Yesterday my husband and I did a 2.5 mile circular walk to Llyn Barfog. The lake was covered in water lilies, though sadly they're not flowering yet. The Welsh name of Llyn Barfog is usually translated as Bearded Lake, and it is fringed with reeds which, if you squint at them, could possibly look like a beard. But you must be careful at this lake because it is said that a monster called an afanc lives there. Or it did, once upon a time. Some people say that the afanc was slain by King Arthur who dragged it from the lake with his horse. The horse supposedly left a footprint in a nearby rock, but we didn't find that because we'd forgotten to check where exactly it was and there were lots of rocks up there!

The hills were alive with birdsong and as well as a pair of ravens, I saw a skylark hovering. Often they’re so high it’s almost impossible to see them, but this one was lower and I could see its hovering flight easily.



From the lake we continued up a track that was named the Panorama Walk. However we decided it wasn't as good as the Barmouth walk of the same name and that it would only deserve 3 stars on Trip Advisor. Further stars were withheld because of limited views of the Dovey Estuary and the Boggy Bits.



G had said walking shoes would be OK because it was a touristy path and not very far, but boots would definitely have been better for some parts. I did manage to avoid getting wet feet, despite a couple of near disasters while testing whether clumps of grass in the Boggy Bit would hold my weight, but by the end of the walk, my toes were starting to protest and going any further would have resulted in blisters. But fortunately, by the time my feet were starting to feel sore, we were almost back at the car park.

The final descent was down a very steep rubbly track that passed by some old lead mines. Little trace of them remains, but we convinced ourselves that a couple of gulleys cut into the hillside were the likely location of the mine entrances, now filled in and covered with vegetation.

On leaving the car park, we didn't retrace our route but instead drove on along the lane to where it eventually joined the main coast road and thence to Tywyn where we bought sandwiches which, having failed to find a suitable layby, we ate in the car park in Abergynolwyn before driving home.