On our way to the start of our Route 66 Hygge Road Trip we stopped off in Chirk. Our first night on our Welsh Wanderings was very windy and wet, but luckily by 11am the next day the sky had cleared and the sun shone. So we decided to spend an extra night at the Lady Margaret’s Caravan Club Site and spend the extra time this gave us exploring Chirk Castle.
So we wandered up from the campsite to the impressive gates and through into the vast grounds of the castle. For early September it was very relaxing meandering through the trees, getting lost, naturally, but eventually finding the entrance to the castle.
With a long and varied history we were surprised by the amount to see; from the dungeons, which held 15 imprisoned French soldiers, to the staterooms and the stay of Charles 1st. From the laundry to the wonderful sunny sitting room, with fabulous views of the distant hills, we spent a lovely day exploring all the castle had to offer.The gardens were beautiful with truly spectacular views, north to the Pennines and east to the Stiperstones. A myriad of brightly flowering blooms covered in fluttering butterflies brought the gardens alive. We had not seen so many butterflies in one place for years.
We enjoyed a typical NT lunch, having tested the hot chocolate first thing of course!
Leaving to start our onward journey to Conwy we also spent time exploring the Pontcyscyllte Aquaduct, World Heritage Site. After getting lost again (the signs were terrible) we arrived, over a wonderful medieval river bridge very close to the aquaduct, which towered above us.
This engineering marvel was built by Thomas Telford (1795-1805) and is 1007 feet long. Garry struggled with the sheer drop and I must admit it sent me a bit wobbly too, but we did manage to walk someway across it.
Overnight we stayed at the Trwyn Yr Wylfa Camping Site, near Conwy, which nestles against the hills overlooking the North Wales Expressway! The noise from the vehicles was terrible, although the views over the bay were spectacular and we were treated to a bit of a sunset. So curtailing our stay by one night, as we couldn’t cope with the road noise, we started our Route 66 Hygge road trip.
Route 66 – The Dragons Spine (The Road Less Travelled)
We don’t know why Tourism Wales doesn’t advertise Route 66 more, we came across it by chance. The route follows the A470 for its full length of 183 miles or there abouts. North to South was our chosen direction of travel, from Llandudno to Cardiff. So to start at the very beginning, we trundled up the A546 from Conwy to the Victorian seaside town of Llandudno and joined the seafront along with all the other promenaders, past the wonderful pier and the Statue of the Mad Hatter, turning right and joining the A470 towards Betws y Coed.
Llandudno is a seaside town whose popularity increased during the Victorian period when holidaying by the sea, in genteel seaside towns, became all the rage. Llandudno still gives more than a nod to its Victorian beginnings as a holiday destination. The seafront promenade is a wonderful way to experience the bay, lined with Victorian buildings, housing numerous hotels and B and B’s and with views over to Great Orme.
You can take a train to the top of the Orme and a cable car ride around it, or walk up and explore at your leisure. Mostyn Street, the main shopping street, still retains its Victorian arcade covered pavement, giving it all a certain grand elegance.
Driving out of Llandudno the first part of Route 66 took us through the outskirts and various business areas, pretty uninspiring at this point, but we were confident the best was yet to come.
Conwy is dominated by its impressive castle, it is here you can walk the walls and admire the views, explore to your hearts content and relive its turbulent history. We decided to stop off at Conwy (although only 4 miles from our start) because we were intrigued by the claims that the Elizabethan House, Plas Mawr, situated in the town centre, was the largest and best-preserved Elizabethean Town House in Britain. This statement turned out to be no exaggeration. This wonderful building looks medium sized from the street, until you get inside that is. The street façade is merely the gatehouse. The mansion is made up of a host of rooms and is huge.
Built by Robert Wynn around the 1560/80s, the house was lucky to survive without much alteration due to detailed instructions regarding it in his will, which took years to resolve. It continued its interesting life once the original family died out and was leased as a school, various shops and letting rooms all at the same time! Today the interiors are dressed in the sixteenth century period and the audio tour was thorough and entertaining in its detailed explanations and audio cameos by the staff. The kitchens and storerooms were full of furniture and food of the time, floors strewn with straw and sprinkled with scented blooms, creating wonderful lavender aromas as you walked through. The bedrooms and large receiving room on the first floor were wonderfully decorated. It was well worth the visit and really took us back to life at that time.
Naturally you can’t go to Conwy without seeing the unique smallest house in Britain. This one up, one down mini wonder, is on the sea front overlooking the small yachts moored in the estuary and it really is tiny.
We also took a quick walk over the well-known Conwy Suspension Bridge. A Grade 1 listed structure, one of the first suspension bridges built in the world, now owned by the National Trust.
With another 180 odd miles to go we hit the road, following the River Conwy and admiring the wonderful views over the Snowdonia National Park towards Betwys-y-Coed.
I must mention our stop at the Tu Hwnt-l’r Bont tearooms, in an idyllic cottage beside the river in Llanrwst. You can’t miss it as you drive through the town, set on the opposite bank of the river and covered in clinging ivy that changes colour throughout the seasons, the house certainly catches your eye and the cakes are pretty good too.
Whilst in Llanwrst we saw on our map the intriguingly named Grey Mares Tail Waterfall, so our interest piqued and wanting to see them for ourselves we followed the map, which was a little vague and after a short spell driving around, lost again, we parked up in the rough vicinity of the falls and found someone to ask. After a short walk we came across these secluded and serene falls, where quite frankly we could have sat all day! Three bikers arrived and clambered down into the water to give some sense of scale to their photographs – helped us out too!
This was the first of many secret and magical places we were to find on our Route 66 Hygge Road Trip.
As we drove out of Llanwrst we did notice the large white Llanwrst sign up in the hills as you leave the village, very Hollywood and not something you would expect to come across in Wales!
We continued south, stopping off for a short while in Betws-y-Coed. This extremely popular tourist town was very busy so after a quick cup of tea and a meander we decided to continue our journey.
Ty Mawr Wybrnant - William Morgan
Set in the remote valley this wonderfully atmospheric house is where William Morgan was born and spent the first few years of his life. To get to it you travel up a narrow and at times bumpy two-mile track, through Forestry Commission land, from Penmachno on the B4406, just south of Betws-y-Coed, before parking up above the cottage. A path takes you down alongside the stream and over a wonderful little bridge to the cottage.
William Morgan was responsible for translating the Bible into Welsh. A 10 year labour, but in so doing, ensured the survival of this wonderful language. The Wardens here are a font of knowledge and take great pains to explain and pass on the history of this place. The house also holds an original copy of the translated bible in a small museum upstairs. Visitors and people from all over the world have sent or given bibles, so they now have over 160 copies in different languages and their collection is still growing.
As we sat on the small bridge crossing the stream we thought how amazing it was that a Cambridge Scholar, Bishop and someone so important in the history of the Welsh People, came from such humble beginnings.
Continuing South, the route from Dolwyddelan to Blaenau Ffestiniog is known as The Crimea Pass, taking its name from the war being fought at the time the pass was opened. At its height it is 1263 ft above sea level and the views are fantastic. There is a conveniently placed layby where we enjoyed a cup of tea and sat a while, admiring the view over Snowdonia.
Once you start the descent into Blaenau Ffestiniog the scenery changes greatly and takes on the industrial landscape of the numerous slate mines and quarries, famous in this area. It is dramatic and stark, but non-the-less with a beauty of its own and part of Wales’ rich history.
The views returned as we continued along the old A470 ignoring the signs to bypass Llan Festiniog and yet again we had to pull over to photograph the wonderful vista over the mountains.
One place we did want to revisit on our Route 66 road trip was Beddgelert. Approximately 12 miles from the A470 and a scenic ride along the A4410 and A4085 takes you to this pretty town set on the confluence of the Rivers Colwyn and Glaslyn. A walkers’ paradise, we followed the path along the River Colwyn down into the narrow valley and although it was popular and quite busy on this sunny day it did not feel overcrowded. We had a delicious coffee and cake at The Real Coffee Shop and a look around the Tourist Information Centre where I practised my Welsh and was happy to have my pronunciation corrected by the Information Assistant there.
There is an interesting story associated with Beddgelert
Prince Llewellyn had a loyal dog – Gelert - who went everywhere with him. One day Llewellyn could not find his hound to take hunting, so went alone. On his return he found the dog covered in blood and panicking when he found his son’s cot empty and no sign of the boy, Llewelyn thought the dog had killed him, so he stabbed the hound. No sooner had the act been done than he heard his son’s wail from the garden. Rushing out he found his son and the body of a huge dead wolf lying beside him. Gelert had saved his son from certain death. Prince Llewellyn buried his dog beside the River – you can see the grave today – and he was said to have never smiled again.
As you turn onto the A4410 towards Beddgelert believe it or not you enter one of Wales’s most important Rainforests. This particular oakwood is as ‘globally important and as vulnerable as some tropical rainforests’, the sign at Coed-Llyn-Maer Picnic Site in Coedydd Maentwrog informs us. This Atlantic Oak Woodland is a wonder of mosses, lichens and liverworts thriving in its unique wet climate. A stream cascades down the hillside into the lake and there are picnic benches and plenty of places to sit and enjoy the peace and quiet.
On our first wet day of travel, after our stopover at the Caravan and Motorhome club site at Gelliydan, we pulled in when we saw the signs to Cymer Abbey. There are scant remains here but it is a pretty enough stop, parking by the old bridge across the Afon Mawddach. We arrived in time to see a local Salmon Fisherman catch the largest salmon we had ever seen and he had ever caught, judging by the look on his face, as he teased it ashore. It is here the A470 weaves its way close to the sea at Barmouth and we were tempted to travel the 8 miles along the A496 and spend a few hours on the beach and treat ourselves to some fish and chips, but we had already taken longer than anticipated so we had to keep moving on.
This road trip, we were beginning to appreciate, was defined by its links to water. Every bend in the road or viewpoint seemed to involve the sea or a river. We had clambered alongside waterfalls, been awestruck by magnificent reservoirs and watched boats bobbing in the estuaries and when we couldn’t see water, which wasn’t that often, we could feel it in the air and it would appear that it is this link with water that gives Wales some of its most unique and important geological habitats.
Continuing our journey and about 12 miles further south, just past the village of Dinas Mawdwyy, is the Merion Mill shopping outlet. Set in an old Mill, they sell Welsh goods and some not so Welsh and they also boast a café. We didn’t stop here for the shopping experience however, although we did buy a gift for our daughter, we wanted to see Pont Minllyn.
An early seventeenth century packhorse bridge, Pont Minllyn was built by Rev John Davies, replaced in the eighteenth century and then the twentieth century and all three bridges are still standing almost side-by-side. After the heavy rain of the previous night and most of the day, the river was a raging torrent as it forced its way through the sturdy bridge arches. It was quite a romantic setting considering the A road traffic zooming past, but you can understand why the original bridge was replaced when you see how narrow and dangerous the crossing would have been with your packhorse!
The views change now as we trundle on, from the majesty of the mountains, to the softness of the valleys and the route turns east just stopping a few miles short of Shropshire before turning west once again and on to Llanidloes.
Llanidloes is the central town of our journey and holds claim to being the first town on the River Severn from its source. It has a seventeenth century Market Hall right in the centre of town and numerous shops and cafes selling local produce.
Turning right here and a couple of miles along the B4518 is Lyn Clywedog. There is an amazing viewpoint high above the reservoir. With its sailing club and outdoor adventure centre this area is given over to leisure and pleasure, with wildlife watching and walks in abundance.
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We stayed at the Red Kite Adults Only Touring Park on the B4518 within walking distance of Llanidloes. It had lovely views over the surrounding hills and was a quiet, well-manicured and cared for site.After another good night sleep and very hearty breakfast we head for our next stop at Elan.
Located 3 miles from Rhayader down the B4518, the Elan Valley boasts 72 square miles of unspoilt nature and reservoirs and enjoys International Dark Sky Status, the first privately owned publically accessible park to do so. And what a wonderful place this is.
(Red Kite (Barcud Coch) Michael Steciuk)
Building began in 1893 to provide a clean and reliable source of water for the ever-growing population of Birmingham. There is a visitor centre, small exhibition and café (with sublime cakes). Really helpful assistants with maps and bike hire available should you want it. You can explore by bike, motorbike, car, campervan or shanks’s pony and it truly is a memorable experience, whichever way you chose to explore. The dams are fascinating, the views breath taking and the wildlife is everywhere. We spent a while just watching the red kites which breed very successfully here, having been reintroduced in the 1990’s. And it is so quiet. What essentially are man-made structures sitting side by side in peaceful co-existence with nature. We spent all day here and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Back on the road again we follow the River Wye along the valley to Builth Wells and on to our final campsite, Fforest Fields Camping, just west of the town off the A481.
From here we explored the former spa town of Llandrindod Wells with its beautiful Victorian buildings.
We also noticed on our map, not far from the campsite was yet another intriugingly named waterfall:- Water-Break-Its-Neck Waterfall (Dwr Torri Gwddf in Welsh). We were loving these wonderful names. So naturally we had to go and find it. Yet again we missed the sign, which wasn’t that obvious from our direction of travel and only found the place retracing our steps back along the A44. One mile along a farm track, along the side of the valley we came to a parking area in the trees where we did enjoy a scrambled egg lunch overlooking the grazing sheep, before setting out on the short walk along the path.
Set in The Radnor Forest, Warren Wood named for the rabbit warren here which once provided a source of food, is where these falls are located. You walk along and nearly in the stream in this steep-sided gorge, which because of its damp atmosphere creates a microclimate for ferns, mosses and lichens. Unbelievably this densely wooded area was once open moorland used for hunting. It was like walking into a scene from Lord of the Rings. The vibrant green colours, mosses covering dead trees, lack of light and dampness in the air all contributed to a rather surreal atmosphere.
We spent a few hours in Brecon, a bustling town with a choice of shops and cafes. Here we visited its interesting Cathedral originally a Norman Priory dating from 1106. The Cathedral still holds the Norman Font with its carvings of green men, a tree of life and an eagle. It also boasts of links to the Battle of Agincourt. We also walked along the river and enjoyed a riverside picnic.
A few miles south of Brecon off the B4558 is the Talybont Reservoir. If you follow the narrow lane, which hugs the side of the water, through the hamlet of Abercynafon, you will come to a small picnic area. Here we followed the path alongside the river and came across a lovely series of waterfalls. We met a group of children who were obviously having the time of their lives with an outdoor adventure leader, all togged up in wetsuits and headgear. Wish we were a good few years younger so we could have joined in.
In truth we had thought two weeks would be long enough to explore the route in its entirety but we were wrong. We found so much to explore and enjoy we simply ran out of time and very reluctantly we had to finish our travels at Brecon and turn homewards.
On our journey home we stopped off in Presteigne. Once an important county town this sleepy place is full of interesting buildings set in a lovely high street and also holds the award winning Judge’s Lodging Museum. The decaying Shire Hall and Court Rooms have been restored into a wonderful museum that takes you back in time to when the judges stayed here during the court sessions, with real gaslights, atmospheric prison cells, a recreated courtroom where you can relive an actual case. There is an audio guide tour where you are guided around by the servants and Robert Hardy as Mr Venables, and you are free to touch and examine the contents of the museum. There is a shop and a small café where you can enjoy home baked cakes and tea and there was an interesting art exhibition when we visited.
It was lovely to be able to discover things at our own pace and have the freedom to examine the artefacts and it is run entirely by volunteers who were happy to answer all of our questions.
We had originally set out to discover what lay at the heart of Wales, geographically and culturally. We didn't particularly want to visit the well known areas but concentrate on the lesser known out of the way places. What an experience. We didn’t appreciate the importance of the microclimates, the abundance of unique and magnificent flora and fauna, the wonderful wildlife and amazing views, its fascinating and turbulent history and the determination of its inhabitants to retain their identity and their language.
We know there is so much more to discover between Brecon and Cardiff. Blaenavon Mining Area, St Fagans National Museum of History and of course ending at the Welsh Senedd or the National Assembly Building, to name but a few, and all of which we intend to visit before too long.
In fact that gives me an idea, we could do it again starting in Cardiff and travelling North after all you see different things when you travel in the opposite direction! Don’t you.
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