Portmeirion, Caernarfon and Bethesda

12th Nov

We arrived at Portmeirion to find the roads down to the car park very narrow but we made it and parked next to the overlander that was parked in the Aberystwyth RFC Aire with us. It cost £12 each to enter the town but it was worth every penny. 

It is such a beautiful place. It's like a little Italy on the west coast of Wales! We will let the video below do the talking.

As we couldn't stay at portmeirion overnight (£70 per night) we picked up sticks and headed for a place that we had found in Abersoch, a motorhome friendly car park with no services. Driving into the town was just as interesting as most of roads were,  narrow and steep. We pulled into the car park and went to the machine to pay for our stay but the machine was wrapped up in black bags and was obviously out of order so we had a free night!

Once locked up and tracker on etc. we headed for the Vaynol pub where we sat outside and chatted to a couple who also had a van in the same car park. We splashed out on 2 pints of Old Rosie cider for Andy and Sue had a couple of double strawberry gin and tonics. D had his fill from the doggy water bowl. We all slept very well. 

Sunday 13th 

In the morning after finding a toilet to empty our black waste we headed back towards Caernarfon. We parked next to the same overlander which was in the car park at Aberystwyth rugby club and the car park at Portmeirion!

We walked around the walled town and had a pint in ‘The black boy’. 

After a refreshing pint we headed back to the van where we met the overlander couple and their young child. They were German but lived in Barcelona. We then thought that we would make for an Aire at Bethesda rugby club for our next stop over as we couldn't find anywhere suitable in Caernarfon. We found the Aire on an app which we use called   'Search for sites' and phoned ahead to confirm that there was space. We didn't want to get there too late as it was getting dark so we hit the road.

Once we were parked up and secure we had a drink in the club bar and spoke to Wayne who told us that they were putting in waste and EHU soon. We said good night to Wayne and got back to the van. We had bought a small bottle of whiskey at Portmerion and as it would have been Andy’s Dad’s 96th Birthday today we had arranged to hold a family video call  and we all had a drink ‘with Dad’ separated by hundreds of miles but together as always. Then to sleep as we were exhausted.

Monday 14th

We woke up and the plumbers were installing the drains for grey and black waste, good news as we would need to use the facilities soon. After breakfast and dog walk we went for a ride to Bangor and got soaked. The cycle tracks were very well maintained and took us almost all the way to the town. We stopped at ‘The Risborough hotel’ right next to Bangor railway station for a beer and a coffee and put our wet coats on the radiator to dry. Refreshed and slightly dryer we carried on to Bangor and had two bags of chips, lovely. Back at the van we dried off and the plumbers put the bike batteries on charge for us in their garage over night.. TV, dinner, and bed.  

Tuesday 15th

Last night we were hit by a storm and in the morning, we discovered a small leak from the roof and the water hog had been blown to the far end of the rugby pitch and we found that the trailer had a flat tyre! We retrieved the water hog, changed the wheel on the trailer, and set off for Chester along the Wales expressway, (brilliant road) to collect some medication from the pharmacy there. Our Chester experience will continue on the next page.