North Wales 11th September 2010

11th September 2010

We arrived at our digs for the week around 15:00 Saturday. We stayed just outside Betws-Y-Coed in a cottage from 11th-18th September.
The accomodation was called Tyn-Y-Fron and consisted of the house you can see in the picture (B&B with 4 or 5 rooms), and the cottage in the left of the picture.
Cost was £445 for the cottage Saturday to Saturday (7 nights) plus the cost of any electricity used.


From the outside the property looks very nice and at first glance we were reasonably impressed with what we found. We was given a very brief tour of the cottage by the owner. It was built on two levels, the kitchen, bathroom and lounge areas on the upper level, with 2 bedrooms below. What was apparent right away was that the smaller bedroom was very damp and the odour was quite overpowering. This was backed up by the fact that the owner had all the cottage windows open prior to our arrival and a dehumidifier unit on full whack in the "problem bedroom".
The property was heated by electric radiators, as there was no gas supply, similarly hot water and cooking was all electric. The cost of electricity was extra and meter readings taken. The owner told us the last occupants paid around £6 for their electric for the week, which seemed OK to us.

The decor in the bedrooms was not to our tastes. We could not have slept too well in the really damp room, so moved into the twin bedded larger (less damp) bedroom. As you can see the decor was a "little unusual"!) with "wooden characters " dotted around the walls of the room. Each to their own I suppose.

We are not ones to be over fussy (really you say?!?!), but there were a number of problems with the accomodation... for those that are interested, or would like to note NOT to stay here, here are a few reasons....

1) Very damp bedrooms, smaller bedroom reeked

2) Radiator in lounge did not work

3) Bath took a good 30 mins to fill with hot water (I could pee faster)

4) Bathroom basin tap handle was off when we arrived (which I fixed - at no charge to the owner!)

5) TV reception was terrible, until we discovered a sattelite box that the owner did not show us

6) 3 of 5 bulbs missing in main lounge light

7) Clock in lounge not working

8) Kitchen cooker grill not working properly (very low heat)

Are we fussy, maybe, but when accomodation is billed as 4 or 5 star (depending which site you look at), all of the above problems should not be evident.

9) Cost of electricity was £27, a good bit above the owners estimate of £6. Yes we had radiators on, but only when occupied, did some cooking, but not much oven use, and used hot water frugally. I cannot believe our consumption was 4 and a half times that of previous use - felt ripped off!!

Anyhow, there were some positives, the lounge was a nice size to relax in, the view from one window was good looking over nearby forests and the kitchen was well equipped, despite the problem with the grill.

We settled in, and then took a walk into Betws-Y-Coed via a farm track and suspension bridge. This was not too far, about a 10 minute slow stroll. Having explored the village we returned, cranked up the working radiators in the hall and bedroom, all ready for a walk the next day.

Sunday 12th September

Betws-Y-coed - Gwydyr Forest and Swallow Falls

(Pathfinder Guide Snowdonia, Walk #22)

8.5 Miles (10 Miles with diversion and start point)

We woke to a fine day, prepared breakfast and got the gear together for our 1st (and to be our only) walk of the holiday.

As the route set off form the centre of the village, we could walk directly from the cottage adding maybe a mile or two onto the walk distance.

We crossed the rather bouncy suspension bridge you can see bleow, and entered the village, passing the main street of shops. Our route was supposed to take us via the "Jubilee Path" up into the forest, but we were confronted with a problem.

"Look for the bus stop on the left coming out of the village, and go up the steps of the Jubilee Path". However, the way was blocked with boarding and a notice that the path was closed.

We consulted the Map (Satmap GPS) and looked for an alternative path.

A little further on there appeared to be a path leading up into the forest, and whilst it would cut a part of the original planned route off (The Lord Ancaster memorial and Llyn Elsi reservoir) at least we would be able to complete 80% of the planned route. So off piste we went, following a stepish track up into the forest, arriving at some old quarry workings before finally joining the Roman road section of the intended route.

The views along the Roman Road section were superb across the forest and valley, finally descending down again to the vally bottom and the river with Miners Bridge shown below.

The Miners Bridge (the picture does not show it too well, but the bridge was on a slope with the wooden ridges used as steps)

The waterfall here was quite impressive too.

From the waterfall and the miners bridge (which we did not cross), we followed the river along by Artists Wood (though note that the sign in the guidebook, did not seem to exist).

The track was steep in places and very rough, would not recommend in very wet conditions.
After about 1.5 miles we came out at the main road, which we followed along a good path past Swallow Falls (We did not visit the falls, as we had seen them before, and on principle would not pay again at the turnstile to see what is a natural atttraction). So on we went to the turning point at the "Ugly House". Though the house to us looked quite pleasant and not particularly Ugly!

See below....

We rested here at the bridge, before descending down to the river bank on the opposite side for the return journey along the river bank back to Betws-Y-Coed.

The route back was easier than the other bank, less muddy, less bouldery and very pleasant along the section near Swallow Falls, giving good high views down to the river from a windy hifgh path.

Once this section was completed, the track back to the village was very easy, and we arrived back at the cottage around 16:40, having completed 10 miles exactly according to the GPS.

Our Walk Score: 7.5/10