And by jingo it’s hot! But of course that also means that it’s prime VW driving time! I’ve currently got a bit of time on my hands having finished at VM a few weeks ago, so I thought it was high time I put the bug through the dreaded MoT test. Not only that, but the weather had come good just in the nick of time for the trip to Snowdonia that I’d been planning for a while. My only concern was how Clarence was going to cope with the fact that it’s rather a long way from Yorkshire to North Wales, and the last couple of times we tried a trip that long we ended up coming home on the back of a recovery truck……..
But you know, there really wasn’t much need for me to worry too much on either part – which makes a pleasant change! As for the bug’s MoT, of course it failed on the first attempt! Where would the fun be if it just passed first time, every time?!? Fortunately there was nothing major on the fail sheet, so John just needed to tweak a couple of items and away we went. But I couldn’t get to pick it up until we got back from Snowdonia……
And I’d quite happily be back in Snowdonia now to be honest. After a long old drive over there, we finally reached Aberafon campsite early in the evening last Monday. And wow – what a location! The word stunning just doesn’t do it justice. Located in a pretty isolated part of the coast, Aberafon is without doubt a very special place to camp. The guys who run it are lovely, the facilities are excellent (still can’t quite believe some people complain about paying 20p for a shower!), and it’s in one of the most spectacular places I’ve ever been. Now I’m pretty confident that the glorious weather will have helped me form that opinion, but even if the wind was howling and the waves were crashing in (as opposed to the mill pond we witnessed) I reckon it would still be a pretty spectacular place. But yeah, sitting on the beach by a campfire, and watching the sun setting was pretty special.
Having decided to take a little trip out to see Caernarfon Castle, I decided to park up next to a T4 and a T25 that were parked up next to each other, to make a nice little trio of VW vans. I could barely believe my eyes when I looked out of one of the arrow slits in the castle wall a little while later to see that those two had gone, only to be replaced by a 1965 splittie!
From Aberafon it was on to the Cwellyn Arms at the bottom of Snowdon itself. This place initially attracted my attention as it claimed to serve 9 different ales, and of course its location at the foot of Snowdon was also something of a draw. It’s another great site, with excellent facilities, although from my experience they don’t tend to cater for the camper van as well as perhaps they might. It’s a shame because a couple of small changes could really make the place top class. As buses aren’t allowed on any of the camping fields, you have to fight it out with the rest of the world in the car parks – which simply aren’t big enough for a busy weekend. Nonetheless, it’s the perfect place to launch your assault on Snowdon, at 1085m the highest peak in Wales.
And this time, there was no recovery truck needed to get us home!
