Our plan for today is to explore Aberystwyth so the good news is we’re already here and can leave the van parked whilst we take the short walk into town. It feels strangely nice to see ‘big’ shops again having felt like we were in the back of beyond some days on this trip. We’re very close to the sea so that’s the first stop of the day and you guessed it, throwing rocks into the sea.
As well as throwing rocks however Robert is a huge collector of such items and will gladly fill his pockets until the weight pulls them down! Al is way stricter than me on the number we allow him to bring back so of course he takes me to one side for some alone time where we can devise a plan to get more than his allocated one back to the moho. In his defence it was hard to choose and he had found some great stones.
Al found a funicular railway we could take a ride on so we headed off in that direction but when the kids (and Al) spotted the ice cream shop they of course needed a snack.
They then spotted a very fun car with a collection of rubber ducks, we sometimes let the kids get one as souvenirs although our collection is no one way as large as this.
As we approached the railway everyone was actually up for climbing to the top instead and it saved us a few pennies so why not. We got some beautiful views along the way, including finding a random shrine someone had made.
At the top we ate our picnic, the kids did some sunbathing (as you do!) and visited a camera obscura. We found a much safer and easier route back to the bottom which was lucky as the path up had warnings of loose rocks and that it was unmaintained and often it’s easier to climb up than to slide down.
We did a bit of shopping next, Al saw a sign for a craft beer shop so of course we made a visit and even Robert got himself an alcohol free mango flavoured beer. I wasn’t convinced he’d like it put he certainly did, or at least to start with. He probably got about half way through before declaring it wasn’t actually so nice any more.
We also got some new camping gear and had to replace Al’s waterproof coat which he found out wasn’t actually waterproof whilst climbing Snowden. In the shop the sales lady told us that visiting the devil’s bridge and waterfalls was well worth it so we headed over. The one nice thing about the rain is that it does make better waterfalls.
Robert who’s usually up for an adventure didn’t really get on with the waterfalls as we got up close. Not quite sure why but he just found it rather terrifying. It could have had something to do with the ridiculously steep steps we had to descend. So steep in fact that they had barriers every few steps to catch people in case they fell.
Back at the top we decided to deviate from the plan as we’d been recommended to visit the Hafod estate which is just a few miles away. A quick Google and Al found a caravan site just a few hundred meters away. We pulled in and it was full on paper but they’d had someone leave early so we could have their spot. I got quite the shock when it came to the price, £34.50 without electric! Al had read it was £18 online so I had to resort to drinking my mini Baileys to get over it 😂 I’ll certainly be enjoying a very long hot shower in the morning to get my moneys worth and whilst Al was cooking tea I threw the kids into their waterproofs and sent them to the park to get their share’s worth as well. Also discovered Robert’s third favourite food, corned beef hash Liliya thought was called corned beef pash which is very cute and had us all in hysterics.
