On this blustery start to our day, we headed up into the mountains of Wales to visit Snowdonia National Park and a number of its little towns & villages.
This is Britain’s second-largest national park, and its centerpiece – taller than any other mountain in Wales or England – is Mount Snowdon. Each year, a half a million people ascend one of the seven different paths to the top of the 3,560 foot mountain.
Even if you’re not a hiker (well… I used to be and Jackie is not 🙂 ), the park offers plenty of cute towns and sights – to match the stunning scenery – to fill up our day.
Betwsy-y-Coed
The resort center of Snowdonia National Park, Betwsy-y-Coed (let’s say it together… BET-oos-uh-coyd), bursts with tour buses and souvenir shops. This little gem is cuddled by wooded hills, made cozy by generous trees, and situated along a striking waterfall-rippled stretch of the River Conwy.
It verges on feeling overly manicured, with uniform checkerboard-stone houses yawning at each other from across a broad central green.
Jackie and I wandered around a bit… Jackie to do some shopping – I to see an old church called St. Michael’s. I took the following video while wandering around the cemetery and the surrounding area:
There’s little to do here except a little shopping and wandering along the waterway. We headed up to the center of the village to the old stone bridge for the best waterfall views.
It is a great place to have a snack, and to take a stroll in the woods along a stream.
