Holiday - Northumberland and North Wales - Day 10 - Drive to Betws-Y-Coed and Conwy Falls

Northumberland and North Wales Holiday

Saturday 10th June 2017

Today we departed Northumberland and made our way to North Wales for our second week.  The shower had become so dreadful that we decided to go dirty and hope the shower was better in the next place! We left Dragonfly Cottage about 09:40.  We couldn't get into the next cottage before 16:00.

The journey went well and we stopped at some services for lunch once we got on the M6.  We got to Conwy about 15:00 and stopped to stretch our legs, do some food shopping and I wanted to visit the Lifeboat Station.  

We then had a walk over the suspension bridge to the castle, on the way back to the car we got an ice cream!

We next made our way to the cottage - we arrived  about 17:30.

We unpacked the car and tried to find placed to put stuff away - There isn't much storage space!
This evening we went for a walk down to Conwy Falls. There was a lot of water in the river so the waterfall was quite forceful.

Back at the cottage we had showers while the dinner was cooking - Thankfully there is a very good shower here.  Then we had a relaxing evening and decided what we want to do tomorrow.

Holiday - Northumberland and North Wales - Day 9 - Climbing Bowden Doors and Corby's Crag

Northumberland and North Wales Holiday

Friday 9th June 2017

This morning the weather looked a great deal better than yesterday!  We decided we would go climbing at Bowden Doors. 

We parked up and walked out to the crag - unfortunately it was a cow field!  Luckily as we walked across the field the cows ran away!!  We walked along the crag and identified each area and the climbs that we wanted to do.

We started by climbing Introductory Staircase.

We then moved onto Secondary Staircase.

We next found a sheltered spot so we could have some lunch.

Further down the crag we continued with Russet Groove.

We finished up with Castle Crack - Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the route!
We were finding the windiness was making communication difficult and we were feeling rather windswept.  We decided to move on to a different crag that we thought might be a bit more sheltered.  We headed for Corby's Crag.

We parked at the top of the crag and set off walking to the bottom of the crag to identify the different sections.  We eventually identified where we were and started to decide what we would start with.  We started with a route called Cake Walk.

We next moved on to a route called The Plonka.

By now it was just gone 7pm so we decided to give up for the day and go back to the cottage for some dinner.  We put jacket potatoes in the oven and then had showers and tidied up while it was cooking.  Tomorrow we are moving on to North Wales.  We need to be out of the cottage by 10.

Holiday - Northumberland and North Wales - Day 8 - Ponteland Ringing

Northumberland and North Wales Holiday

Thursday 8th June 2017

Today it was one again raining!!  We decided we would have a relaxing day.  Before lunch we had a walk in the rain into Rothbury to go to the bakery and Coop.  We decided that we would go to the ringing practice tonight at Ponteland as we had been told it would be a good practice.  We had seen there was a Toby near there so knew we would definitely be able to find it!  I booked a table for 18:00.  During the afternoon we had any power cuts in the cottage.  It appeared to not be just us so we put it down to the bad weather.  We got ready and left to go to Ponteland about 17:15.  After the Toby we both felt rather stuffed so went for a walk around Ponteland to help dinner go down!  We sat in the church yard waiting to see if any ringers turned up.  There were quite a few people there of mixed abilities.  The tower captain ran a very good practice and had something going for everyone.  We were made to feel very welcome.  We were glad we had gone there tonight.  Back at the cottage this evening the power seems to have sorted itself out!!  The weather is looking better for tomorrow so we are planning to do some climbing.

Holiday - Northumberland and North Wales - Day 7 - Walk up The Cheviot

Northumberland and North Wales Holiday

Wednesday 7th June 2017

This morning the weather was looking good so we decided we would go for the Cheviot.  We packed our rucksacks and set off for Wooler. We drove down the track as far as we could and found somewhere to park.  

We set off from the car about 11:30 It was about 30 mins before we found our first watery obstacle.  The first part of the walk was following the river up the valley.  There was a lot of water around and many of the paths were streams!  Negotiating our way along we encountered many obstacles - waterlogged sections, crossing tributaries, crossing the river numerous times, disappearing paths and many more!  We met a couple on their way back down who had said they had turned around a few hours up the path as they had reached their limit of what they were able to do.  We decided we would push on and see how far we got.  There were a few times in the next section that took a fair amount of working out to sort out a sensible crossing of the river.  A few times I did wonder if it was worth going on if it was going o continue the same but the I really wanted to go to the top and I didn't fancy retracing our steps! Thankfully the further up the river it got easier as the river narrowed.  Eventually we got to the top of the streamway and had a steep hike to join the pennine way up to the summit of the Cheviot.  We took the obligatory photo of the Trig Point and then started to make our way back down the hill.  The decent was quite steep on to Scald Hill but from there we had Pete under foot so it was easier going back to the car.  The walk took us just under 6 hours including a stop for lunch.

Back at the cottage we had some dinner and a relaxing evening as we were both feeling a bit tired and achey!!

Holiday - Northumberland and North Wales - Day 6 - Newcastle Climbing Centre

Northumberland and North Wales Holiday

Tuesday 6th June 2017

Today we planned to go to the Newcastle Climbing Centre as it was due to rain all day!

We arrived at the centre about 11.30 and got signed in.  We had to have an assessment of making sure we could tie in safely, belaying, lead climbing and lead belaying.  Once we were free to climb we did a couple of routes and then stopped for some lunch - We had brought sandwiches with us.  We carried on climbing will about 16:30 with a break for a drink and a look around their shop.  We had decided not to go ringing tonight and instead head back to the cottage and make ourselves a roast dinner!!

Tomorrow we plan to walk up the Cheviot.  Hopefully it will stay dry for us.