It’s hard to know what to write today with it being Friday and everything. I’m feeling a little frayed today - maybe a quietly subdued rant is in order.
I was in Barmouth earlier in the week. Barmouth is on the fringes of Snowdonia, not part of it, or in it, but on the fringes like Tywyn. I think that when they drew up the Snowdonia boundaries they left Barmouth (and Tywyn) out of the National Park because it wasn’t quite the ‘right’ kind of place - after all, it isn’t Harlech or Aberdyfi is it?
Barmouth is very seaside with its amusements, rock shops, dodgems, pound stores, tattoo parlours and fast food – but it also has lots of history, a lovely little harbour with some good seafood restaurants, an amazing wooden rail bridge that stretches for ever across the water to Fairboune, incredibly beautiful views both inland and out to sea, and some impressive and grand buildings.
This might also explain why Blaenau Ffestiniog, right in the centre of Snowdonia, is also designated ‘outside’ of the National Park. It forms an island of non-parkness in a superior ocean of ‘approved’ landscape that doesn’t seem to include the beauty of the slate quarry, slag heap, and gray miner’s cottages.
How silly. Well, at least Barmouth has donkeys, real ones, not like the donkeys who drew up the boundaries of Snowdonia. In my book the donkeys alone are reason enough for Barmouth to be included in any National Park.
That feels a little better, not much, but a little - quietly subdued rant over.
How sweet he is :)
ReplyDeleteHer name is Sooty
DeleteHer name is Sooty
DeleteCan Scarborough be in the park too?
ReplyDeleteAt our caravan park in Llandudno there is a field were the retired donkeys graze. Nice animals and they love carrots. The donkeys that are used on the beach at Llandudno live on a farm on top of the Great Orme near the ski slope. After a hard days work on the beach they have to climb the Great Orme to get home.
ReplyDeleteNeil Atkinson commented on Facebook:
ReplyDeleteI don't like Barmouth much.
Della Jayne Roberts commented on Facebook:
ReplyDeleteDo you remember when the donkey bit my thumb and I had to go to hospital?
I still can't feed donkeys/horses without dropping the carrot/apple..
:O)
eee-aw. like the film, what a wonderful live.
ReplyDeleteNicholas Owen commented on Facebook:
ReplyDeleteTrue, all its churches now sell 9" back massagers and the market sells more king size rizlas than glass buoys and latch keys, but I have a fondness for it too Andy. The mountains and rivers behind it and all the way to Harlech have offered me some of the best walking in Britain. It's a beautifully appointed town with a thin veneer of plastic glaze. Which unfortunately it probably needs to keep itself afloat these days... One last plus point: it has a small car park hidden behind the shops where you pay by throwing the required amount into the open window of an abandoned car..
Nick - you are a man after my own heart. Thanks - both informative and well written. An insight into Barmouth that few see, but beneath that tat beats a heart as true as any heart can be. I may well end up there taking the dodgem money and smoking roll-ups.
ReplyDeleteWell you know me AKH, I'm a softie where donkey's are concerned. I like the sound of Glynne's caravan park.
ReplyDeleteI may buy some donkeys if I can get a beach license.
ReplyDeleteWell if Barmouth isn't perfect, Tywyn is even less appealing - but I always get excited arriving there. For a start, you have to drive through it to get to our favourite cottage at Bryncrug - so it signals the start of a holiday. It's also the home of the Talyllyn railway - one of the 'great little railways' of Wales. It's true, Aberdyfi is much nicer, but I've got a soft spot for Tywyn.
ReplyDeleteJoan