We had three days of fantastic weather forecast over the May bank holiday, so where better to be than North Wales. I really do think North Wales is hard to beat when it comes to outdoor activities. We based ourselves at our holiday cottage in Llanarmon (which is available to rent – more details here) and headed out to Bala, Coed-y-Brenin and Lake Vyrnwy.
Saturday – Coed y Brenin Mountain Biking
We woke up to a glorious sunny day. The patio at the back of the cottage is a real sun trap, so breakfast was an al fresco affair. After breakfast, we headed down to Coed-y-Brenin to hit the mountain biking trails. There are a wide choice of trails at Coed-y-Brenin for riders of all abilities. We headed off on Cyflym Coch which is an 11km red trail. It’s a really great ride, a few technical bits, some cracking sections (like Uncle Fester) and not too many climbs.The weather was still fantastic in the evening, so this was a great opportunity to try out the new barbecue I recently built.
Sunday – Lake Vyrnwy
Weather was great again on the Sunday so after another al fresco breakfast we headed down to Lake Vyrnwy for another bike ride. Although this time on-road around the lake. It is approximately 11 miles around the lake and is a really easy ride which took us about 90 minutes with some stops to check out the scenery. We then headed back to Llanarmon and had a couple of beers outside our local inn which was a great way to wind down.
Monday – Bala Lake
Weather was great again on the Monday, so you have guessed it – another al fresco breakfast (hard habit to break when the sun and scenery is so great). Bala was really busy when we arrived and the plan was to do some water sports. We rented a canoe from Bala Watersports and headed out onto the lake which proved to be a great plan. We then did a spot of swimming in the lake then inflated our paddleboard and headed back onto the lake again.
