Sunday 23 April 2017

Llanfendigaid Adventures - Or How 3 Became 26!!

It was late and dark by the time we pulled up at Llanfendigaid to begin a wonderful week at our 'home' in North Wales. We were the last of the party of 26 to arrive.  Llanfendigaid is a very large house on the North Welsh coast between Aberdovey and Barmouth which used to belong to the high sheriff of Merrioneth but is now a holiday home.  When the children were small we three couples (three college girls and their husbands) visited every year for 10 years from 1988 until the older ones had teenage social commitments and exams to work for.  Now we return occasionally for grand get-togethers.  With children, partners and grandchildren, there are 26 of us now so it is delightfully chaotic.  Fortunately we wrinklies have been put out to pasture in the converted cowshed!!

It must rank as one of my favourite places on the planet and dawn on our fist day, and most days thereafter saw me down on the beach and estuary of the small Afon Dysynni with the big birding lens.  I was in heaven!!  It was a beautiful calm and still morning with the sun rising above the hills to flood the area with warm early morning light at 7.00 am.  I love the juxtaposition of the turquoise sea with the pale grey of the drystone limestone walls.  Wheatears were plentiful along with ringed plovers, redshank, oystercatcher, skylark and meadow pipit.  Chiffchaffs were much in evidence from their onomatopoeic song and I was delighted to photograph a willow warbler singing its heart of from an electricity cable.

Much of the first day was spent in the usual manner: lazing around the house and gardens with multiple pots of tea and catching up.  Some of the youngsters went off to Aberdovey for the traditional sport of crabbing from the pier while we wrinklies eventually stirred ourselves to walk up to the Blue Lagoon set in a disused quarry high above the tiny village of Friog.  I was amazed that in all the years we had been visiting here we had never heard of it let alone been to it.  One of the party had seen it on television of 'Secret Britain', but we had to 'google' it for directions.  It is well worth the walk up because the lake in the quarry bottom is not only approached through a tunnel, but it is a brilliant blue, regardless of the weather, because of the minerals dissolved in the water.

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