Day 2 Tuesday 9th May 2023
Mach Loop – CAD West in the afternoon
It was a beautiful afternoon when we arrived at the CAD West car park and to our surprise there was lots of space. The path that runs alongside the contours of the hill had deteriorated since our last visit. The stones and gravel so carefully laid were now covered in soil or should I say mud!
In deference to my recovering knees we did not climb to very top as usual but stopped more than half way up. Not a great location as we were camped on a 45 degree slope!
Even at 1:30pm the car park was still relatively empty.
Opposite on CAD East we could see just one person silhouetted against the sky.
This was the day after the Coronation extra Bank Holiday and perhaps we should have realised that everyone would be taking a few days off.
The biggest excitement of the afternoon was when this car blew up its engine on the pass below. Lots of smoke, a rumbling noise and then a very large bang. The poor folks inside were in a dodgy place just after a blind bend. A couple of hours later their rescue truck came.
As for aircraft, this was one of our ‘blank’ days when at the Mach Loop. I did get a number of images for my planned presentation on the Mach Loop next year!
On the positive side we chatted to a lady and her daughter who were still recovering from getting soaked in their tent overnight. We suggested a night at the the Red Lion as we reckoned that there would be spaces. They did indeed book and joined later us at dinner.
Day 3 Wednesday 10th 2023
The weather this morning was equally unpromising so we decided to try and find the back roads to Lake Vyrnwy. On an earlier visit we had left the lake and finished up in Bala rather than Dinas Mawaddy!
We met a couple of Dutch registered Triumph TR sports cars coming the opposite way – luckily at passing places. After the turn for the lake the ‘road’ became even narrower, potholed and had hardly any passing places. I was too busy avoiding sheep, staying on the road and worrying about any oncoming vehicles to take any pictures!
At the bottom of steep incline we met three more Triumph TRs and luckily for me they were in what could be called a passing place. The drivers were out of their cars taking pictures of the streams below the road. Once at the lake we met even more TRs coming the other way.
Lake Vyrnwy
At our first stop I took this picture of the tower in the lake. Then it was time to park near the Artisans café and have a cup of tea. For me this was more to take a rest after the rather more stressful drive that I had planned!
At the side of the small car park for the Artisans café there is a hide provided by the RSPB. In there the feeders were full of birds.
In a break in the rain we walked up to the dam. We watched as the a few more Triumph TRs set of around the dam to then go over the hill passes. Then a convoy of Ferraris and Porsches passed us and stopped just after the dam. It was clearly a day for group adventures.
This is looking down past the dam to the valley below.
Another view of the tower in the lake from the middle of the dam.
One of the few moments with no traffic on the dam.
The weather forecast was not great for the rest of day. Rather than go back the way we came, we took the much longer route and re-joined the main roads back to the hotel. We went back to our rooms to read and mainly sleep until the bar opened at 5 pm and we could later order dinner.
