Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Camping

Our UK Camping forum has all the information you need on finding the right equipment for your tent or caravan.

Original poster

Camping at Bala Lake

40 replies

notwavingjustironing · 03/05/2011 11:39

I'm sure lots of you lovely people will have camped in or around Bala (well not literally in Grin) - can anyone recommend a particularly good site? I've got two adventurous small boys 7 and 5, we're not hikers or anything but I'm looking for somewhere they can run around and not be glared at by Eastenders watching caravanners, whilst appreciating a bit of lovely scenery.

I've been looking at Pen y Bont Touring park so would particularly appreciate any comments anyone might have.

OP posts:
HattiFattner · 03/05/2011 11:52

we went there last year. Nice site, good facilities and nice for youngsters. Acess to lake is controlled by lake warden types who want to charge you a fortune for access. But if you want to canoe/swim in the on-site river, you can for free :D

The site was quiet midweek, but over the weekend it was heaving with loud drunken revellers until 4am - seems their quiet after 11 policy not enforced. Very annoying when you have young kids with you.

Overall though, I liked it - its in a gorgeous setting. Midges are a pest at dusk, so take some citronella

IHateBadGrammar · 03/05/2011 16:34

Ooh will follow this thread - we want a site there too! For the weekend though, so unsure about that one (drunken revellers not my thing!! Grin

Slubberdegullion · 03/05/2011 18:03

hiya notwaving

We stayed at Glanllyn campsite on lake Bala last August for a week.

It was fine. Bit big and caravany for us but the site was pretty good. Toilets and showers were always clean, shop stocked the basics, good views etc.

I think my whole impression of Bala has been destroyed altered by two overriding memories. Firstly the weather which was frankly beyond shit. We wore fleeces and wellies all fucking week and visited the council pool three times in order to dry out and get warm...buy hey I bet it is GORGEOUS when the sun shines (Bala and environs of, not the council pool).

Secondly: constipation. Jesus Wept the food in Bala is BAD. Really really bad. I was so pissed off with the weather dh suggested that we eat out every lunch. By day four I'd had enough. Two words: REFINED CARBS. There is one establishment there that was so freakishly odd and dark and full of stuffed dead animals that the dds dared not even speak.

Pack prunes and lactulose if you plan on eating out in Bala.

Original poster
notwavingjustironing · 04/05/2011 10:22

Hi Slubber - I've looked at the website and it does appear to be lovely (and I trust your judgement when it comes to toilets and showers Grin).

On balance then, do you think that it was the weather/stuffed animals that was the dealbreaker?

If you could guarantee your own good weather vibes, could you be persuaded to go again? Or have you been scarred forever?

I'm doing another week by the sea at the end of August, but I wanted to do two or three nights at the beginning of August and drag DH against his will have a family camping trip. This could be the decider as to him ever coming with us again - no pressure then......

OP posts:
Slubberdegullion · 04/05/2011 12:20

ooh blimey. Pressure's on Bala then.

No it was lovely, the scenery is fantastic and the lake is very um, big and lakey. If you are watersportsy or outdoors walking folk then it is a campers paradise. The weather is what put a dampener [arf] on it.

We will deffo go back (only an hour and a bit for us to get to) although next time I think we will try the C&CC site, not because there was anything wrong with Glaynlln, but just because I like trying out new sites (and need to get my money's worth from my C&CC membership).

I will endevour to push out some good weather vibes for you when you go Grin

Original poster
notwavingjustironing · 04/05/2011 12:33

I didn't realise how near it was to us either, we normally go to North Wales, but I don't think you're very far from me..

No, I'm going to bite the bullet - it's the same price for me and the DS's whether DH comes or not and you can't predict the weather.

What's the worst that can happen....?

(Don't answer that)

OP posts:
Slubberdegullion · 04/05/2011 14:08

LOL

Indeed you cannot predict the weather, and where would we all be if we never ventured out with the tent for fear of getting wet?

The little steam railway up the side of the lake is nice (and fills in half a day if it is tipping it down).

Slubberdegullion · 04/05/2011 14:09

You know the 'fact' about the water of the Dee running through the lake don't you?

Original poster
notwavingjustironing · 04/05/2011 14:13

no, what?

OP posts:
JemimaMop · 04/05/2011 14:15

We have stayed at Glanllyn twice and love it.

The first time was when the National Eisteddfod was in Bala so all general wierdness of the place was hidden by bunting and impromtu singing. It was August though and we were bitten to death my midges. The site was heaving then but still stayed clean and tidy and there was enough room for the kids to explore. There were definitely a lot more tents than caravans.

The second time was on a "normal" visit and TBH I know what you mean about Bala being a little odd, and I come from rural Wales myself! The lake is still beautiful though.

It always rains in Wales. Its why we have webbed feet Grin

Slubberdegullion · 04/05/2011 14:24

OK, here is the fact (that patently cannot be a fact). You need to keep it under wraps until you, en famille, are gathered at a suitable point, looking at the lake in wonderment.

here it is...

They say that the waters of the river Dee do not mix with the water of lake Bala as they pass through it. Now the they can be read as the Welsh or the English, neither wanting their precious water tainted by the other.

It's not a great fact but it might come in handy as a low point.

lol Jemima about Bala being a little odd Grin

Slubberdegullion · 04/05/2011 14:27

Oh look, here is a proper fact

It (Lake Bala) also contains the very rare mollusc Myxas glutinosa - the glutinous snail.

nice

Original poster
notwavingjustironing · 04/05/2011 14:29

In summary then,

Pros:-

  1. stuffed animals
  2. midges
  3. unspecified "weirdness"
  4. the water in that there lake

What's not to like?

Thanks Jemima, and Hatti (further up the thread!)

And Slubber, goes without saying

OP posts:
Original poster
notwavingjustironing · 04/05/2011 14:29
  1. and snails
OP posts:
JemimaMop · 04/05/2011 14:42

Interesting, I've never heard that about the Dee.

All I ever heard was about the evil English flooding Treweryn and the villagers homes so that they could steal our lovely Welsh water to give Scousers a bath. Or something along those lines.

Makes for a lovely lake though

JemimaMop · 04/05/2011 14:46

This is the view that I woke up to in Bala. So its not all bad by a long stretch!

suwoo · 04/05/2011 14:48

I shagged met a lovely boy in Bala when I was 15 and on a school trip. Does that help? No? Oh.

Slubberdegullion · 04/05/2011 15:03

yy notwaving that is a good summary, although you forgot the steam train which is properly good and not at all weird.

Jemima I heard that too, but not about the drownded villagers' homes Sad. On a brighter note that is a mighty fine view you had there and a PERFECT position in which to state the fact that is not a fact.

Original poster
notwavingjustironing · 04/05/2011 15:19

Oi Suwoo - don't go - we were talking about you the other day!

Have you put your pissed in by cats tent up yet this year?

Do you need any help?

Remembers thread fondly....

OP posts:
suwoo · 04/05/2011 15:47

I'm here! Who was talking about me? That thread was hilarious. But I did it! Did I tell you what happened when we actually went camping? Grin

Original poster
notwavingjustironing · 04/05/2011 15:58

I was asking who we had helped - it was a very funny thread.
Do tell the actual camping story .....

I left it where it was tea time, it was up (wonkily) on your lawn, near the decking (?) but you didn't really have the room to do it justice......

OP posts:
thisisyesterday · 04/05/2011 16:04

ooh we camped at Bala when I was a child and I loved it

I did fall in a few times too

Slubberdegullion · 04/05/2011 16:08

linky to cat piss in tent pliz

suwoo · 04/05/2011 16:58

Its not that funny reading it back. here. Weren't they all good to me though, bless 'em.

Slubberdegullion · 04/05/2011 17:11

but OMG su they just deserted you at the end. It was a marvellous thread, everyone was so supportive and helpful with cake and everything and then... [tumbleweed]

Did you get it flush with the ground and the cats/cat pee out?

notwaving I can't believe you just deserted the thread like that, it's the camping topic equivalent of leaving someone on Everest.

[best very disappointed emoticon]