As from April 1st we have been furloughed for the months of April and May. Depending what’s happening in the country after that is anyone’s guess. This means that the government will be paying 80% of our wages, so at least we can still eat and have a beer or wine as long as we can get them in the shops. We can also stay on site and if we wish do some work on site, cutting grass etc. We are not obliged to but if the mood takes me I will be out there, on the nice sunny days sat in the ride on mower cutting the grass. I also have a ever growing list of other things to do on the camper and in our compound etc. So we will not get bored. If I get bored and want to get away for a couple of nights I can start up the camper and drive round the site and have the choice of 90 pitches to stop on. Another thing I suggested to the other wardens was we put a beer and wine on certain pitches and then go to each pitch in turn and drink the beer and wine. That way we have our own pub crawl.

On part of the site is a small area which is called Snowdonia garden. This was started in May 2015 by clearing the area of brambles etc and moving some large stones to form a rockery. They were then in consultation with the north wales wildlife trust to create a topological plan to include the forests of Snowdonia. Trees already in place at the back of the garden, the rocks were to replicate the mountains of Snowdonia. The lighter more open areas to the front were planted with bee and butterfly flowers. The stone walls already there have a long standing history with the area and play an important part in accommodating wildlife and their food. These walls are all over Wales. I love them. The hurdle type fencing to the garden has been constructed from coppiced wood on site demonstrating the ancient craft, historically used to keep the sheep in.

I really like this area and it is now my job to keep it up together and any ideas I have to put them into it. This was my choice and I am very happy about it. Treating as my own little project and doing something for the wildlife in the area and hopefully when the peaple return they will appreciate it. They better do. I spent a whole day clearing it up of all the dead plants etc. I don’t think a lot has been done to it the last Couple of years. I will continue to do bits and pieces throughout the season and watch as it changes over the months.

Some of the plants already coming out and starting to look good.

Another thing I am going to build is a bug house or bug hotel. This will be a wooden construction which will have different sections in to attract different bugs. There is one here already but I want to build another which will be better of course. Mine will be five star. It will include dead wood for wood lice and centipedes, Holes for solitary bees straw and hay for invertebrates to burrow in, loose bark and old slate etc to make other homes. The bottom of it will be an area for hedgehogs to hibernate in. Will post pics when I have built it. I can’t get hold of the planning department at the moment because they’re all working from home. I will probably just go ahead and make it and face them later.

I will keep you posted on the progress as the season unfolds and let you know who has moved in. My friend the tree peeper keeps watch when I am not there.

Towards the end of last season we got the news we were to go to Snowdonia for the season. To say we were excited is a understatement. All through the winter we counted down the days, looking at maps, google earth, websites etc. The excitement grew and grew. Go to Snowdonia Mike they said. Fantastic. I can hike up Snowdon and have a hot chocolate in the cafe at the top, I can go to the mountain bike centre and blast around the tracks and downhills and have another hot chocolate in the cafe afterwards, I can go and surf at surf Snowdonia the wave pool in a lagoon and have yet another hot chocolate after to warm up, I can walk across to the pub from the site and have a beer with the locals or a hot chocolate, I can go on the steam railways and admire the views before returning for a hot chocolate, I can fly down the zip wire at over 100 MPH and then have another hot chocolate, not before.

And now here we are on a campsite with nobody to talk to and all the cafes, pubs, and attractions or playgrounds for me as I like to call them all closed. And now today we learn we can not go anywhere unless essential which is fair enough. Luckily we went shopping yesterday, although Nikki nearly broke down in tears at the checkout. Not at the price of our shopping but she was told she can only buy three bottles of wine instead of the six she had in the basket. My beer was ok as I had multi packs and by law your not allowed to split them. So three multipacks of beer with four beers in each. Don’t call me stupid.

So for now we will be keeping the site tidy, cutting grass etc and biking round an empty site to exercise, although the tracks from here are empty so I will go out on them sometimes because i am allowed to exercise and it’s so remote there is no chance of seeing anybody and even if you do you can avoid them. Stay safe everybody. Here are a couple of pictures. This is what I have to put up with.

We are lucky to be in North Wales this season, big open spaces, lack of crowds etc. The unlucky part is working on the campsite. It’s been very quiet, a lot of cancellations. And now as from yesterday we are closed until the 30th June. There were only five units on site but all told to leave. We do not know what is going to happen about our job, or pay yet but will hopefully find out more this week.

The country is in a real mess with a lot of peaple panic buying and still ignoring advice not to go out unless they really have to. Ok to go out if your not going to see anybody or keep your distance. I feel sorry for Philip schofield he has only just came out and is now being told to stay in. The closing of pubs is going to cause more panic buying in the supermarkets down the beer and wine aisle. The only thing that will be left on the shelves will be Corona lager. I never really liked that beer anyway. We have never experienced anything like this before so can only listen to advice and all get through it and come out smiling. At least all the talk about Brexit has stopped.

On a positive note yesterday we had a day off, the plan was to go out for a drive to Snowdon to get some pics. We cancelled that plan. A real shame the other hundreds and hundreds of peaple didn’t. I decided to go out on my bike up around lake Trawsfyndd where the power station is. The route was all country lanes and off road. Through woodland and over the dam. I saw two peaple, one sat in his car beside the tarmac piece of track and a dog walker who was at least a hundred metres away from me. The only other living things were sheep and birds. The sun was shining and the scenery was fantastic. The whole bike ride was 12 miles. Some pictures below of the ride.

The dam was built in 1992. Because the power station I mentioned in my last post used the water from the reservoir for cooling. The lake water temperature rose and now the power station is closed water temperatures are back to normal.

The scenery is fantastic, reminds me of places we go in Spain. When I stopped pedalling my bike all you could hear were birds singing and me panting from pedalling up the hill of course. The downhill parts were nice though.

Further around the lake was a very long footbridge which was built for the landowners to cross because when the dam was built and flooded the land they had to go the long way round so the bridge was built to the village of Trawsfynydd. I expect they used to heard their sheep across it also.

When I got back to site Nikki told me the news of the site closing. The rest of the day was spent pottering about. We have to go out today to get some shopping. We won’t be panic buying.

We have been busy getting the site ready for all the members to flood through the gates. The opening day arrived, I opened the gates wide and five units came in on that day. We have had new bookings and we have had cancellations. But we are open and who knows what will happen as the days go on.

There is a small holding opposite the campsite entrance, a few old tractors, trailers and farm machinery. And of course the chickens and ducks. The chickens are proper free range and come across the road into the site and even wander around our compound. I doubt if they will come around when I have the BBQ going.

We love it round here, the narrow roads with the moss covered stone walls built years ago to keep the sheep in. It brings back so many memories of when I was very young and used to visit my gran and grandads farm. The tractors going past the gate instead of cars roaring past. The spring lambs are in the fields now.

Not far from the site is a huge big building. From a distance it looks like it should be in Russia, I can’t explain why I think that but it just looks like it should. Probably because of what it is. It’s the Trawsfyndd nuclear power station. It was the only one in the UK to be built inland taking water from the Trawsfyndd reservoir for the cooling. It was built in the late fifties early sixties and was operational in 1965 and supplied all the electric for the whole of north wales.

The power station was closed down in 1991. The decommissioning of it started at the beginning of 1993. The highly radioactive spent fuel rods were removed and sent to Sellafield. Other contaminated materials are stored in a specially designed building on site. This will be removed for deep burial in the 2040’s Final clearance of site will begin in 2071. By 2083 the area is expected to be restored to its pre nuclear state. 124 years after construction started and 92 years after it closed. They don’t work fast around here.

The lake the power station used to get its cooling water from is called the Trawsfyndd lake. It’s 2.73 miles long and at its widest is 1.4 miles wide. I plan to walk all the way around it while we are here. It will be a long day and there is no pub on the walk so a packed lunch will be the order of the day. Nikki has already told me I will be doing it on my own.

We have a couple of days off next week so hoping for some nice weather to get out and about exploring. Coast roads and a view of Snowdon are top of the list. All weather depending of course.

Our journey from Chirk to Gellilydan was in sunshine. The week before when we had gone over to see the site the journey was all overcast and the mountains were topped with cloud. Now we could see some of them had snow on. I caught a glimpse of Snowdon in the distance which had a good thick covering of snow on top. The river levels had gone down, they were still high but not overflowing into the fields anymore. The scenery was fantastic. We are going to love being in this area for the season. It was strange not having Nikki in the camper with me because she was following behind in the new car. It all worked out well.

We got to site and parked up on a pitch. The compound we were going in needed some work first. Moving slabs etc and working out the best way to get in. We had a cup of tea with Debbie and Jerry our new wardens and then I just had to set about working on the compound. Got it to the stage where I could get the camper in. It was tight but it’s in there. Once in we still have plenty of room for the car and a large area to sit out in the sun while sipping our cold drinks. We also have a pod in there which is a bathroom with our own toilet and shower in. Nikki is making that all nice. And we also have a garage which has a washing machine and a tumble dryer, fridge freezer and plenty of room for our bikes etc.

Today was our last day of freedom before starting work tomorrow getting the site ready to open on Friday 13th, let the fun begin. I had a day off from doing the compound today, I can finish the other jobs in work time as and when.

So we had a day out in Porthmadog. Nikki needed to get some bathroom stuff and I needed to get bird feeders etc. There is also the welsh and highland railway there. Something I wanted to go on at some stage. Today was my lucky day because as we were coming past the station I could see the steam coming from one of the steam engines. We parked up and went back to the station to get some photos. I love the old steam trains.

The steam built up and a blow on the whistle and the train started rolling out the station in a cloud of steam which surrounded the carriages, just like in a old movie.

And away it went heading towards the mountains. We will come back and go for a train ride and there are lots of others in the area including one that goes up snowdon.

Some facts and figures from our winter trip. This is for the last four months holiday.

We have travelled 1435 miles. We have put £495 worth of fuel in the camper but it is now topped right up. We put £128 worth of fuel in the little Toyota for getting about. We spent £360 on campsites. Our food bill was £1616. Out and about expenses were £785 this is lunches in cafes and pubs, nights out and site seeing etc. So all in all our winter trip cost us about £3500. That’s if you don’t take into account the new car, bike rack for the car, tow ball for the car etc. But we are working again now ready to spend it all again next winter. Who knows where we will be. U.K. or Europe or some far flung island. Will keep you posted wherever we end up and of course I will keep you updated on our season here in Snowdonia.