My 2019 Welsh Summer Trip!

I visited my dad in Wales and had a fun packed week with him and his girlfriend. Here's to next year.

Click here to watch the vlog or see below. 

My week in Wales was absolutely lovely. It was busy but relaxing and it was the perfect refresher. It was also the first time I'd probably seen my dad this year. I briefly saw him for about 20 hours when he happened to be visiting my sister at the same time I was in August, but that was a completely unexpected and unplanned surprise. 

I have played darts once before at Sam's when I quickly visited before flying to Croatia so it was nice to experience it again. It's actually super fun and I was pleasantly surprised when I beat dad in an "Around the World" game. In the evening, because it was still quite a nice day, we had a little barbeque outside on the front patio. Meanwhile, throughout the day, dad and I had been attempted to chop down and destroy his bamboo forest. The majority of the height had gone by early evening but the roots were left. I couldn't help but laugh when dad failed at burning the roots in amazing fashion.

Dad took me on a new-to-me waterfall walk on the way into Betws-y-Coed. It costs a little bit of money to get through the barriers but it's lovely once you're down there and it is very pretty.

After that we headed into the village for lunch, before walking along the river and then down into the valley. We then walked across my old favourite bridge and passed the shop where all my walking boots have come from. It's a shame so many of the shops have turned to ruins or are slowly going out of business. It's still a lovely area but it defintely used to be better. It's strange though, it's so much busier now and we genuinely struggled to park! That's despite them opening up another couple of car parks.

For the first time ever in my life, on Karen's day off, they took me to Chester. Honestly, I think it's a try-hard York and no where near as good. The buildings are gorgeous but there aren't many good shops and we couldn't find any little cafe's for afternoon tea anywhere!

We ended up walking around the wall which was really nice but you defintely get to experience a range of more rough areas as you go. Also, interestingly, the wall isn't complete the whole way around and part way through you have to come on and off, plus in parts, it was closed which was even more of a shame. Having said that, there were some gorgeous areas.

The next day we headed out on a walk. I came prepared for walking with walking boots and trousers, in the hopes I could get dad to go up Snowdon with me, but honestly, this trip made me realise he's not the young gun he once was and I'm not sure he will go up again, with his knee problems and age. Nevertheless, it was a fun walk up and over their village and exploring parts even they had yet to see. We even saw a cute little fluffy caterpillar which was my favourite.

On the way back down the hill, we walked through another little village where there was a cute river and a little church. There we stopped for a refuel and re-hydration break in a local restaurant. I would actually love to go eat there because it looked gorgeous inside!

Another day, another walk, this time by a canal. It was super peaceful and relaxing. Plus, it was such a gorgeous day, we were all just walking it in t-shirts which was lovely. Parts were sheltered with a canopy of overlapping trees which I loved looking out and once dad pointed out the reflection in the water, it was the best.

At one point we went on a little detour. What was suppose to be a gentle stroll, turned into the steepest walk of my life and I truly thought at one point I was maybe going to die...too dramatic? My heart was seriously racing and I never thought it was going to end!

Finally, we headed to two of my dad's favourite garden nurseries. It's a rare trip to see my dad without a visit to the garden centre. At the moment, he's currently wanting to buy a couple of decently grown trees to plant where the bamboo forest once was. We ended up going to one garden centre that had a huge garden attached to it. You had to pay for entry but it was really gorgeous and so beautifully designed. I defintely think in the next few years it will be truly specially because the amount of work they were doing was incredible!

I loved the white tree and on the way home, we even saw a bird of prey which sat right next to us for what seemed like an really long time, before it flew further afield. It's so funny because the same thing happened the day before too!