Max's first booboo

We finally had a beautiful day, so we took advantage of it with two different short hikes.

First was a walk up to the castle and the area surrounding the village of Harlech. We didn't go in the castle. We had just spent a bunch of time in a castle a couple of days earlier and reviews said that while Harlech Castle is impressively set up on a hill, the views are the attraction, and the actual interior isn't worth the £8.50 ($14.50 CAD, $11 USD) entry fee despite the fact that we would have saved 50% with our English Heritage card.

It was a steep short climb up to the castle...

Harlech Castle was built in record time... only 7 short years from 1282 to 1289.

There is now a modern bridge allowing entrance to the castle.

Beautiful views from Harlech Castle.

And while there were some clouds in the sky, it was a beautiful day!

Snowdonia Mountains.

Cottage for sale with a view of the castle.

We took a path in the forest behind the village.

Another view.

Postcard perfect!

We found a cave. We think it was man made though, and didn't go very far in.

From the inside, looking out.

This guy has a castle in his backyard.

We went back to Max, had some lunch, and then headed further south to another hike that I wanted to do.

Just as we got out of Harlech, we had a little accident.

It was bound to happen sooner or later, and I'm actually surprised it hadn't happened until now.

Max's mirrors stick out quite a lot, and the roads are narrow. Many times I've been squeezed over to the side enough that I can hear the hedges brushing up against the mirror and I cringe as the oncoming vehicle passes as it gets so close.

Yes, I often slow down, and sometimes crawl past. 

This time, the road was narrowing, and while I admit I was still going too fast, this guy made no effort to slow and his mirror crashed up against ours while we passed each other. I admit some fault, but he made no effort at all.

The mirrors fold in, and of course the impact caused that to happen. But the housing is damaged a little bit, and the lower convex mirror is cracked. The main upper one is fine. It's still totally useable, but Max is no longer perfect!

Harlech Beach.

Scenery along the way.

These "holiday homes" are popular.

Through the town of Barmouth.

We managed to find some parking to get on the trail to Panorama Lookout.

I wonder how old this path is when there are huge trees growing out of the top of the wall.

Me, and the view from Panorama Lookout.

Notice that the tide is out.

Lots of different views.

Back at Max, we carried on to the Mach Loop.

"What is the Mach Loop?", you ask.

Well, the Mach Loop is where the Royal Air Force do low level flight training through a beautiful valley. But it's a popular spot for watching the fast fighter jets do their thing, and often difficult to find parking, especially for a motorhome.

The other thing is, there is no set schedule and you are either lucky, or not. 

Approaching the valley.

Really pretty hills.

The fact that most of the parking was full, told us that there was probably some flying going on.

We finally found a spot near the beginning of the valley where this is supposed to take place. We waited a while, and finally a couple of propeller aircraft flew through at high speed and very close to the ground... pretty much right above our heads. It was pretty cool.

We waited a while longer, and there was nothing happening. We decided to leave, and just as I was backing out, a couple of fighter jets flew through! It was even more cool! So we drove right back into our parking spot, got our the lawn chairs, and waited for more.

It reminded us of when we watched the fighter jets in Death Valley.

Ruth got this shot just as we were pulling back into the parking spot.

But they come around the corner so fast and they're so low to the ground that it's tough to get a photo.

And they fly right over your head, about 250' off the ground. So it's LOUD!

Here is a very short 3 second video. Turn up your volume...

But apparently they quit at 5:00pm because thats when they stopped flying so we really didn't get a chance to see very many.

But we stayed the night in our spot, and there has been one propeller trainer go through, so maybe there will be more. We'll wait around for the morning and see what happens.

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Keurig Single Serve Coffeemaker. Choice of colors.

And in Canada...

Google Nest Smart Home Thermostat.