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North Wales used to be a regular holiday destination for us when our children were small and we used to rent holiday homes for our stay. It has been decades since we were last in Wales and so we were really looking forward to revisiting – and it didn’t disappoint.

We had good weather for our journey and once passed Llangollen and the border areas I was struck by how green and pretty everything was. I was amazed – and then realised due to business commitments our previous holidays in Wales had always been at Easter time. Cool weather, bare trees and spring flowers yet to bloom, full of grandeur but barren and the year Easter was early white with snow. As much as I have always loved the North Wales scenery I simply did not know how pretty it could be in summer.

So a good start to our trip even though our sat nav sent us on an incredibly long detour leaving the A5 and directing us along the coast via Bangor and then on inland again to Llanberis. When we travelled home we ignored the sat nav and used the A5 to drive out of north Wales. The road from Llanberis is narrow, steep with quite precipitous descents and so I suppose the sat nav, which is caravan and motorhome specific thought we ought not to be using it. I guess it would be a tricky road towing a caravan but for the motorhome it was no worse than sections of Scotland’s NC500. The A5 is worth the driving effort as the views are spectacular.

We stayed at the Llanberis Touring Park one of several touring sites in Shropshire and North Wales run by Morris Leisure. We have found them to be nice sites of a high standard.

Llanberis is a popular tourist spot and is ideal for walking and cycling. There are plenty of quiet roads and off-road cycle routes. Some rides are quite steep but we found them to be manageable with our electric bikes.

Llanberis is the starting point for the Snowdon mountain railway, a trip I have always wanted to do. But at £35 each decided not to go, especially as this year the trains are only going three quarters of the way. It is £25 each for children so the trip for a family of four would be £120. Not cheap and the whole excursion only takes 2 hours. Of course it is a unique experience but at prices that would be beyond a lot of people so for that reason we would not support it.

We highly recommend “The Pantri” a café that opens at 9am for breakfasts and then serves lunches and snacks and light meals all day; great food at very reasonable prices.