Saturday, September 24

Back at the reins.

Blogger has been flying solo for a few days as we spent last week 'out of the country' - in Wales. We had never been to Wales before other than a quick tiptoe over the border to buy some streptocarpus plants from Dibleys. Earlier in the year we watched the Michael Portillo series on Great British Railways. He visited Snowdonia and we liked the look of it so, as Wales was an unexplored area of Britain, we decided to spend a holiday there.

This was our holiday cottage in Llanuwchllyn (fortunately we didn't have to be able to pronounce that).
The gate was to keep out our neighbours.
I got the distinct impression that our neighbours were talking about us!
To get to the cottage we had to drive across a couple of fields of sheep which meant jumping in and out of the car to open and close gates. 
From the cottage were views of the Cambrian mountains and the nearby lake at Bala (you can only spot a tiny bit of it from this photo).

Other than the gossipy neighbours the only other sound to disturb the peace was the call of the buzzards. This bird was quite a distance away so the photo isn't as sharp as we would have liked.

We also managed to add three new birds to our photo collection. Again these aren't the most brilliant of photos but our excuse this time was that they were not only very fast moving birds but the photos were taken through very dirty windows of a hide in the RSPB reserve at Lake Vyrnwy and some were taken off video.
Nuthatch
Coal Tit

Willow Tit which we didn't notice 'til we looked at the video - we thought at first it was another coal tit!

To sum up our holiday in Wales picturesque, peaceful, mountains, lakes and lots and lots of greenery. We've already decided that we will be back. 

To read more and see more photos of our holiday in Wales visit Martyn's web page here

20 comments:

  1. Looks like a lovely peaceful place. I really enjoy being out in the middle of nowhere for a few days. I have been up to the top of Snowdon twice (in my Army days, carrying a big rucksack!). Both times it was cold, wet, windy and 10/10ths cloud.
    We occasionally see a nuthatch in out garden here. They walk downwards on tree-trunks.

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  2. What a beautiful place! I so miss the sheep since I moved from the farm! I hope that you had a nice and relaxing time away!

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  3. That is an amazing place, great for spending some away days. I hope you had a lot of fun. And great to have you back

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  4. Thanks for sharing your photos, I have always wondered what it looked like in Wales. Incredible, pastoral views.
    In a prior home, I had a pair of nuthatches that would visit my feeder. I adored them. They have such personality.

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  5. Looks like a great spot, Snowdonia is one of my favourite places with Tryfan and the Glyders my no1 mountain walk.

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  6. So glad you have discovered North Wales, an area I love very much. I have fond memories of watching TNG get very wet learning to sail on Bala, and have tramped around those mountains in all weathers. Lovely bird pics. Sheep are terrible gossips.

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  7. We weren't that adventurous, Mark even without the rucksack.

    One thing about Wales, Robin is that you can't go very far without seeing lots and lots of sheep.

    Thanks Fer it's always good to be back to home comforts especially a good shower. Our shower was fed from a spring so low on pressure.

    I just wish they would have stayed still for long enough for a decent photo, Jenni

    Our walks were at lower levels Damo although the lane up to the cottage was very steep it felt like a mountain. WE did go for drives up in the mountains though.

    We shopped in Bala and had a walk alongside the lake Janet. No shortage of lakes in that area. We had Welsh Black cattle by the cottage too but all they did was stare at us!

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  8. thats a really good idea, do you think photoshop would be best?

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  9. I've posted you a response on your blog IDG

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  10. If you want to read more about what we got up to in Wales and more photos visit Martyn's blog which links to a web page here

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  11. It looks like you've enjoyed a very peaceful holiday, Sue, well, apart from the gossipy neighbours. That's what I call a real get away from it all holiday.

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  12. It certainly was away from it all, Jo

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  13. The scenery there is truly beautiful! I hope you didn't miss your garden and allotment too much :)

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  14. Thanks! will definatly give it a go and post during the week... thanks again

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  15. Some lovely scenery, reminds me of Northern Ireland (very similar countryside / views)! Kelli

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  16. We managed for a week, Jome at least at this time of the year the garden and plot don't really miss US

    Then you are really lucky to live there, Kelli

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  17. Glad you enjoyed your holiday....I have just managed to catch up with all my blogs so the fact that you had been away for a week made it a little easier on me!!

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  18. I did cheat a little and set up some posts to auto post whilst I was away just so I wasn't missed too much, Tanya ;D

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  19. Definitely cheating...I might not mind so much if I knew how to do this!!. lol

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  20. Here's how Tanya:
    Write your post as usual.
    Before you publish click on post options just above the publish button.
    On the far right click in the radio button alongside Scheduled at.
    Set the date and time that you want the post to be published.
    Then click on the orange Publish post button.
    The post won't publish immediately as it usually does but will wait until the time and date that you set.

    Have a go - it's useful for when you have some time to write a few posts but don't want them to all publish at the same time.

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