The week it turned to Autumn

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 Last week we had a trip to Snowdonia. North Wales. It's a magical place, only a couple of hours from home, yet the landscape couldn't be more different.

Our trip began with a stop at Llangollen, mid Wales, where the Pontcysyllte aqueduct can be found. It's the world's tallest navigable aqueduct, and you certainly need a head for heights crossing it! It has 18 stone arches, and took 10 years to build.




Our base for the week was a cosy cottage in the small Snowdonia town of Dolgellau (pronounced (Dol - geth - li).
We were glad of its cosiness. as the weather started to turn autumnal during the week, and was decidedly cool at times.









We had two trips to the university town of Aberystwyth, which is on the coast. The new term was due to start, and there was a feeling of bustle and anticipation in the air. 
There's a fabulous old part of the university on the sea front, which look kind of like Hogwarts. You can see it in the picture here, on the right, covered in scaffolding. They're making it into an arts centre. It should be amazing when it's finished.




Another trip was to the small seaside town of Aberdyfi






Another day, another trip, this time to Barmouth. It has a beautiful expanse of beach. Hardly another soul there.


The Mawddach estuary, near Dolgellau, is a quiet little corner of Wales. It's magical, just so stunning.


This was the view we had while eating pizza on our last night!






And there were the best coffee shops nearby, where we could snuggle down and read when it was rainy..





Look at the coffee art - a leek!


A dramatic sunset over Criccieth castle....








Some places have names straight out of the Hobbit!


Such a lovely week. Looking back at these photos, there was more sunshine than I remembered. There were a good few days when we got soaked through too. But lots of fun was had.

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