Barmouth on a Sunny Sunday

Barmouth is on the west coast of North Wales and lying between a mountain range and the sea on the mouth of the river Mawddach it is a beautiful location. Resting just within the south west corner of Snowdonia National Park it is seeped in a history rich with connections to the shipping and slate industries.

View across the Estuary from Toll Bridge.

On a sunny Sunday back in July, the 14th, to be exact I went to Barmouth with my sister and brother-in-law. It was the weekend of the Barmouth Paddle and Kite Festival so knowing in advance that it was going to be extremely busy and therefore very difficult to park, we decided to walk across the Toll Bridge that spans Barmouth Estuary and has spectacular views.

Views of Barmouth from the Toll Bridge.

There was a great deal of activity going on in Barmouth that day as the following photos will show. The Paddle Sports and Kite Festivals seemed to be very popular. I have included a link to the Rotary Club web page at the end of the post if you are interested in finding out more about this event.

Barmouth has many quaint and delightful corners to explore and this visit we mainly spent our time in the area around the harbour, then a walk along the promenade to see the kites, before cutting back through the town to return across the bridge. A town steeped in history I will certainly be back to explore further another time.

Harbour-side Sculpture by local sculptor Frank Cocksey

Ty Gwyn Museum

The first record of Barmouth as a small port on the Welsh Coast was in 1565 in a survey commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I. During the 18C and 19C it was a major shipbuilding centre within Wales.  The Ty Gwyn  now a museum was built in 1460 and contains many interesting artefacts, including those found in The Bronze Bell Wreck which was discovered by local sub-aqua club members just off the coast in the summer of 1978. It is thought the ship sunk whilst carrying a cargo of Carrara marble from Genoa. The sculpture shown above is carved from marble found in the wreckage and depicts three generations of fishermen hauling in their catch. Situated just behind the Ty Gwyn is Ty Crwn, The Round House which was built as a jail, one half for women, the other for men.

    Ty Crwn, The Round House Jail

The next group of photos were taken in the Harbour area, which was busy with people enjoying the sunshine.

Our stroll around Barmouth then took us along the promenade where Barmouth Kite Festival was taking place.

Video courtesy of YouTubedsr150

Heading away from the beach we cut back through the town where I took a few random shots as we headed back to the Toll Bridge.

I hope you have enjoyed sharing our stroll around Barmouth, a town well worth a visit if you ever visit Wales.

Please note that as I have included rather a lot of photos in this post, I have not posted the largest size. To view in a larger format, just click on any photo for a slide show to enjoy a better view.  The full album of photos I took that day can be viewed on my Flickr Account in the Album entitled  Barmouth on a Sunny Sunday

With thanks to the following links for information contained in this post.

Barmouth Wales    Welcome to Barmouth   Paddle Wales  The Bronze Bell Wreck  Barmouth Kite Festival

All photos are my own taken in July 2013. 

  All rights reserved by LindyLouMac Photo Collection 

The full set of photos may also be viewed individually in my album entitled  

  Barmouth on a Sunny Sunday at  My Flickr account.

Barmouth Mawddach Estuary and The George III Hotel, Penmaenpool, Wales

Our final outing on this particular stay in Wales was to the Barmouth Mawddach Estuary where the mountains meet the sea, along the wooded banks and sandy shores. It is in the south west corner of the  Snowdonia National Park,


Barmouth is perched on the side of a mountain with beautiful views of the harbour and Barmouth Bridge which spans the river mouth. There was a bitterly cold wind blowing that day in January but we took a short walk along part of the Railway Walk to the toll bridge across the river mouth.
The Railway Walk - Barmouth to Dolgellau

After our walk we went to  The George III Hotel in Penmaenpool, Dolgellau for lunch, a lovely location with beautiful views over the estuary.   The main hotel was built around 1650 and was once two separate buildings. One half was a pub and the other half a ships chandlers serving the local boat building industry. In 1890 the buildings were joined to make the place into a hotel.  Until 1964 the hotel was adjacent to a railway station, but sadly it was a victim of the Beecham Railway Cuts The hotel was extended in 1977 when the Victorian Railway Station Waiting Room, Ticket Office and Station Masters Quarters were obtained and extended to form bedrooms for the hotel.  

Our lunch was excellent as the hotel prides itself in using the highest quality locally sourced fresh ingredients and the interior surroundings were a cosy respite from the cold weather.

This is another area we would very much like to return to next time we are visiting my sister.


My mosaics and photos will enlarge if you click on them, however if you would prefer to view the photos individually, you may do so in My Flickr.com album entitled. Travel Tales - Barmouth Mawddach Estuary


For further information I direct you to the sources I used myself, The Railway Walk - Barmouth to Dolgellau , Barmouth Snowdonia National Park,  The Mawddach Estuary, The George III Hotel  Beeching Railway Cuts.