





Looks a bit rough for a wild swim. In December.






Looks a bit rough for a wild swim. In December.
Images from wild swimming legend https://instagram.com/gaz_white123?igshid=wj2hw2xolhr4






Another place in North Wales with some wild swimming spots




Pictures courtesy of https://instagram.com/gaz_white123?igshid=1fndv0t8ffe69





Apparently its a great place for a wild swim
Thought I would trial the ‘campervan’ somewhere close, so Saturday night I slept on Hope Mountain, which is on the border of Wrexham & Flintshire in North Wales.

The campervan is basically at the prototype-stage…several black-out-blinds cut out to the shape of the back windows, and ducktaped on, a USB charger for the cigarette-lighter and an army-issue sleeping bag.
I tried my folding Judo-mat as a sleeping platform, but it was too hard and too high, so I’ve replaced this with a shed-load of thick-blankets (thanks Aunty Vicky). I’ve order some velcro-stickers to add to the car interior and the black out blinds and a unisex urinal. I might take the passenger- front seat-out, as it was a right pain getting in and out.
I want to build (or buy) a hollow sleeping platform with pull out bits for cooking utensils etc There’s a few ideas here.
Anyway, here’s Hope Mountain Sunrise:










I didn’t get bummed (chance would be a fine thing) or woken up by Police or wild animals (as predicted by friends), but I was a bit tired.
That sunrise was one of the best things I’ve ever seen, better than the one I saw in Death Valley or the rip-off skywalk thing in the Grand Canyon. Amazingly peaceful too. So definitely worth losing some sleep over.
Halkyn Mountain

2 nights later I slept on Halkyn Mountain, it was shit. I think it’s all about the sunrises really, so it’s definitely worth checking the weather forecast. Also I probably chose a bit of a crap spot
A few pics – we stayed in a caravan at Rhos Farm Park
The park was a big hit

We visited the beautiful Plas Newydd House




and Pili Palas

Pili Palas is a little cheap n cheerful, but provides a nice day out to enjoy with the family. The staff are nice and so are most of the people who visit. Plus Nora really enjoyed it so can’t complain – it’s worth the money.
When you are thinking of walking up Snowdon, it’s a bit of a pain to work out the best place to park and which route is the best to go up. So most will end up going up on the train or using the LLanberis pass, even when they visit multiple times!
Now there are no excuses thanks to this graphic from Darwin Escapes which shows each route, the difficulty level and the postcode of each car park. Hopefully people will spread out a bit more amongst the paths now!

I’m guilty of being a Llanberis Path nut-hugger, having ascended the mountain 3 times via the same path (the road at the start is the hardest part!)
Here are some pics from my last walk and an ace pic of someone wild camping to boot :






And Some Wild Camping Photos of Snowdon, because they look ace –


Photo Credit – Kris Williams – Wild Camping Group
Lovely place! Nice walk around the perimeter and some nice pigs!
Address – Cae-Gwilym Ln, Cefn-mawr, Wrexham LL14 3PE




Follow the sign for Moel Famau and carry on past Loggerheads to your right.
Don’t do what I did and put “Moel Famau” into Google Maps, it took my right off the main road, past the entrance to Loggerheads and round in circles for about an hour around the mountain/hill/whatever it is.
The postcode for Moel Famau Car Park is CH7 5SH
If you put in “Coed Moel Famau NRW car park” to Google Maps, you’ll get a direct route/accurate route to the first car park. The second car park is about 2 minutes down the road, on the same side – if you come to the first car park and it is in your right, the second car park is on the right too (there’s a smaller one across the road anyway!)
Some pics from our camp on Friday.

It was minus 5 degrees C

will update more pics when I can work out how to embed the Instagram images!







– This is a bit of a mystery, even on Google maps there isn’t one shown, hopefully a SatNav will list it as a local attraction/landmark though. The postcode – CH7 5SG should bring you by Loggerheads, turn right after that down Bwlch Pen barras road