Wales…The other end of the Rainbow Bridge?

Have we gone to doggy heaven on the first stop of this trip?  Maybe!  A place with mild weather, seemingly endless hiking trails, miles of dog friendly beaches and where pups are allowed in most of the pubs seems pretty heavenly.  Needless to say, Maverick is having the time of his life!

You’re probably wondering how a place like Wales got on our radar for travel.  It’s hardly at the top (or frankly anywhere) on most people’s travel bucket lists.  It really is the forgotten member country of the United Kingdom.  You will hear a lot about England and Scotland.  You will even hear more about Northern Ireland due to its troubled recent past and easy access from the actual country of Ireland.  Wales tends to never come up.  

When our trip was being sketched out I realized that we had about 4 months of travel to figure out, but we could only spend 90 days in the Schengen Area on mainland Europe without getting some type of visa.  That made it an easy option to spend the other month in the UK because each border crossing increased the complexity of the trip due to the dog health requirements.  Maybe the UK was not my first choice, but I regularly let external factors like this push me to destinations that may not be at the top of my list.  The cool thing is that I’m rarely disappointed when I let these factors guide me and I end up finding a new place to love and come back to someday.  

Once I decided on the plan of 1 month in the UK I had to start thinking about where in the UK.  Because this is long term travel I was intent on keeping many of our stays at a week or more to minimize the amount of moving and allow us to settle into somewhat normal routines.  The only place we had been in the UK prior to this trip was London and some destinations nearby such as Windsor Castle.  I knew there was plenty to see in England beyond the greater London area but I had experienced British culture and wanted to get a taste of the other distinctly different countries within the UK.  This led to us splitting our time between Wales and Scotland.

Mavi enjoying all the space to roam

Getting To Wales

Our journey to Wales started a couple of nights after we arrived in Southampton on the QM2.  We stayed 2 nights at the Moxy Southampton (part of the Marriott brand).  I booked one night with a free night certificate I get annually from my Marriott Boundless credit card.  I booked the other night with 18,000 Marriott points.  The hotel cash rate was about $200 per night.  All I ended up paying was the reasonable $20 pet fee (the hotel pet fees are much more reasonable over here than they are in the US).  I spent the better part of our one full day in Southampton taking a bus to London Heathrow Airport to pick up our rental car.  By rental car standards it was relatively painless.  I had booked a compact car with Hertz using Chase points on the Chase Travel Portal.  I cashed in 61,134 Chase points to get the car for free.  The cash price would have been $917.01.  Hertz had some trouble finding a car that would not be due up for maintenance during our reservation because our rental period was an entire month.  Otherwise everything was pretty quick.

I did have a fair amount of anxiety about driving on the left side of the road.  I had only done this once for a few days in Jamaica.  I will say that the UK was immediately easier for two reasons.  1) The roads are properly maintained and 2) the blinkers and wiper switches are not inverted on the steering column like they were on my car in Jamaica.  This seems like a small thing but when you try to hit your blinker and turn on the wipers it is distracting and adjusting to left side driving takes much more focus than routine driving at home.  Even so, the driving was stressful.  The other thing I struggled with in Jamaica and had forgotten about was the difficulty of judging how close I was to things on the left side of the car while sitting on the right.  All of this is intuitive at home but for some reason switching sides throws that off for me.  Now that I’m over a week in, everything is becoming a lot more second nature.  Your instincts do adjust.

After arriving back in Southampton Amy and I drove over to a local pet store and picked up supplies such as a dog bed and dog food.  Things you don’t usually need to buy overseas!  Just like the road, the parking lots in the UK are much tighter than in the US.  Doing anything in the car is more of an adventure than I would prefer.

Finally after our second night in Southampton we were off on a 6 hour journey to Wales with a quick pit stop at Stonehenge.  Dogs can go to Stonehenge but you have to stay on the outside of a fence a little farther away from the stones.  It doesn’t feel like much of a sacrifice since everybody has to stand back a certain distance.  It’s just a little more difficult to take pictures because you are more likely to have people in your way.  With a little patience it is totally doable.  Stonehenge was ok.  I think it loses a lot with all the people there.  If you were able to experience it without the crowds I think it would be a lot more powerful.

The big downside of stopping at Stonehenge is that we ended up on a route that was almost entirely secondary roads.  We had exactly 25 miles of divided highway during a 6 hour drive.  Usually I prefer the secondary roads because I find them much more relaxing than the highway but when you are trying to adjust to left hand driving the back roads just make everything more stressful.  I essentially drove for 6 hours white knuckling it through crazy rotaries and increasingly winding and narrow roads all the way to our final destination in Wales.  Boy was I exhausted after that one!

A little perspective on how close you can get to Stonehenge with and without a dog

Criccieth

Our home base in Wales has been the town of Criccieth.  We ended up here kind of by accident.  Typically when we travel anywhere for more than a few days with Maverick I stick to vacation rentals rather than hotels.  I am able to find places that are more dog friendly in terms of ease of being able to take him outside and lower pet fees.  This is especially the case in more rural areas.  I usually end up booking properties through Airbnb.  This typically involves me looking at a region (in this case northern Wales) and applying the filters I want.  My core criteria is pet friendly, having an entire place to ourselves, washing machine (I strategically sprinkle these in to avoid laundromats), and superhosts (these are the top hosts on Airbnb).  From that curated list I’ll narrow it down and pick the place I like the most.  I book super early, usually close to a year out.  Most of the time this gives me a better selection and better prices.

Our Airbnb cost $1,247.57 for 10 nights.  Just like on our longer road trips in the US I tried to stick close to $100 per night when renting Airbnbs.  By staying longer I can usually take advantage of extended stay discounts,  Our place is literally right on the ocean.  Criccieth is a charming little ocean side town spread out around a medieval castle sitting up on a high bluff.  It’s big enough that there are 10+ different eateries and pubs that we can walk to in town, but not so big that it is overrun with tourists (it seems a lot of English holiday on the Wales coast in the summer).  I’m super happy with our location.  I don’t think I could have picked a better location even if I was focused on the town more than the accommodations.  

The Airbnb itself has worked out great.  I already mentioned the location right on the water.  There is a nice little park across the street that most days has a mobile coffee cart complete with puppuccinos for Mr. Maverick.  The inside is spacious and has  a large bedroom complete with a king size bed (rare in these parts), a living room with comfy couches, a full kitchen and a spacious bathroom.  The only minor complaints are the washer/dryer is shared and coin-op (I try to avoid coins like the plague so I never have any), and they charge 50 pence per Nespresso coffee pod which is more coins and feels wrong.  Just raise the rental price a few bucks or don’t have the Nespresso.  If you are inspired to replicate this part of the trip here is a link to the Airbnb listing.

Here are some of our favorite places in Criccieth:

Things to do:

• Castle Criccieth: You can’t miss this medieval castle looming over the entire town.  There is an entry fee of a little over $10 per adult, but it seems to be cheaper than other castles in the area and the views are magnificent.  Dogs are allowed which is a bonus!
• Criccieth Beach: Long expansive dog friendly beach.  Not crowded at all, especially when you stray farther from town where you’ll have it practically to yourself.  This is an alien concept when you are used to beaches in much of the US.
• Wales Coastal Path: This 870 mile long trail covers the entire coastline of Wales and it is AMAZING!  You can head out of town east or west and follow the trail along the coast and through fields of grazing sheep and cows.  Much of it is lined with endless wild blackberries that you can snack on as you walk if they are in season.

Places to Eat & Drink

• Castle Fish & Chip Shop: I’m no connoisseur, but this is hands down the best fish and chips I’ve ever had.  I’m not much of a fish guy so raving about anything fish is not something I ever do.  I got the cod and it was perfect with nothing on it.  Maverick gives it four paws up as well.
• Cadwaladers: Tasty local Welsh ice cream shop.  It’s been around for nearly 100 years apparently.  They’ve got doggie ice cream so another 4 paws up from Maverick.
• Y Maes: The locals tell us this is a new addition to town this year.  A four stall food court and bar with outdoor tables in the center of town.  This place was always bumping, especially on the weekend when they had live music.  It’s a little pricey but definitely worth a visit.
• Dylan’s Criccieth: We didn’t go to the restaurant but there is a trailer out front that serves snacks and drinks with tables overlooking the beach.  Great place for an afternoon pint with a view.
• Prince of Wales: We came here for dinner on our first night.  No outdoor seating but dogs are allowed inside the pub.  The food was solid and the staff was super friendly.  If you come to Wales be sure to try one of the burgers made with local Welsh beef like I did in this pub.  It is excellent, you can really tell the difference from factory farm beef that is so prevalent in the US and other places.  
• Bryn Hir Arms: If you are looking for a cheaper pint and want to hang out with more locals then head on down to this pub.  Not as picturesque a location but they do have outdoor seating and are dog friendly inside and out.

Picture of the west side of Criccieth taken from the castle. We were staying at the far end of the row of houses closest to the water

Porthdinllaen

Our home in Criccieth is near the base of the Llŷn Peninsula.  For our first daytrip we ventured across the peninsula to Porthdinllaen.  Porthdinllaen is a small peninsula off of the larger Llŷn Peninsula.  Most of this area is National Trust land (sort of like National Park land in the US).  We haven’t encountered any entrance fees yet, but parking is usually a modest charge of 5 british pounds for a day.  We parked and started our walk in the nearby town of Morfa Nefyn.  For this trip I subscribed to AllTrails (https://www.alltrails.com/) which is a handy hiking app that has detailed information on trails all over the world.  It’s already been a godsend.  

We had a really nice hike in this area through pastures out to the coastal trail where we walked along the tops of cliffs overlooking the water.  There is a golf course out here that the coastal trail runs along side of for a bit.  That wasn’t the best, especially with a dog.  Eventually you get to a dog friendly beach with a pub and an ice cream shop right on the beach.  The plan was to relax here for a while and have a pint and maybe a bite to eat.  Unfortunately the entire place was mobbed with families and dogs.  It was a little too chaotic for our taste so we moved on and finished our walk.  It is a really nice spot and if you don’t mind the chaos then definitely check it out.  It’s a smaller beach so everyone is bunched together more like we are used to seeing at home in the US.  For me personally, if I’m going to be out in nature I don’t want to be surrounded by crowds.  In the city it’s expected and fine.  At the beach or on a hike, no thanks.

Family photo on our Porthdinllaen hike.

Beddgelert

Our first and only trip into Eryri National Park (Snowdonia) was to Beddgelert to do a little hiking along a small river in a valley within the mountains.  I had expected to spend a lot of time in Snowdonia during our time in Northern Wales but things did not work out that way and we ended up spending most of our time on the coast.  The park was somewhat busy.  Probably not busy by US park standards, but the windy roads here are even tighter and you are dodging tour buses and surrounded by rock walls. It’s not the most fun to drive in and out of.  I had designs on climbing the highest mountain in Wales (Snowdon) but my bad hip had been acting up and I had read reviews in AllTrails talking about lines at the summit which is not appealing to me (it is a popular hike but there is also a train that goes to the summit).  

Beddgelert is a charming little town surrounding a fork in the river.  Town was busy because a bus had just dropped a bunch of people off.  The hike itself was beautiful.  Some of it was easy and even paved.  Other parts required climbing over rocky terrain along the banks of the river gorge.  We discovered that there was parking on both ends of the trail which led to a fair amount of foot traffic along the path.  Overall it was about a 3.5 mile out and back hike.  Before climbing back in our car we grabbed a coffee and slice of cake at a cafe in town.  

I’m a little bummed we did not end up seeing more of Snowdonia.  It is absolutely gorgeous.  I’d like to go back during shoulder season when there are less summer tourists in the area.  I’ll add it to my ever growing list!

Mavi taking in Snowdonia

Caernarfon

After departing Beddgelert we headed north to the seaside town of Caernarfon.  This ended up being the largest town we visited during our time in Wales.  The centerpiece is the large Caernarfon Castle right on the water.  It is much bigger and more intact than the smaller castle in Criccieth.  Unfortunately it is not dog friendly so we had to settle for outside viewing.  Nevertheless, it was still impressive and fun to walk around the outer walls.

The old center of Caernarfon is a nice walkable area full of small shops, restaurants and pubs.  It’s definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.  It would also serve as a good home base for exploring Snowdonia and the Isle of Anglesey. We stopped into the Black Boy Inn pub for some food (yeah I know, questionable name).  I had my first Welsh pie which was tasty.  The big difference seemed to be that instead of a crust it was topped with a healthy amount of Welsh cheese.  The pub had tons of character since the building dated back to the 1500s.  

From there we found our way to an outdoor beer garden where we chatted with a nice English couple that were traveling the area with their dog in their campervan.  All in all it was another wonderful day in Wales.

Amy & Mavi posing in front of Caernarfon castle.

Harlech

One of the nearby seaside towns we visited was Harlech.  We parked down near the long expansive beach along the coastline of Tremadog Bay.  The beach is split between a dog friendly side and a human only side.  Both sides have more than plenty of space.  It was over 3 miles of walking simply to walk the length of the dog side and return to where we entered.  Beyond the beach are dunes which eventually turn into cliffs.  The walk was beautiful and Maverick was able to frolic to his heart’s content.  

After our beach walk we walked into the small town which is on top of a hill dominated by what else but a medieval castle.  When the castle was constructed the water came right up to the hill and the entire beach area we had just walked was under water.  It was a steep climb up the hill but it was worth it for the views of the beach and water beyond.  After a quick caffeine boost at a dog friendly cafe we crossed the street to a small restaurant hoping to grab a bite to eat.  Unfortunately the kitchen was closed but we stayed for a drink anyway because the patio had amazing views of the castle & coastline.

After walking back to our car we headed back home with a quick pitstop in neighboring Porthmadog for some dinner.  We ended up eating at The Australia, a pub owned by the local Purple Moose Brewery.  The food and beer were all great.  Maverick loved his chips as usual!

I’d say Harlech is definitely a great option for a beach day.  It was not crowded, there was plenty of parking and it was quite large.  The town does not offer as many options for dining but there was enough.  The castle did not allow dogs so we didn’t go inside but it is probably worth a visit if you were in town.

Mavi showing off just how much doggy beach space is available!

Aberdaron 

The final area we visited during our time in Wales was the small town of Aberdaron all the way at the tip of the Llŷn Peninsula.  It was a beautiful 40 minute drive from our AirBnB.  The last 15 minutes of which were driven on what was a two way road masquerading as a single lane road.  You really had to find a little divot to squeeze into to let oncoming traffic squeeze by.  So much fun!

Upon arrival we found Aberdaron to be pretty crowded by Wales coast standards.  It is a tiny town with steep narrow roads nestled a few restaurants right on the beach.  I was expecting a much quieter place considering there wasn’t much on the map out that far on the peninsula.  After seeing the area in person I came to the conclusion it was because there were a lot of campsites and RV parks in that area and this town was the only large beach and collection of restaurants and pubs.  

The one parking lot in town was full so we had to find a place on the street on one of the roads out of town.  It worked out fine and saved us a few pounds.  The plan was to walk the coastal trail around the tip of the peninsula and then loop back to town for some dinner.  

The hike was absolutely beautiful.  Cliffs lined much of the coast and mostly we walked along the top of these with some ascents and descents mixed in.  We saw plenty of sheep as usual.  On the far side of the peninsula we saw some seals hanging out in one of the coves.  There were also a couple of decent sized hills we had to climb that offered views overlooking the entire end of the peninsula.

After finishing our hike we crossed the peninsula on some of the back roads to return to town hoping that it would be less crowded later in the day.  No such luck, it was even busier.  Probably a lot of the campers go there to eat and drink.  We were tired and didn’t have the patience required to deal with the crowds so we got in the car and headed home to cook something in our kitchen.  It didn’t quite work out as planned but it was still a great day!

C’mon guys! We have SO much trail to explore!

Conclusion

I took a chance on Wales as the first destination on our trip and I don’t regret it a bit.  I think we got lucky with the weather as we didn’t see a drop of rain until our last morning.  The day we left the wind was howling and the rain was blowing sideways.  I feel like that could have easily been how it went, but thankfully the nice weather held up for us.  

The scenery was stunning with the mountains of Snowdonia a backdrop for the rugged coastline.  There are many expansive and uncrowded beaches.  The locals are friendly and accommodating and it really feels like a different country with all the Welsh being spoken.  It’s hard to ignore the fact that the dog friendliness is off the charts.  It’s amazing being able to take your dog everywhere regardless of the weather.  

If you are looking for a beach and/or hiking vacation and don’t need or want the super hot temperatures I highly recommend a getaway to northern Wales.  We definitely want to go back to explore more of the country.  Hopefully I have convinced you to visit someday and enjoy this magical place!

The Real Prince of Wales