Shell Island is a massive campsite on the coast of North Wales near to the Village Llanbedr. The campsite is on the peninsular and during high tide the road is covered hence why the site is referred to as an island.
The campsite is BIG, according to their website they are the biggest camp site in Europe, with over 300 acres of land. This means there is plenty of space to pitch up away from other campers.
The campsite is right next to the beach, and there are MASSIVE sand dunes, probably my favourite thing about this place. Whilst you're standing down in the bowl of one you can't hear any sound from the campsite or the sea, how many places are there where all you can hear is the sound of your own thoughts? Walking down the dunes south of the campsite brings you into a completely untouched, wild environment (because obviously it isn't possible to build anything on, or near to the dunes) it is really quite spectacular.
This part of the country is also home to Portmeirion, a model village and exotic gardens designed by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis and built between 1925-1975, it was the setting for the 1960's television drama The prisoner, as well as scenes from other television programmes and films. The village is situated on an estuary of the river Dwyryd, and when the tide is low there is access the sands, which was the case whilst we were visiting. To understand how amazing this place is, you need to visit. We went in the afternoon, because after 3.30pm entry to the village is half price, however, I would happily pay full price to spend an entire day here. It is just such a quaint place, full of interesting buildings, monuments and curiosities and is set in such idyllic surroundings I don't think it is possible to not fall in love with the place.
Whilst staying at Shell Island we tried to visit Harlech castle, just down the road from Lanbedr. The first time we followed the brown tourist signs for the castle through the small, windy streets of the village and were directed down a very narrow road leading into the castle. There was a queue of traffic trying to exit the same road, so we gave up and drove on through and visited Porthmadog instead. The following day we ignored the signs directing us through the village and came from the other direction, up the road from the bottom of the hill towards the castle. At first I wondered why the tourist signs even directed the way they did, since this seemed a much better route to take, there was no other traffic! I soon learned why. The road from the bottom of the hill towards the castle is literally built into the castles ramparts, as we got onto the road there was a sign warning us that it was a 25% gradient. As well as the steepness of the hill, the road had about 4 bends in it, and at each one the car slowed down even more. By the top we were struggling along in first gear. If we had had to stop or if we had met another car coming the oppisite direction we probably would have had to roll back down the hill. I can honestly say it was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. After all that the castle car park was full, so we drove on and visited Criccieth castle instead.
Criccieth castle is a typical ruined castle, but still worth a visit. We ate chips on the beach in Criccieth and got an ice cream from the apparently world famous Cadwaladers ice cream parlour, and then proceeded home to Coventry, thus ending another enjoyable and successful camping trip.
Criccieth castle is a typical ruined castle, but still worth a visit. We ate chips on the beach in Criccieth and got an ice cream from the apparently world famous Cadwaladers ice cream parlour, and then proceeded home to Coventry, thus ending another enjoyable and successful camping trip.
