You’ve made it to the final post of our Welsh adventure! During our week in North Wales, we squeezed in one final walk before heading South.  On our final full day, the weather was terrible across Snowdonia and Anglesey, but there was a glimmer of clear skies over the Llyn Peninsula – so we quickly found a route and jumped in the car to flea the rain.

We chose Yr Eifl, a little cluster of hills on the north coast. As soon as we started walking, the coastal views were gorgeous and we enjoyed the gentle trail towards the first climb of the day.

Alex and Sophie soon found the turning for the path to the summit, and as usual the bounded off ahead like goats.

There was a bit more of our favourite scrambling before we made it to the windy summit plateau where views of the entire peninsula revealed themselves as the clouds lifted.

Here’s my family bagging another cairn together!

And even a shot of us all:

As the sky turned a beautiful view, we descended on the other side of the hill and stopped among the rocks for a picnic before starting to climb again – this time to the neighbouring hill of Tre’r Ceiri.

At the top, Alex and Sophie perfected their summit poses!

I’ve said it so many times on the blog, but I am just so pleased that they enjoy being outside and on the hills – my city children are as comfortable in muddy boots as they are on the London underground.

With sunshine breaking through, the views of the Llyn Peninsula were so beautiful.

Tre’r Ceiri is home to the remains of an Iron Age fort and it was fun to walk through the ruins of the walls and spot some of the ancient dwellings.

Our day on the Llyn was one of our favourites of the week – we barely passed another walker and views were just wonderful.  I love this picture of my boy striding off along the path into such beauty.

 

With the children so enthusiastic about our walking trips, we let them select one from our guidebook to follow one morning – and they chose Aber Falls, a pretty walk to the waterfall.  With lush woodland, it felt quite different to our other walks which was great.

The walk to the falls was gentle, easy and quite busy with other families.

But on the way back, we chose an alternative route higher up which was much more peaceful and fun.

The children enjoyed getting up close and personal with some welsh sheep!

My favourite part of the route was the pretty river we followed and crossed, bubbling through the trees and boulders.  The children regretted not having their wellies with them for a wade – it was a bit too chilly to try it barefoot!

After our adventures up in Snowdonia, we took a slow route back to London crossing all of Wales to visit family near Carmarthen. We broke the long journey with a couple of stops along the Welsh coast, firstly in Borth to see the totally surreal ancient petrified forest remains that are exposed on the beach in the right conditions!

We then stopped for lunch in Aberystwyth where we found a fabulous cafe that served the most amazing milkshakes (brilliantly named ‘Sophie’s‘!)

Needing to burn off the huge calorie intake, the kids and I enjoyed a fabulous rocky scramble along the coast exploring rockpools along the way!

The rocks felt like they stretched for miles!

To close this post, and my write-up of our wonderful week in Wales, I must share a few snaps that probably represent the highlight of the whole holiday for our children.  We spent a night with Matt’s cousins and aunt in their beautiful home in Nantgaredig. Our animal mad children adore visiting them as they have two lovely dogs, Sally and Hella (if our Welsh family are reading this, do correct my spelling!!).  Within minutes of arriving, the children were seeking out the dogs and they spent most of our visit playing with them.  Three months later, they are still talking about the duo!  Here are Alex and Sophie taking them out for a walk around the gorgeous grounds:

And, just because they pictures make me laugh – a selection of selfies and snaps taken by Alex and Sophie on my phone without me realising they’d borrowed it!  I’m not sure what Sally and Hella think about their visitors!