Monday January 9th 2017 - New Year round up - 2016 review

Okay, so it's taken me a while to get round to posting this and it's actually taken me three days to write it on and off so the start of the year is now in full swing, but as it will be a while before I go camping again I thought I would do a round up of last year's trips and re-post some of my favourite photos taken at the time.

Easter 2016 was spent at Felin Uchaf, a quiet and peaceful little site a couple of miles off the A5 in North Wales, and though the weather could have been better I did get some sunshine so I was able to get out and about. I spent a couple of hours in Llangollen on my way to the camp site, and other places visited that weekend included Penmaenpool, Betws-y-Coed and Llyn Brenig reservoir. Llyn Brenig was lovely and merited a further visit, but as for Betws-y-Coed - for several reasons I'll be sticking to my previous resolve to never ever go there again.

The second bank holiday in May saw me spending an exceptionally warm sunny weekend at my favourite site on Anglesey, during which I enjoyed the riot of colour from the rhododendrons, azaleas and other plants in the Hidden Gardens, walked along the Belgian Promenade near Menai Bridge, had the privilege of looking round a secret garden not open to the public, and took several photos around the little harbours at Cemaes and Amlwych.

In early June, only five days after my bank holiday break on Anglesey, I went back there for a ten-day holiday. The weather started off very hot and sunny but then became a mixed bag of cloudy grey sky, rain, thunderstorms and thick mist, though when the sun did appear it was glorious. On my third day there, while driving back to the camp site through a thunderstorm and torrential rain, the van was hit by lightning though there was no damage done and the dogs and I were all okay.

During the ten days I was lucky enough to encounter some tiny quail chicks while searching for an out-of-the-way beach, and I took a long walk to Llyn Cefni reservoir which I'd never been to before. An afternoon on the mainland saw me visiting Port Dinorwic and Caernarfon, and the following afternoon I finally found the White Arch on the Anglesey coast between Rhoscolyn and Trearddur. My eventual journey home was unfortunately made longer by having to drive twenty six miles back to the camp site to retrieve my hook-up cable which I'd left behind while packing up, but in spite of the changeable weather the holiday had been a good one.

My regular weekend camp at Elvaston Castle steam rally in early July had to be abandoned as the rally was cancelled due to large areas of the show ground being waterlogged so my next break was a rather impromptu weekend at Manorafon Farm in mid August. On the way there I went to find a derelict ship and met up with my blogging friend Eileen, her husband and lovely little dog Annie, then during the weekend I went to look round Gwrych Castle and also paid two separate visits to Conwy, the first one on a grey day and the second in glorious sunshine.

August bank holiday saw me back at Felin Uchaf for the long weekend, and while on a day out I rounded a bend close to the coast north of Barmouth and came across a stunning view which merited more than one photograph. Places visited that weekend included Harlech Castle, Carrog, Llyn Brenig again and Denbigh Castle, and on going home day I stopped off for a while at Trevor basin on the Llangollen Canal.

My usual ten-day holiday to California in Norfolk was taken in mid September, and though there was one very rainy day and a couple of cloudy days it was very hot and sunny for most of the holiday and I got a Mediterranean tan just walking about with the dogs and the camera. As well as going to places I've been to before, probably more than once, I also explored a few places which were new to me, including some unique round holiday cottages at Winterton, St. Benet's Abbey, East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens, and a climb up the very steep and narrow steps to the top of Winterton church tower which would have given me some great views in all directions if it hadn't been very hazy.

Mid October saw me moving away from camping with a very short trip to Roscrea in southern Ireland, although I wasn't going for pleasure - along with my son I was accompanying his dad, who had terminal cancer, on his journey over there to live out his days with his brother and sister-in-law in the family home. A second trip over there to visit him was made in October and the final trip in early December when he sadly passed away. I still managed to get out and about a bit with the camera though and got some shots of various places in and around the town, and on one particularly sunny day I got some lovely photos on a walk round the grounds of Mount St. Joseph Abbey. I wrote about the first trip in a couple of previous posts on here, though details of the second and third trips can be found on my other blog starting here and here.

So there you have it, a complete round up of all the trips I've taken during 2016. I have one or two plans in the pipeline for later on this year but for now, while the current winter weather is with us, the camping gear will stay packed away probably until Easter, though I'll continue writing about my day-to-day life on my other blog - https://mousehouselife.wordpress.com/    
If you haven't already seen it then do pop over, have a read and post me a comment, it would be great to hear from you.