Nice view, shame about the racket

After our brief stop-over near Welshpool we  booked two nights at the Tanyfron Caravan and Camping Park in Dolgellau. We chose it because it was close enough to the town shops to be able buy a few groceries without moving Maisy. Also we were hoping to cycle up the bike trail which follows an old railway track up the estuary to Barmouth, which we did, and it was delightful.

The site itself is on a hill and overlooks the town. The view is nice, but quite exposed. The access roads are narrow and steep, but not a problem really, if you take care. One issue was the noise, which to be fair had nothing to do with the campsite. It appears we arrived in Mid Wales during national road mending week. Wherever we went teams were out re-gravelling the roads. In Dolgellau we were disturbed by an annoying screaming noise which sounded like a jet engine, or more accurately a Dyson vacuum cleaner of gigantic proportions, which as it turned out was exactly what it was. After laying down the loose chippings the next job was to hoover up the surplus using a giant suction machine on the back of a truck which crawled along the miles of re-surfaced roads at a snails-pace. I assume the driver was trying to maximise his overtime, he did not head home until 9:00pm. To relieve the monotonous din, helpfully the RAF provided variety by drowning out the road machine screaming down the valley as they practised low level bombing runs, presumably using the valley as some kind of simulation of the hills of northern Iraq.

Pitch with a view

The site is actually more steeply terraced than it appears here

Dolgellau is a pleasant little towm, very laid-back and unhurried. People seem to still take the time to 'pass the time of day' and there is a general sociability about the place which seems refreshingly old fashioned. I keep going on about how odd and wierd some places in Britain have become. I wonder if really I am talking about England. Wales seemed quite grounded and normal to me. Also, the centre of towns don't appear to have become dominated by chain outlets to the same extent as in England, so each place seems unique and the high streets not quite so homogenised.

Good to see that the local supermarket stocked locally produced cheese 

Robert Bros. Butchers in the main square - purveyor of awesome leek and pork sausages!

Dolgellau, with Cader Idris in the background

Very narrow streets, but one way thank goodness.

The area has a history of gold mining

The sample ore was very well concreted in!

Everwhere seems to have a whittled tree stump these days - this one was less kitch than most - but slightly disturbing,  a bit X Files...