29th June Thelma and Louise on Tour

Today Thelma and Louise were on tour in Rolo, leaving Dad at home to look after Rosie (the dog) and mow the lawn.

Mum aka Louise (as I was driving 😅) decided a trip to Lake Vyrnwy was the order of the day. So we headed north via a stop at Coed-Y-Dinas in Charlie's nursery to have a coffee and purchase a trellis. Mum has a honeysuckle growing up the garden fence that is getting a bit unruly so she bought a 1.8m rustic looking foldup trellis. Despite being foldup like a fan, it created a bit of a challenge getting it into Rolo. I initially thought I'd get it across the backseat by pushing it through the boot but remembered when I opened the boot that it's not like Max, which has a parcel shelf. So I ended up having to get it through the open roof and then manoeuvre it so I could still use the handbrake and gear stick. Luckily we could close the roof again as despite the clear skies and sunshine it was a bit nippy.

After a scenic journey through forests, up and down and round twisty single track roads, we arrived at Lake Vyrnwy and some fabulous views.

Almost looks like we're in the Swiss mountains.

The reservoir was built in the 1880s by flooding the Vyrnwy valley and submerging the village of Llanwddyn.

After a spot of lunch, over looking the reservoir in Lake Vyrnwy Hotel, we headed further north to Bala Lake, a large glacial lake in the county of Gwynedd. This took another scenic route (Ian knows how I seem to be drawn to scenic routes that are off the beaten track - tember Cyprus?) and we hoped to stop at a nice cafe for a cup of tea. Unfortunately Bala didn't seem to cater for tea drinkers as it did for beer lovers.

Anyway we then drove to Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant which some of you may know from the Hugh Grant film 'The Englishman Who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain'. Mum had been there several years ago but it transpires that since the film slot has changed. A local shop keeper explaining that the village square is now a car parking space and several other places have changed so it didn't look like as Mum recalled. Nevermind. I've looked it up and it's actually being shown on Great Movies channel this Saturday!

We then did another detour to see the Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall via a single track one way in and out road. We had been told that there was cafe at the waterfall so we hotfooted it to get there before it closed at 4pm. Unfortunately it shut up shop early 😬. Only a few more miles added to the clock 😅. Luckily only a few cars coming in the opposite direction to us on our way out as this time we headed home.

By this time I was absolutely gasping so when we stopped to fuel up I made short shrift of a 500ml bottle of diet coke. I don't think it touched the sides! 

Back home Dad had got afternoon tea all set up for when we arrived back so I really enjoyed the cups of tea, scones, jam and clotted cream😀. Then a relaxing evening.