We left early this morning to drive through North Wales into Merseyside to visit the Recycling Discovery Centre at Gilmoss...... We have been trying to visit a recycling centre since the beginning of the year to try and understand what happens to all our rubbish at home and so this open day at the Veolia site in Merseyside was a good opportunity as Veolia operate similar recycling processes in Hampshire. It was interesting to see how the recycyling that goes i...

One last Welsh castle before we leave... a very cold and windy one and just time for a quick explore to complete the quest and obtain our prize, except that we didn't read the question properly and got told that 'we may need to go back in and actually learn somethng'. Ha ha! We seem to be finished with the learning about castle battles - even I couldn't summon up the enthusiasm - so after filling up with scones we quickly headed back for the shelter of the camp...

And then after the sun comes the rain - again! We headed to Yr Ysgwrn this afternoon as I had slowly managed to put together pieces of various conversations to work out the significance of this farmhouse just down the road which was once the home of Hedd Wyn (farmer, soldier, poet and winner of the bard's chair at the 1917 National Eisteddfod who was killed on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele during World War I). We were very privileged to meet his ...

These are the days when I think we could keep doing this.... the torrential rain and grey Wales of yesterday cleared and we had the most beautiful day in Aberdaron as we cycled with 2 fascinating National Trust Rangers on a guided bike ride up to the summit of Mynydd Mawr for an amazing view over Bardsey Island and back towards Snowdonia. Then on to lunch in the sun on Whistling Sands beach before returning over to Aberdaron for ice-cream and an afternoon making...

Morning project work in Bob before heading to Swallow Falls in Betws-y-Coed. I personally think this waterfall is great but the children less so after comparing it to the spectacular waterfalls in Norway. A quick wander around the town and a nice cup of tea to keep out of the rain followed. The rain then got extremely heavy but luckily, I had booked "Bounce" at Blaenau Ffestiniog which is effectively a trampoline complex hidden underground in an old disused s...