Sunny North Wales

School holidays and a sunny forecast made for a great opportunity to do a bit of camping and show the kids North Wales. We rented a VW Campervan (Ruby) from an owner in Blackpool and on Thursday headed down towards Betws-y-Coed via Oswestry and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct to see the wonderful Thomas Telford engineering from 1805. We camped in a lovely rural campsite at the foot of Snowdonia National Park.

Friday morning was to get the day off to a flying start with a trip to Zip World in Betws-y-Coed to experience the FForest Coaster, the UK's only alpine coaster which cuts through the Welsh Forest on a 1km toboggan style gravity ride. We all LOVED it!!!

The rest of the day was spent visiting Conwy and walking around the Castle wall, harbour and town before heading to the Victorian seaside resort of Llandudno for a walk on the Pier and seafront before returning back to camp for burgers on the BBQ and S'mores on the fire.

Saturday was all about Snowdon, but with two tired kids and a 22 degree sunny forecast we knew that a 6-7 hour hike wasn't going to be a good idea so we opted for the cog railway train ride up the 3/4 mark and then a hike up the final 1,000ft to the summit and a descent down all 3,600 ft. What epic views and well worth some minor belly aching about tired legs on the way down (the Calypso's from the cafe half way down also helped).

Saturday night, Sunday and Monday morning were all about the kids having school holiday fun at Haven holiday park in Hafan-y-mor near Porthmadog. A giant swimming pool with slides and flumes, and activity centre with rock climbing wall, trampolines, zip lines, and multiple restaurants and bars on site made for a fun time had by all.

The final day before heading home was spent visiting Criccieth, (a place I summer camped at as a child some 35 years ago and which hasn't changed much since) where we saw two porpoises swim right by us while at the beach, and then onto Abersoch for more fun at the beach in the sunshine before the long drive home. Two very, very tired but happy kids.

Fforest Coaster Videos...