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.