We crossed the border into Wales, the land of dragons and totally unintelligible language! And amazing scenery!

We were on our way to our cottage near Caernarfon so did limited sightseeing but aimed to be at the seaside resort of Barmouth for lunch.

On the way we drove through the village of Dolgellau and couldn’t help noticing how the buildings have changed from the soft pinks and whites to a sombre bluestone – still striking though, in their own way.

Barmouth – Big mistake! Hundreds of holiday makers had the same idea.

The streets were filled with families but we battled our way through them to find a simple sandwich for lunch. Ah, this will do – “A ham sandwich and a cheese sandwich please!” Oh, it’s the children’s menu 🤣🤣. “That’s ok, you can have that if you like – and you get a packet of chips with it too”. Fabulous! “Two coffees as well, thank you”. OMG! £20 ($40) for a sandwich made with white bread that stuck to the roof of your mouth and coffee that was undrinkable and tasted like warm watery milk. Thank goodness for the 50p bag of potato crisps that was included in the kid’s meal deal.

We couldn’t wait to get out of there!Our planned drive around the coastline made up for the lunch disaster!

We loudly sang Men of Harlech as we drove through the village – and I snapped Harlech castle through the windscreen as we passed.

The coast road took us to Porthmadog (portmaddock – emphasis on the dock!) – or port mad dog if you want our version – and we finally enjoyed a good coffee. This pub was called The Australia so had to take a photo.

The instructions to find our cottage included turning down a pathway in our car and driving to the end – and there it is! A lovely place to stay for the next 3 nights while we explore the area.

PS: I had to Google what Y Buarth means. I thought it might have meant The Barn but the literal translation is The Yard. However this definition sounds better than both 😀