atop Mt Glorious with lines of Sports Bikes cooling down after a hot run up the mountain.

The Snowdonia area has been heavily mined for its slate deposits over centuries and many areas bear the scars of this activity. The area is also used extensively by the RAF for low level pilot training from their nearby Raf Valley base at Anglesea. It is quite something to get buzzed by a couple of Hawk Jet fighters about 300 feet overhead.

 As we head back into England the BMW has clocked 2,276 trouble free kms on this trip and is on the cusp of rolling over 50,000km in her life. We look forward to many more.