Me in Cwm Idwal after six months

Today, a mere five and a half months after my hip operation, Daf and I wandered off the island and took ourselves deep into Snowdonia for a little adventure.

We parked by Ogwen Cottage and set off walking up hill towards Llyn Idwal: the first stop, however was at the bridge over a beautiful waterfall a very short distance from the car park. I just love taking time to gaze at the water rushing between the rocks and under the wooden bridge.

Idwal waterfall. Cwm Idwal

From there we carried on up the well maintained stone path until we got to the lake (llyn), where, once again, we paused to gaze at the brown tinted water. The route then takes you either clockwise or anticlockwise round the lake: we chose to go anticlockwise.

The path began to climb again, at first gently, then fairly steeply, but my hip behaved really well and we made it round the upper path until we had a clear view of the lake and the surrounding hills. By this time the sun had burned through the clouds and the lake was reflecting blue.

I was near the foot of The Devil’s Kitchen … wow!

Dot at the foot of The Devils Kitchen. Cwm Idwal

The descent back to the lake was slightly quicker, and we sat by the water watching a shoal of tiny fish darting about in the sun warmed water close to the shore: we’d seen a heron a couple of times earlier, but these little fish avoided being lunch for another day.

The rest of the descent was straightforward and after another stop to watch the tumbling cascade of the waterfall, we set off for home. What a sense of achievement!

A red Lilly - by Daf

Daf simply couldn’t resist adding the image of one of the beautiful rich red lilies, flowering in the tubs by our main entrance.

Dorothy
August 13th 2015

Beautful British Weather – who’d have guessed it would be like this?

The beautiful hot weather continues over much of Britain and the met office predicts more hot days for us and perhaps a few exciting thunderstorms. There is a lot of plant watering and the lawns, despite Daf’s attention, are looking rather parched – they will recover and meanwhile, we are basking in this glorious summer.

As I write, the delicate moon, two days from being full, is rising slowly above Carnedd Dafydd, in a still blue sky: it is 8:49 in the evening and the long days tempt us to stay out of doors as much as possible. We haven’t eaten a single meal indoors for weeks now and our guests have made full use of the cottage orchard, spending hours basking in the hot sun and occasionally tearing themselves away from this ‘lotus-eater’ existence. Their view from the top of Snowdon was spectacular in its clarity.

Looking down on Llyn Idwal

 
Looking down on Llyn Idwal in the Ogwen valley
 

The birds mainly fall quiet by midday, apart from the swallows who are building their strength for the next long flight and the odd raucous gull passing overhead. There is an air of somnolence which comes over our land – if this weather continues, could we take to siestas like our continental neighbours?

I hope this dream weather will stay with us a little longer so we can find out.

Dorothy
22nd July 2013.