Continued house hunting

After the initial burst, it was time to hunt some more! I had been pondering things for days. Is it good to have a small house? It would force me to declutter! And I've been trying to master that art for years. This could be what I need. And the Llanberis house is so cute! But what about the parking? And what would happen to the chapel? Although I think you wouldn't get planning permission to do something drastic in such a touristic and historic location. And what about commuting? Is it better to bike to work and then have no time for other exercise? Or better to drive to work and then exercise in a more varied way? But if driving to work, what if parking gets even harder? And even if I fit in, buying a small house is the cue for all attractive single men to come out of the woodwork, and fitting two people in would be nigh impossible. But one should not adjust one's life to what might happen but what is. If something happens one can deal with it then! Etcetera etcetera.

I decided I should also have a look at houses that are reachable via the old railway, which is now a cycling route. On Friday I went to see a house in Rachub. I finally biked the route to Bethesda. I hadn't before! I only know the start of the path due to the Bangor 10k. And that bit looks nice! I have run the stretch after Bethesda, to Ogwen Cottage. That's nice too!

I took 1.5 hours to get there. Even so, I didn't stop for pictures. I figured that if that route would become my commute, I would have opportunity for that anyway! But nice it surely is.

I got to the junction where I would head up the hill to Rachub rather than continue the bicycle path into Bethesda in about an hour from the office. Not bad! But not something you want to do every day either. And now I still had to bike up the hill. That's only a few minutes but they may matter after a working day.

I got to the address but I didn't see the entrance. It didn't look like I hoped it would! I had mistaken the garden side of the house (on the pictures) for the street side. I was wrong! And I couldn't check on Streetview as the Google car hadn't done that street. A neighbour came out of his house and said there was an alleyway to the entrance. I had a look! Everything looked like it went into other people's private gardens. Oh well, the estate agent would know.

The street in which I viewed a house; notice my bike leaning against it in the mid distance

I was a bit early and I went up the hill to look at another property I had seen advertised. It didn't quite float my boat! If it's not better than the Llanberis house there's little point in having a look. And this one was more expensive, and much too big for me. So that one was off.

I walked back and met the estate agent. He showed me around; we went through what had looked like someone else's territory. And the house was nice, and it even had an ancient bike shed, but it was in the middle of a (narrow and not very pretty) street and didn't quite have the same magic feel as the Llanberis place. The house mainly looked at pebble-dashed houses, and the garden looked towards Anglesey. And would I really bike to work a lot? Quite often I'm knackered at the end of the day. Better maybe live somewhere further, and drive, and get your outdoor kicks from a coffee in the garden on days you have no time to get it otherwise!

I biked back along a more direct route. This one was also pretty! And in this direction also quite fast. It looked a bit of an effort in the other direction. But in half an hour I was in Bangor, and in 45 minutes I was back at the office. So logistically this could work on nice days!

Although I didn't like this place I was glad I had explored the route. I should do the same with Llanberis, although it's less urgent. I wouldn't bike from there very often.And I've phones the estate agent with some questions. I'm getting serious!