Day two of spring break found us right across the street from our hostel at Swallow Falls, a little boardwalk area that offered lovely views of one of the area's most beautiful waterfalls.
It was pretty, but I was a little bummed out they charged £1 to look at it from a distance, unlike the other waterfalls in the area that you could go right up to for free, given that you could find them off some of the hiking trails.
After admiring the water for a while, we rode the bus into town and spent the day hiking back up towards the hostel via the numerous hiking trails that branched off from the road.
By far, the most impressive trail we hiked was one that led over the Miner's Bridge, a unique steeply inclined footbridge used by the lead miners of the 19th century. I didn't know this at the time though, until we later started stumbling upon "Danger Old Mine" signs, which you'll see further down.
I was mostly impressed by the waterfalls, and had an absolute blast climbing around on the rocks and boulders and tree stumps strewn in the rapids. Again, the scenery and environment was just totally awe-inspiring and completely breathtaking.
We hiked around for a couple hours, further up the mountain. The trails literally went on for miles and miles, but we stayed within the 2-4 mile range (wisely, I think) and still saw a ton of stuff. Just above is the warning sign had mentioned earlier. As soon as I saw it I wanted to go off and look for the mine, but my friend wouldn't let me... :(
So instead we had lunch at another nearby waterfall we found nearby, before tackling the lengthy trail back to the hostel.
Much to my delight, on our way back I noticed some old ruins at the foot of a hill off the road and immediately climbed down to investigate further. Victory! I found my mine! It was fenced off, but I was happy.
Across the river was a slightly stranger part of it, as you can see above. Below some old mining equipment, water was pouring out of the side of the mountain and appeared to have dyed the rocks brilliant orange. The best I can conclude is that this is from the lead and minerals that were drawn from the mine and are still continuing to spill out.
After taking a break back at the hostel, we went for an evening walk up the road in the other direction we hadn't been yet (thus far, we had only been going to and from the town -- I was curious as to what was around the other corner!). We found lots more sheep fields, distant snow-capped mountains, and more hiking trails.
We hiked down one of them and found these absolutely adorable sheep. They all had identical black spots over their eyes and noses, and had the deepest "voices" I've ever heard! A few of them also had this really funny way of getting down on their front knees to graze. They would kind of just get down there and scoot along on their knees with their faces in the grass. Perhaps I'm way too easily amused, but I almost died laughing when I first saw it.
Alas, our second and final day in Wales came to an end. I suppose it was just the right amount of time to explore Betws-y-Coed, but I wasn't ready to leave Wales. Something about that place was so incredibly magical, I wanted to see more. I found it all so serene and inspiring, and completely exhilarating all at once. I know for sure I'll be returning to Wales some day to see the rest of the country.
I'll try to post days 3 and 4 soon!
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