Barmouth – July 2019
Having driven down past all the stunning views, we arrived at the harbour side of Barmouth and around the corner, down the road to the seafront, there is a large car park.
In my opinion, Barmouth feels like it's split into three sections, the harbour with its beautiful slate buildings, great views out at the scattered boats bobbing about and various shops. Then there's a kind of middle section, with funfair/amusements and sadly a less appealing area for us at least. Finally, the third section, which seems to start quite soon after the amusements and is the most peaceful area. Walking along the seafront promenade, where you get an idea of just how far Barmouth beach stretches along the coast. It was a nice walk and we sat on the wall, with only the odd car going past to spoil the peace. Looking around, you had the beach/sea on your left, to the right you have some disappointing pebble dashed houses, but with a beautiful mountain backdrop, quite unique.
If you are looking for a lunch stop, we would recommend Davy Jones Locker at the harbour end, on a beautiful sunny day, it's nice to sit outside, but it's popular, luckily, we went over as someone was leaving. We both got sandwiches, which came with salad and crisps and we’d ordered a side if chips, unecessary, the sandwiches were lovely and big enough, however be aware of the seagulls, a large seagull landed on the table in front of us stealing a large piece of something of the women’s plate.
Barmouth is a great place to visit, you can easily spend a full day here and highly recommend visiting.
Having driven down past all the stunning views, we arrived at the harbour side of Barmouth and around the corner, down the road to the seafront, there is a large car park.
In my opinion, Barmouth feels like it's split into three sections, the harbour with its beautiful slate buildings, great views out at the scattered boats bobbing about and various shops. Then there's a kind of middle section, with funfair/amusements and sadly a less appealing area for us at least. Finally, the third section, which seems to start quite soon after the amusements and is the most peaceful area. Walking along the seafront promenade, where you get an idea of just how far Barmouth beach stretches along the coast. It was a nice walk and we sat on the wall, with only the odd car going past to spoil the peace. Looking around, you had the beach/sea on your left, to the right you have some disappointing pebble dashed houses, but with a beautiful mountain backdrop, quite unique.
If you are looking for a lunch stop, we would recommend Davy Jones Locker at the harbour end, on a beautiful sunny day, it's nice to sit outside, but it's popular, luckily, we went over as someone was leaving. We both got sandwiches, which came with salad and crisps and we’d ordered a side if chips, unecessary, the sandwiches were lovely and big enough, however be aware of the seagulls, a large seagull landed on the table in front of us stealing a large piece of something of the women’s plate.
Barmouth is a great place to visit, you can easily spend a full day here and highly recommend visiting.
A496 – July 2019
The drive from Dolgellau to Barmouth was as scenic as we’ve already found in Snowdonia and there was one particular layby where we sat one the wall and looked out, listening to the water in between the cars going past and you could have been sat by the Mediterranean sea. Driving further along and as we almost arrived in Barmouth, there was a layby on a bend and across the road down the entrance to a road looking out across the water was just the most beautiful view.
The drive from Dolgellau to Barmouth was as scenic as we’ve already found in Snowdonia and there was one particular layby where we sat one the wall and looked out, listening to the water in between the cars going past and you could have been sat by the Mediterranean sea. Driving further along and as we almost arrived in Barmouth, there was a layby on a bend and across the road down the entrance to a road looking out across the water was just the most beautiful view.
Dolgellau - July 2019
On the way to Barmouth, we diverted off to drive through Dolgellau to see if it looked worth stopping and it was. You can't turn directly off the A470, we went to the roundabout, left and then left again, driving through the town back out and right before the bridge over the A470 is the car park on the left. The village centre is only small, with beautiful buildings, including a surprisingly quite new, but old looking church.
On the way to Barmouth, we diverted off to drive through Dolgellau to see if it looked worth stopping and it was. You can't turn directly off the A470, we went to the roundabout, left and then left again, driving through the town back out and right before the bridge over the A470 is the car park on the left. The village centre is only small, with beautiful buildings, including a surprisingly quite new, but old looking church.
Llyn Tegid - July 2019
Driving just down the road from Bala high street the turning on the left, after the leisure centre, you will find a beautiful car park to view the lake and potentially walk from, however if you only wanted a short stop, the minimum stay was 4 hours.
A little further along the road we found a layby, which had some good, new steps down to the lake. At the bottom of the steps it's rocky, so care must be taken, but if you can step out onto the rocks safely, the view is fantastic!
Driving just down the road from Bala high street the turning on the left, after the leisure centre, you will find a beautiful car park to view the lake and potentially walk from, however if you only wanted a short stop, the minimum stay was 4 hours.
A little further along the road we found a layby, which had some good, new steps down to the lake. At the bottom of the steps it's rocky, so care must be taken, but if you can step out onto the rocks safely, the view is fantastic!
Bala - July 2019
Unfortunately, there's not a lot I can say about Bala, we arrived just before 9am at the car park just at the back of the high street. I looked at the sign and saw 2 hours was £2, pressed English on the machine and entered my coins, when the ticket came out and we'd got until 12pm is when I took a closer look at the sign and realised charges only apply 10-18:00.
It then came apparent as we walked along the high street that most shops didn't open until 10am, hence the car park charges. Despite the opening hours, we weren't that impressed by the selection of shops on offer, had they been open.
Unfortunately, there's not a lot I can say about Bala, we arrived just before 9am at the car park just at the back of the high street. I looked at the sign and saw 2 hours was £2, pressed English on the machine and entered my coins, when the ticket came out and we'd got until 12pm is when I took a closer look at the sign and realised charges only apply 10-18:00.
It then came apparent as we walked along the high street that most shops didn't open until 10am, hence the car park charges. Despite the opening hours, we weren't that impressed by the selection of shops on offer, had they been open.
Harlech - July 2019
It was late in the day when we drove through Harlech, so we didn't stop, but it looked quite interesting, although some narrow steep streets and the castle appeared to be at the centre of the town. We drove back along the lower main road, where you can see the castle towering above as seen in my photo.
It was late in the day when we drove through Harlech, so we didn't stop, but it looked quite interesting, although some narrow steep streets and the castle appeared to be at the centre of the town. We drove back along the lower main road, where you can see the castle towering above as seen in my photo.