Hello all!
Today we woke up and had our full English breakfast (yum!) then checked out and set off for the day. We made sure today to save instructions and maps so we couldn't miss where we wanted to go!!!
We were so lucky today. We went outside and were greeted to gorgeous blue skies and sunshine. The rain and cloud that were forecast were nowhere to be found today - it was perfect weather! So we set off for our first destination - Swallow Falls.
We followed the track we had researched and it was so gorgeous, especially with the lovely weather. We walked past numerous guest houses and once those started to become few and far between we went through a gate onto a woodland path in the Gwydyr Forest. We walked here for about an hour and saw lots of beautiful trees, the river and very scenic views. Eventually we reached the entrance to Swallow Falls, which was so pretty! Apparently it's really spectacular in winter as the heavy rains cause it to be thunderous, but I thought it was great today too.
After spending some time here we kept walking to Ty Hull, 'The Ugly House' in English. I didn't think it ugly at all! It's a stone house made of stacked boulders, which has a fireplace dating to 1475 but wasn't written about or mentioned in any records until 1853. It's been said perhaps it got called the ugly house due to it belonging to robbers or thieves which gave it an "ugly" reputation. Some (including Hugh at our B&B) say it is a Ty Unos, a building related to an old Welsh law that states if a dwelling can be erected and have smoke billowing from its chimney within 24 hours then the builder is entitled to live there and work the surrounding land within an axe throw of the property.
It's now been converted into a tearooms and after our walk we treated ourselves to a scone with jam and cream each, and I had a milkshake while Jamie had a lemonade. We then went for a bit of a walk around the house. The surrounding area was lovely and had lots of pretty flowers and we even sat for a while and watched the robins eating from the bird feeder, and sat deadly still to see how close they would come to us. They walked right up to us!!!
We headed back and sat in the sun by the river and chilled for a while until we went and got Jamie's things from our B&B then walked to the station. We said goodbye and he boarded his first of three trains to take him back to London. Was really great seeing him these last few days, looking forward to another great day together next weekend when he comes and meets me in Stratford Upon Avon.
I went for a bit of a wander as I couldn't check in to my hostel until 4.30pm. I walked to St Michael's Church, which I learned was the first church built in Betws-y-Coed. By the 1800s it wasn't large enough to serve the hugely growing population in the small town as people discovered Snowdonia and its beauty, so St Mary's (where we went for the concert yesterday) was built as well. The graveyard was really interesting and had graves dating as far as back as the 1600s. I found a cool bridge and then went back to my hostel, sitting outside to read a book until the man on reception arrived at 4.30.
I cooked myself some pasta, sauce and garlic bread for dinner and watched 'The Young Victoria'. If you've not seen it already I would recommend you do, I really enjoyed it and learned a lot about a Queen Victoria's early life.
Tonight I'm just chilling out. My head is still very sore from the other day and now my ears are both really sore too. I'm falling apart at the seams! Never mind.
I've absolutely loved Betws-y-Coed and am really looking forward to meeting my friend Rob from home in Cardiff tmro.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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