After many cold and rainy visits to Barmouth and Dolgellau, where the mountains of Snowdonia meet the west coast of North Wales, I've been rewarded with rather fine weather on my more recent trips. Last week's staycation was no exception, and it was warm and sunny — often simultaneously — for most of my short trip to join my parents at a cottage overlooking the Mawddach estuary.

We haven't even made it to the next junction of the M40 before my parents and I realise that driving from Oxford to North Wales on the first Friday of the school holidays may not have been the best idea. The journey takes over five hours, but the last part, at least, is lovely as we wind west from Welshpool through the rolling hills and lush green fields towards the coast at Barmouth.

It's been another busy year of travel for me, with 11 overseas trips to seven different countries, three of them for the first time (Poland, Hungary and Peru). I've been back to Toulouse, Amsterdam and Berlin, which have all been on my return-visit list for many years. I also visited Kraków; Austin, TX; and Budapest for the first time, completing the Inca Trail during my stay in the latter. And, of course, I managed a few visits to New York, Washington DC and Cannes.

"You could make a fortune if you found a way of extracting the gold," our skipper John confides. We are travelling by RIB from the Welsh seaside resort of Barmouth up into the Mawddach Estuary. Despite the 19th century mining boom, some gold still remains, deep in the seams. Nuggets are occasionally discovered in the eight-mile estuary, and Clogau gold has been used for various royal wedding rings.

I last visited Wales two years ago, sharing some of my family's history with the county of Gwynedd in north-western Wales. Many of our family holidays in my youth were spent in and around Barmouth and Dolgellau, hiking, exploring and — usually — getting wet. 

It's time again for my annual series of year-in-review top-five lists. As always, I'm starting with my top five leaps of the year, which, I find, is a good way of looking back on some of my travels and other adventures. 2015 hasn't been a particularly strong year for leaps: for various reasons (mainly weather-related), I didn't manage to take any on my European trips to Brussels, Lisbon, Copenhagen and Cannes. Here are a few favourites from some of my other adventures:

When I was younger, we used to go on family holidays to the west coast of North Wales two or three times per year. As teenager, I resented being taken to the middle of nowhere to hike in the rain and wander through sleepy villages, where there weren't enough shops or boys. It was only when we went back for a family getaway last weekend that I realised I hadn't been in over 15 years. Barmouth hasn't changed much, but I have and we had a lovely time.