White Water Rafting in North Wales!

This past weekend my cousin Matt and I decided to do something a little different than the usual site seeing touristy things that are usually done when someone comes to visit. Matt is here for 5 weeks from the States so we decided to go and check out Wales. It took about 3 hours to get to our destination of Bala which is a small town in northern Wales. Upon our arrival we set out to find a place to crash for the night. The first B&B said we could share a double bed in a room if we wanted or we could go and see her friend down the road where we could probably stay. hmmmm ok I think I will try somewhere else.

We tried a few other B&B's without any luck before we found something rather promising called the Goat hotel. It also acted as a bar and as we walked in everyone was speaking in Welsh. As soon as we got inside the place went rather silent and heads turned our way and just starred. "Ok....never mind" we thought and left out the front door to continue the search. the next place we found was perfect. One room, 2 twin beds, and a full breakfast in the morning.

Now that we had found a place to stay we went back to the car and drove through the national park of Snowdonia on route to a town called Port Meirion. This is the town that the 60's TV show "The Prisoner" was filmed at and by having British parents I have been forced to watch a episode or two in my lifetime. However most of you will at least know it from the Simpsons where they are stuck on the island, steal a boat, and get chased by a giant bubble.



Once we got back to Bala we decided that we needed to find something fun to do in the town. Lucky for us they have a movie theatre and proceeded to make our way down there to check out what our choices where and what times they were showing them. After checking the sign we quickly realised that we had the choice of one movie at 7:30 and that was it. Welcome to a small town in Northern Wales. We watched the movie Pirates of the Caribbean 3 in what I am convinced is a old school gym with fold out chairs. It was pretty funny nonetheless and we have been making jokes about it ever since. After the movie it was time to take Matt (who just 18) into a pub for a few drinks before calling it a night.

The following morning we had our full cooked breakfast before the 20min drive to the white water rafting lodge. After a quick lesson we were on the water getting soaked and thrown about. It was an amazing 2 runs down the river and a great experience. I could just keep writing about all the rapids and waves but I think the pictures will speak for themselves.





And of course the classic jumping shots!!!