Moelwyn Bach 2nd December 2017

On Saturday the 2nd of December 2017 I left home at 0430 hours for the drive up to Blaeanu Ffestiniog where I would be staying for the night in Cell B. A former Edwardian Police Station transformed into a Cinema,Restaurant,bar and bunkhouse. I will be spending my Saturday night in the cells ( A first I may add!). At £20 for the night not too bad and with free parking behind.

Now this day turned out to be a disaster of a day, first it starts with just as I enter Snowdonia my Engine Management light comes on and the temperature works and then not. A great start to the day.

I arrive at CellB at about 9am. A quick look and I stop to check if the car would restart once I switched it off. It did so a little relieved, I drive on through to TanyGrisiau just up the road where I would start my walk.

I park up is  a car park and get changed into my walking gear. Now I may add I decided to go on this adventure alone. I could find no-one willing to come up with me, A decision I will live to regret (But I do live so that's Okay then!)

I set off from the car park and at the top of the road I turn left into Ffordd Dolrhedyn Road that climbs steeply up.

Tanygrisiau, or more properly 'Tan y grisiau', is Welsh for "below the steps", referring to the stepped cliffs above the village. Tanygrisiau was famous for its slate mining, producing a high quality black slate that was used across the world. The major quarries above the village were Cwmorthin, Wrysgan and Conglog.

Tanygrisiau railway station is on the famous Ffestiniog Railway, a narrow gauge railway built to carry slate from the mines down to the sea at Porthmadog where it was shipped all around the world, mostly for use in roofing.

Looking down at my car in the car park.

I walk along a tarmac path passing a stream and a beautiful waterfall.

I get so far then realised I had dropped a glove so I walk back down to retrieve a way back.

I reach a point of a steep incline leading down to Tanygrisiau Reservoir, again I find somehow a glove has managed to jump out of my pocket, so again I have to backtrack down to retrieve it. This day has not had the best start and was about to get far worse as you will find out when you read on!

Clearly a local not a fan of tourists!

Llyn Ystradau, colloquially known as Tanygrisiau Reservoir, is part of a pumped storage hydroelectricity installation. 

The closure of the slate mines during the late 1970s led to massive depopulation of the area from which it has only recently (2005) begun to recover.

Tanygrisiau has close links with the regiment of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

I continue up the path and it is really getting claggy, visibility was reduced.

I now approach the Stwlan Dam. Stwlan Dam, is at an elevation of 1,650 feet above the sea level.

Llyn Stwlan was a small, corrie lake until the late 1950s when the dam was built as part of the Ffestiniog Hydro-Electric pumped storage scheme. Lying 1500 feet above sea level in the Moelwyn mountains, Stwlan is the top reservoir from which the water drops 1000 feet to turn turbines at the Ffestiniog Power Station.

I stop here for a cup of tea and a bite to eat after my exertions so far.

Walking round the dam I fail to notice a boggy part of ground and my feet are now wet.

I now make my way up the steep incline up to Molewyn Bach. Now my phone has stopped working and wont restart!

I continue climbing and there are signs of the first snow I've seen today.

Stwlan Dam below.

I reach the summit at 710m (2329.4 ft), now I must go back down the same way as I came up to continue over a ridge to Molewyn Mawr.

However things didn't go as planned, It was really foggy up there. I started to descend down a steep fissure covered in snow, I was going down on my bum using my pole as a break. This didn't seem familiar and once down I was in a bog.

I was now totally disorientated and nothing made sense on my map. I desperately tried to get my phone to work to get a bearing, but the phone thought differently.

I walk along what looked like a faint path through the bog and at one point I ended up thigh deep in the bog. I had to lay flat in the water to pull my leg out. Great now I have soaking wet feet and trousers as well as being lost. My heart sank , I am now worried and I knew I needed to be out of this bog before dark. Its gets dark at about 4pm at this time of year!

I decide to head back up , at least Id be out of the bog is my rational for this and know whos I may get a view to see wheres where!

I am now higher up and I walk along a path, to my left I can see the coast! Not a good sign, I must be further over than I had thought.

I come out onto a road,great at least I'm on dry land and it must lead somewhere.

I walk on for a while, where I reach a house. I knock desperately needing to know my location. I wait for a while , no answer. Then to my relieve a man answers the door. He tells me what I was dreading to hear. I'm miles away,but at least I know where I am! I ask for some water a I had now ran out!!

I owe this man a gratitude of thanks, I only wish I knew the address to thank again properly.

I now walk on for quite a distance down the road,passing Coed Llyn y Garnedd. 

I reach Llyn Mair.

Llyn Mair (Welsh for 'Mary's lake') is a 14-acre (5.7 ha) artificial lake near Maentwrog, (grid reference SH652412). It lies in the area of Tan-y-Bwlch, a little above Plas Tan-y-Bwlch, and is in the catchment area of the River Dwyryd. It was created by William Edward Oakeley (of Plas Tan-y-bwlch) as a 21st birthday present for his daughter Mair and as a water supply. It was built in 1889, and the nearby smaller Llyn Hafod-y-Llyn dates from the same period.

Plas Tan y Bwlch is thought to be the first house in North Wales with electric lighting powered from its own hydro-electric station, which was commissioned in the 1890s. A pipeline from the lake fed water to a Pelton wheel, which was located in a small power house on the hillside immediately behind the house. It ceased to operate soon after 1928, when the public hydro-electric power station at Maentwrog began supplying the area. In June 2013 a new hydro-scheme, costing £420,000, and similarly tapping the water from Llyn Mair, was opened. The water falls 60 m to the turbine, and the scheme is expected to meet most of the Plas' electricity needs.

The lake is set alongside the B4410 road, a minor road linking the hamlet of Rhyd. The position of the lake bordered with ancient oak woods and its tranquil appearance makes this a popular picnic site for visitors, and it is also a starting point for a number of local country walks. There is some limited parking available just off the road.

The narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway runs through the woods above the lake, and Tan-y-Bwlch railway station can be reached on foot from the lake.

The lake also has a notable echo because of the shape of the surrounding hills.

I walk on by and pass the station for Tan Y Bwlch on the Ffestiniog Railway.  

I checked but it seemed there would be no trains, so I walk on. Just before the village of Tan Y Bwlch I take a footpath over to my left up through Coed Ty Coch. To my disappointment this climbed steeply up. I was tired and wet, my legs didn't want any more climbing. But there was no other way and up I walked.

Tan-Y-Bwlch

I am now walking parallel to the Ffestiniog Railway tracks.

This path was like a rollercoaster going down only to include more inclines I didn't need.

I cross the tracks a couple of times as the path criss crosses over.

After much walking I finally reach Tanygrisiau Reservoir. The end is finally is in sight, It is now about 330pm and beginning to get dark. My phone still now working, my thought go to my wife who must be getting worried by now as I hadn't called.

Ffestiniog Power Station. (Sadly, security issues in recent years have signalled an end to the Power Station tours, and also to driving up to Stwlan Dam.) Opened on 10th August 1963 by H.M. The Queen, this is a pumped hydro-electric system which evens out peaks in national electricity demand. Water flows down large pipes from the upper reservoir, Llyn Stwlan, and drives the generators which reach full power in under a minute. The water is pumped back to the upper reservoir in off-peak periods.

The path I take to the right of the reservoir climbs up above the water and enters a wood of pines. It was much darker in here than the picture shows. I almost got my headlamp out. In here the path disappeared. I couldn't see the wood for the trees if you pardon the pun.

I come out by the wier, no way across here! I end up climbing over a couple of barbed wire fences ( Which was a task, it was hard walk lifting my legs now!) to reach where I needed to be. Finally back on the path and I cross a bridge to take me to the A496 and I walk a short way back into Tanygrisiau and back to the car.

I peel off my wet clothes and change before driving back to CellB. I arrive at CellB only to find every door locked. I'm told there's a phone number to call. Great my phones dead. After a while someone who is staying there, lets me in and phones for me,before letting me phone my wife. Then makes me a cup of tea while I waited.

A day I won't forget in a while, and I certainly don't want to climb alone again. After a shower and a short lay down. I head out into Blaenau Ffestiniog and get some Fish and Chips from Ians Fish Restaurant. 

I then head down to Meirion Vaults, I walk in only one ale on tap. Didnt really fancy an old Speckled Hen. So Im back in CellB where I grab an Cochlyn Coch Ruby ale before bed.

In bed by 8pm, the two girls I'm sharing the room with come in about 10ish. Then off and on through the night I can hear them moaning. I can only assume its my snoring, I hear them say "Look at the positive side he'll be gone tomorrow" I'm too bloody tired to care.

 But don't let my foolishness put you off walking the Moelwyns they are lovely as is the town of Blaeanu Ffestiniog. You really must visit!

A rough guess at my walk

My fitbit results for the day

Doc Martin Walk, Port Issac , Cornwall 23rd October 2017

On the 23rd of October 2017 The family and I decided to visit Port Issac, the fictional name of "Portwenn" where the TV Series Doc Martin is filmed.

The car park near the village was full so I needed to park further away and walk down.

Since the 1980s the village has served as backdrop to various television productions, including the ITV series Doc Martin, and is home to the group Fisherman's Friends, sea-shanty singers.

Port Isaac's pier was constructed during the reign of Henry VIII. "...Tudor pier and breakwater have now yielded to a strong new sea-wall balanced by an arm on the opposite side of the cove, and we do not doubt that the fishermen sleep more soundly in their beds on stormy nights." (Arthur Mee: Cornwall; The King's England; London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1937, p. 184.) The village centre dates from the 18th and 19th centuries, from a time when its prosperity was tied to local coastal freight and fishing. The port handled cargoes of coal, wood, stone, ores, limestone, salt, pottery and heavy goods which were conveyed along its narrow streets. Small coastal sailing vessels were built below Roscarrock Hill.The pilchard fishery began here before the 16th century and in 1850 there were 49 registered fishing boats and four fish cellars. Fishermen still work from the Platt, landing their catches of fish, crab and lobsters. The historic core of the village was designated a Conservation Area in 1971 and North Cornwall District Council reviewed this in 2008 with the endorsement of detailed Port Isaac Conservation Area Appraisal document and a related Conservation Area Management Plan. The village has around 90 Listed buildings (all Grade II).

Locations in and around the village have been used for a number of films and television series, including:

• Poldark (1975–77), a BBC television series, used locations in the area.
• Tarry-Dan Tarry-Dan Scarey Old Spooky Man (1978), BBC supernatural play.
• The Nightmare Man (1981), BBC drama serial, filmed in and around the village – which doubled for a Scottish island.
• Oscar and Lucinda (1997), film.
• Saving Grace (2000), a comedy film, was filmed in and around the village.
• DIY SOS (2001), featured the village hall being decorated.
• Doc Martin (2004–present), ITV series, seven series filmed in the port (using the fictional name of "Portwenn"; also used in the Sky Pictures movies Doc Martin and Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie under its true name, "Port Isaac").
• The Shell Seekers (2005), a television production with Vanessa Redgrave, where the village was used as the backdrop and many scenes were shot in the main street.
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Fern Cottage (Doc Martins Surgery)

Fern Cottage

Alongside the village of Port Isaac itself,Fern Cottage is one of the most recognisable Doc Martin locations and draws fans from all over the world keen to get a shot of Doctor Ellingham’s surgery. It is easily found in Port Isaac by walking 100 metres past the harbour and up the hill towards the coast path for Port Quin, and as well as the kudos of welcoming the blood phobic doctor, Fern Cottage enjoys impressive views over the village and natural harbour. When cameras aren’t rolling, die-hard fans of the series can rent the cottage as a perfect holiday idyll.

Fern Cottage

Whilst many of the interior scenes are shot at Roscarrock Manor Farm which is just outside Port Isaac and home to a number of sets, most notably the doctors surgery, there are still a number of star studded spots to visit (or view from afar) in Port Isaac. Stop by the Liberal Club which is the village shop in the series and stand in Martin Clunes’ shoes by enjoying a pint in the Golden Lion Pub which has been used sociably by the cast and crew as well as for filming.  There are also a handful of private residences that double as locations such as Mrs Tishell’s chemist shop which is a house called Little Dolphins in Middle Street, Louisa’s home on Fore Street and Bert’s Restaurant which is a stone’s throw from the doctors surgery.

Dolphin Street and just up the hill No. 26 (Aunt Ruth's House) a double fronted house faces out.

Bert Large's Restaurant with the Doc's House above right

The Harbour slipway called The Platt

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Portwenn School where Louise is headmistress lives everyday life as The Old School House Hotel. Call in for a bite to eat and a chance to sample Port Isaac’s legendary seafood.  The interior school scenes are filmed at nearby Delable School.