You may be asking ...well what happened to Day 2? We were "en route" from Gloucester where we had a family room. It was a beautiful journey (by car) to our cottage in Snowdonia 3 miles out from Betws-y-Coed which we were hiring from the National Trust. It had been a last minute deal saving us a good %15. Although small for three children the views from the cottage were amazing. In fact Sir Edmund Hilary the Everest Conqueror himself had once stayed in that very place! I asked my oldest what was wild and inspiring about the car journey on Day 2 and he said "Counting Sheep". Yes, all the family were inspired by the sheer amount of sheep that populate Wales. There were a good few more than we meet at home on Speltham.
So, with only a week and a bit since we found out we were actually going to Snowdonia and over 20 years since my last visit our research on the region and what we actually intend to do weather-depending has been limited but we do know one thing: all of our kids love travelling by train and we need to do at least some walking or running around after yesterday in the car. With the holiday budget saving of leaving everything last minute we find we can afford to travel on the FFestiniog railway that takes in stunning scenery. There is a lot of finger pointing from the baby and we are stunned by waterfalls, wooded valleys, slate pits, mountains and the rest.
It is very easy to spot wildlife from the train. We spot Foxgloves in vast swathes, Cottongrass, Buzzards and several sheep again (we can include sheep as wildlife can't we?) The parents decide to just do the one stop at Porthmadog (end of line by harbour) so we have three hours to walk before last train. As we approach the Harbour and the mountains descend to sea and estuary views we spot Mute Swans, Shelduck and Oystercatchers through the window. We have effectively introduced our kids to a huffing, puffing bird hide when they thought it was just a train!
Porthmadog is an exciting place for the children. There are people eating icecreams and children catching crabs off the harbour wall. As we are wild tourists we head into the tourist office to ask the locals whether our plan to head to the beach before the train back is feasible. They have much useful tips such us when high tide is (this can make it difficult to walk between Borth-y-Gest..the nearer, smaller beach and the further Black Rock beach) and the bus you catch if you're out of time to walk home (https://bustimes.org.uk/services/GYCO099 )
Feeling optimistic We walk past marinas towards Borth-y-Gest. There are very few people and it is very pretty. We have time so we take the cliff path a little and reach Black Rock Sands above.
We scramble on rocks to get views still wearing our hiking boots and explore slatey pools. This is when we find a decomposing jellyfish. Although I'm trained as a marine biologist I'm not %100 sure what type it is so we take a specimen photograph. Once home a couple of days later we email a jellyfish expert who answers mummy promptly while the kids are asleep. It is a barrel jellyfish! They can reach enormous sizes and are food for turtles. They can sting to stun plankton but not a really horrendously dangerous sting (just one that gives a rash) The kids did not touch it!
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