Whilst the Cat's Away....

Dad went away for a lads' weekend at the Lake District and all we got was this lousy photo.

Easter

A very happy Easter was had by all!

Fish Fingers! (Trefriw)

Mum, Dad, Yam and The Boy went to Trefriw for a lovely walk in the warm sunshine.  This was Yam's first time visiting and she thought the village was lovely.  Despite the warm weather and the Easter weekend tourists, we found a parking space in the small carpark straight away and hardly met a soul on our journey too!

 At the start of our walk.  The sun was beaming down and we were all looking forward to our adventure in the surrounding hills.

 Fairy Falls, quite possibly one of the sweestest waterfall names ever!

Yam and The Boy getting a closer look at the waterfall.

It was time to move on, up into the hills.  Here's The Boy showing how brave he is with heights these days.

   

A fancypants panoramic view of the valley.  The views up here are stunning and the camera doesn't show how big everything is.

We found our usual resting spot and sat amongst the gorse for a while to take in the view and have a drink.

 Mum, Dad and the evil Yam on Dad's shoulder, whispering things into his ear.

 Mum tried to get a picture with everyone in, but it didn't go very well.

 We saw Shadowfax in a field.  (Mum is not very happy with her camera though, those colours are rubbish!)

And here comes Gandalf.  "YOU....SHALL NOT....PARRRSS!"

 A lovely picture of Mum and Yam.  Well done Dad!

 Dad and The Boy on their 'cool bridge'.  If Mum ever wins the lottery, she's going to dig a stream through the garden and put a big slab of rock over it to make a bridge.  Things like that seem to make the boys very happy indeed!

We reached Llyn Geirionydd and the fleeces and coats that were shed on the way up were hastily put back on.  The wind was bitterly cold but it was still great to take a break and admire the view.

 The Boy posing with a big rock.  He threw it into the lake after this photo.

 Yam, being wild and pretty, like a rambling briar rose.

 The sun made the water sparkle, Mum liked it a lot.

 Leaving Llyn Geirionydd for the hills.

 We said another hello to the monkey puzzle tree.  It looks so out of place up here!

 The sunshine brought out the beautiful spring colours =D

 We reached the abandoned building and saw that the sparkly rock that The Boy had placed there last year was still exactly where he had left it!  Such a lovely surprise.

 A closer look at The Boy's rock, taken from near the marker for Taliesin's birthplace and transported a fair way to the abandoned building.  Once we had had a look at it, we put it back for future visits.

 Mum, Yam and The Boy ventured into the damp and drippy cave.  It was chilly but interesting and because of the trees being quite bare outside, more light could get in to reach the nooks and crannies.

 We found Gollum's Hidey Hole.

 After some more walking, we reached Llyn Crafnant.  Dad really likes it here and the rest of us do too!  The wind here wasn't as bad either, in fact it was lovely and warm in the sunshine.

  We clambered onto the rocks and ate delicious pork baps and crisps, yumyumyum.  It felt like we were sitting in the lake and the sound of the water gently lapping on the rocks was very relaxing.

 Yam and The Boy noticed that there were lots of small fish gathering to eat our crumbs.

Fish love crisps!

 They then spent a long time giggling as the fish ate out of their hands!  Yam had to be very patient and wait much longer than The Boy for the fish to come, but come they did and Yam's face was a picture as they started nibbling her fingers.

The Boy's fish fingers.

Yam's fish fingers.
 

 We skimmed stones, too.  Some more successfully than others hehe

 Time to move on, and Mum really liked this weathered outbuilding which looked as though it had been built to store..umm..bricks.

 We caught sight of The Mythical Guardian of the Forest again.  Hello down there!

 In the woods, we found the first bluebells of the year.

 And this caterpillar hitched a ride on Yam's leggings for a while.  She named him Sharpener but we don't know why.

 Much to Yam's delight, our path took us through fields of sheep.  She enjoyed trying to get close to them.

 Dad spotted this tree growing from a local chimney.  Mum hopes the residents weren't too angry with her for taking a picture of their house!

Another lovely day was had by all, many more lovely memories were made and there are many more to come too =D

We Ain't Goin' Nowhere 'Til We've Got Some Wood!

Mum, Dad and the Boy decided to go to Capel Curig in Snowdonia to follow a circular walk listed in Dad's super walking book.

After parking in the Car Park of Tinyness, Dad and The Boy checked out the local delicacies in the cafe window.

We headed up into the hills to the local pinnacles, finding a lovely little bridge made of slabs of stone.  Dad and The Boy love bridges made of slabs of stone and they weren't disappointed since we found lots and lots on this walk!

Our path was very varied with lots of ups and downs, flat bits and watery bits.

The woodlands of Snowdonia always have an ancient feel about them.  Spring is a little behind compared our home on the coast as it's quite a bit chillier.

A glimpse of our main destination in the distance.  One of the Llynnau Mymbyr.

The Boy and yet another stick!

The Leaning Tree of Pizza.  I'm not quite sure why we called it this hehe.

We agree with Hugh Finlow, the mountains are a wonderful place to be =)

Dad consulted the superb guide book many times on our walk.  It turned out to be informative and accurate.

We don't find moss and lichen like this on our trees back at home.  Beautiful!

We crossed over lots a streams and rivers.  This was the biggest one...

But the smaller ones are much better for Poohsticks.  Oh look, there's Mum!

One big kid, really.  Watching his Poohstick.

A Ty Haf - summer houses that were used by shepherds in days gone by.

A pretty reflection.

We found the lake!  It was very windy but Mum found a great spot by a boathouse that was nice and sheltered.  We were very ready for Dad's tuna wraps, crisps and a mint Club biscuit.  Yummy, everything tastes even more delicious outdoors after a walk.

The Boy did some 'fishing' and caught an 'eel'.

Hurrah!  Mum was definitely there!  And so was the sunshine for the rest of our walk.

As we made our way to the other side of the lake, we were met with wonderful views of the Snowdon Horseshoe.

Zoomed in a bit, and you can see the snow-capped peaks.

We left the lake and its brisk winds to venture on the last leg of our walk, into the hills once again.  We loved the colours of the surrounding hills.

The wonderful marshy grasses and fantastic purple peaks.

The Boy found tadpoles.  Dad was pleased.  He hasn't seen tadpoles for years.

The village of Capel Curig came into sight.

Another Ty Haf, with sheep this time!

On closer inspection (ie putting the camera on maximum zoom) we realised that the sheep around here are very happy.  And no wonder!

It was time to say goodbye to Capel Curig, its beautiful mountains and happy sheep.  We are all a bit worn out with fresh air and exercise....some more than others!