Saturday 30 June 2018

Snowdonia Style 'Active Rest Day'

Arriving home from Ireland at 03:30am there was already light on the horizon as I drove the last stretch down the hill. I just about made it into bed before falling asleep.


A leisurely day was going to be needed and thankfully, The Cottage is the perfect place to hang out and recover quietly. The heatwave wasn't just in Ireland though. It was scorching in Wales too and we had to sit in the shade as the sun was killer. To cool off and catch up after the week away, Clare and I took a gentle walk up into the mountains to find a quiet lake to swim in. It was good to walk slowly and carry only a very light rucksack. Less than an hour from the valley floor, we found ourselves some secluded waters.


There was a lovely breeze blowing which kept us cool on the walk up, but actually made the thought of swimming a little less appealing. As I'd never swam in this particular lake and as we were there, we decided to go for it and were so glad we did. After the initial shock of the dive, the water felt beautifully warm! Even right up in the mountains, where I thought the water would be colder, it was lovely and we swam about while taking in the views. Brilliant.


All cooled off, we set off back to The Cottage for another nap.


Tryfan looked great as we walked back to the valley.


In the evening, our friend Martin was performing with his new band 'Bardd' in Bangor. We just made it in time for the start of the show - getting the last but two available seats! It was a brilliant show, with amazing musicians, poetry, and beatboxing which created quite a unique and mesmerizing sound. 


Afterwards, we went to the lake on the way home, where we hoped to get a moonlight swim. It was actually quite windy and the moon was still on its way up, but the light in the sky was beautiful and we had the whole place to ourselves. We swam together out to the middle of the lake, where we had a view of Snowdon and the Llanberis Pass. A pretty special moment.


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