19c Mostly Cloudy
Barmouth Viaduct at Sunset 
Llanberis from Penllyn 
Morfa Bychan beach near Porthmadog 
THE man in the Wales T-shirt doesn't even raise his head from the Daily Post he's perusing to see who's intruding on his territory as I share his table totally uninvited.
He just spreads his paper further, protecting his terrain as he sups intermittently from his pint of lager.
But it is a huge wooden table capable of accommodating at least eight, a specimen that wouldn't look out of place in a Bavarian bierkeller, complete with oompah band in lederhosen at its head.
I'm told however that the Cottage Loaf can be anything but the oompah band aficionado's favourite watering hole on weekend evenings, pulsating to modern music regurgitated at ear splitting levels.
But this lunchtime it's quiet enough, as I sip tentatively at my pint of Conwy Brewery's
Castle Bitter, having chosen it over local rival Great Orme Brewery's Orme's Best cask ale for no particular reason.
It's comfortingly docile in flavour, and keeps a foamy head to the last dreg.
The silence today is broken only by the murmur of diners' voices and the sharp crackling emanating from the low-slung inglenook fireplace, still insufficient to startle the pair of stone lions lazing either side.
This is a popular stopping off place with the lunchtime crowd, being right in the centre of town.
An ever changing menu today includes a Welsh beef dinner (£6.95), tagliatelle carbonara (£7.95) or a chicken and mayonnaise ciabatta (£5.50).
Having been a pub only since 1981 - it was converted from an old bakery - the place nonetheless exudes an age-old atmosphere, as if it had been welcoming imbibers for centuries.
Set over two levels, the wooden floored top part is more modern in its approach, while down the short flight of steps it's darker and more subdued.
This has a more traditional olde worlde feel to it, being set over a stone flagged floor, with a fine Welsh dresser in one corner.
The whole ceiling is held in place by an impressive array of timberwork.
It's said that much of that timberwork came from the mast and ribbing of the shipwrecked vessel Flying Foam.
Some say it ran aground in 1936, while it could also be the vessel of the same name which sank with the loss of five lives off the County Down coast in 1884 while it was making its way from Liverpool to Quebec.
Be that as it may, regulars will tell you the ship's captain - although he survived the disaster, obviously not believing in the adage about going down with your vessel - has taken to haunting the bar area at the Loaf.
And especially so when the drink is in full flow!
Quite rightfully boasting that it's a village inn in the heart of town, the Cottage Loaf has the added attraction of a sunny south-facing beer terrace to the front and a more extensive area to the rear, complete with a wooden gazebo-style shelter for incurable nicotine addicts.
