It's the 26th September and I'm embarking on a 2-day "tour" of North Wales. I'm being accompanied by my partner Mrs. Manley. We set off at 7:30, a little later than planned but there is a bonus; I decide to have an early breakfast at the Greggs at Frankley Services. A sausage bap for me and a sausage, egg and bacon bap for Mrs. Manley. Stopping here proves to be a good decision as on resuming our journey we cruise onto the M6 and up to the M54.
The weather forecast is not good with Storm Agnes due on Wednesday and Thursday; but today is Tuesday and it's hammering down! Our plan is to spend most of the day at the italianate village of Port Merion and then go on to the Premier Inn at Caernarfon. We arrive at Port Merion at about 11; there is some blue sky but its still raining so we don full waterproof gear; a signal for the sun to come out and for us to swelter in our waterproof trousers which are discarded after about an hour. I reach for my 12-40mm lens (24-80mm to non 4/3rds users); it's not in the bag but I know exactly where it is; on my desk at home so the little used 9-18mm gets an outing.
There are lots of photo opportunities here and a take about 75 images plus a few on my i-phone 14 pro to load onto Instagram. We leave at about 4pm and drive to Caernarfon where we get provisions from the Morrisons near to the Premier Inn and check in before trying a couple of drinks at the Anglesey Arms on the waterfront.
The morning dawns dull but dry. We head to The Harbour, a Table Table restaurant, for our breakfasts which, as a shareholder in Whitbread, are FOC! As we leave Caernarfon it begins to rain. Storm Agnes has arrived. We make slow progress courtesy of the newly introduced blanket 20 mph speed limit in urban areas. In places the limit changes from 20mph to 30mph and the 40mph within the space of a couple of hundred yards, my speed limiter is working overtime!
We are planning to tour the Lyn Peninsula using the Photo-Location Guidebook "Photographing North Wales to identify stopping off points. First stop is Dinas Dinlle. By now it's definitely time for full wet weather gear. I take a few images but nothing of note; its extremely dull and overcast. Next stop is Trefor where there is a small pier and some fishing boats. By now my (non-waterproof) walking shoes are soaked through and I christen my newly acquired Lowa walking boots.I take a few images on my camera and also some on my phone; it is now too wet to continue using the camera and I put it away for the day.
We move on to Nant Gwrtheyrn. We nearly didn't get here as the road is marked "private" but I decided to take a look anyway and realised that I'd actually visited here about seven years earlier and had at the time made a mental note to return and actually kept a leaflet in my guide book. The road down towards the beach is spectacular but nothing compared with the rocky road served up with coffee in the cafe next to the car park - it was enormous
The real attraction of this location is the beach which is some distance down a footpath from the cafe. It was still pretty wet but we decided that, having got this far, we'd trek all the way down to the shoreline and this was a good decision as there are some industrial remnants which made for interesting images. My favourite image of the whole trip was, however, the view down to the shore from the gate at the beginning of the path which is featured here.
Next stop was Whistling Sands. The sands only whistle when it's dry so there was no chance today! It's true that they whistle as I'd also been here before; apparently the whistling is caused by the shape of the grains of sand.
The last shop was Aberdaron for a quick look round, or it would have been if Mrs. Manley had not spotted a sign for a garden centre on the way back to Caernarfon and, given that she is unable to drive past a garden centre we had to call in.
Back in Caernarfon we had a couple of drinks in the Ship & Castle (at £6.40 for a pint of John Smiths (no real ale) and a glass of wine it was mega cheap) and then sought out the Ty Castell, a tapas restaurant which we'd spotted the night before and enjoyed the fare there before returning to the Premier Inn via the Harbour for a quick pint of lager (the Doombar had to be returned as it tasted like vinegar, a fact that the barman agreed with). It obviously came as no surprise to him as he advised a colleague that "the Doombar has gone at last" The next day we set of for home but had to make a slight detour near to Shrewsbury as Mrs. Manley saw a sign to Percy Thrower's Garden Centre. On arriving home it became apparent that Mrs. Manley's backpack was still in Caernarfon....some you win, some (bags) you lose!