Our long weekend began at 18:30 on Friday evening when Shaun and I were loaded into a mini van along with 14 other strangers for a trip up to North Wales. The driver (Dave) attempted to ease the awkwardness of usual introductions by asking us to chat to the person next to us and then introduce our new acquaintance to the rest of the group. Although it felt slightly like a primary school ploy, it did break the ice and we discovered that we would be sharing our weekend with 6 Aussies, 1 Kiwi, 2 Poles, 2 Malaysians and 1 Chinese. The long journey ended at 1:00am when we arrived at our hostel and all disappeared to bed.
Saturday morning after breakfast we were loaded back into the van and our first stop was Bedgellert – or “Gellert’s Grave” in English. The story goes that Prince Llewellyn went out hunting and left his infant son with Gellert (his trusty dog) – apparently an acceptable form of child care back then – anyway, on the Prince’s return to the house, Gellert came bounding up to him looking happy with life, complete with blood stained mouth and paws. The prince saw that his son’s crib had been overturned and without thinking he plunged his sword into Gellert’s side. A moment later he heard the child’s whimpering and discovered his son was perfectly fine, lying next to the crib and nearby lay the body of a ferocious looking wolf. The prince was filled with dread as he realized what he had done. He built a little shrine for Gellert including a statue of his best friend and legend has it he never spoke again (perhaps a little bit overboard?). From there we went to a picturesque little town called Betws-y-Coed. A river runs through the middle of the town and a forested area stretches along the one side. It made for some beautiful pics.
Next on the itinerary was Conwy - a medieval style walled town on the coast. Conwy Castle is the main attraction (although we didn’t go inside). The smallest house in Britain can also be found here. After a bit of lunch we drove to some semi secluded spot and went on a 30 minute “nature walk” to find a beautiful waterfall at the end – and some sheep. We then had a quick stop over in the longest place name in the world “Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch” which is located on the island of Anglesey – try say that after a couple of pints! The town decided to change the name a while back in order to increase tourism to the island...which is quite understandable because there’s nothing else to do in Llanfairpwllg (as the locals know it).
After a long day of sightseeing we were treated to a “barbecue” at the hostel. I was pretty impressed with the spread of food that was laid out for us and we filled up before going to the local pub in Tremadoc. Here we experienced the delights of local culture - we were served at the bar by a dodgy looking bird in leather pants, crop top, short spiky hair with pink fringe. Her colleague was a scary looking elderly lady who refused to serve you if she was on her 5 minute ciggie break – cool!
Day 2 began in Caernarfon where their castle of the same name dominates the town. The Prince of Wales was inaugurated here many years ago and pictures of the young Charlie and his Mummy adorn the walls in one of the rooms. The castle itself is quite impressive and we had fun exploring the many nooks and crannies and Shaun especially loved climbing to the top of one of the towers and leaning over the edge!! From Caernafron were driven to the highlight of the weekend – the ascent of Mount Snowden (the highest peak in England and Wales). We arrived at the starting point as a rather scraggly looking bunch of non-hikers. I felt a tweak of apprehension as we were passed at the beginning of the trail by a gaggle of hikers with boots, waterproofs, hiking sticks (or whatever they’re called) and maps tied round their necks – perhaps we were taking this a bit lightly? Anyway – we soldiered on and there were some exceptionally steep bits where we had to clamber over rocks and work those quads to the max. My legs haven’t been punished that much since our last skiing trip. The only slightly disappointing thing was that it seemed that every man and his dog were spending their bank holiday weekend on the path to the top of the mountain and at points you had to queue to pass thorugh narrow bits of the trail. The scenery was beautiful however and luckily the rain held off. Unfortunately 3 quarters of the way up we were surrounded by a thick cloud of fog so couldn’t see the view from the top. The top of the mountain was white and very windy – score! The way down was just as tough as the way up – my knees and hips were aching by the end. Luckily the fog cleared and we were able to enjoy the views on the way down. By the end we had to run down the steep bits because it was just easier than walking (?). All in all it took us just under 4 hours up and down and we celebrated our achievement with a couple of pints at the hotel pub nearby.
The final day began with sharp stabbing pain in my calves as I creaked out of bed. Ooh I was stiff! First on the agenda was a short train trip on the Ffestiniog steam railway which was fun but short. The town of Portmeirion was next – what a strange place. It’s a little “town” that was built using various architectural styles but it simply contains shops, cafes and hotels and is right on the sea and offers lovely nature walks in the forest surrounding it. It is a very pretty place but it felt quite contrived – it just didn’t feel like it belonged in the middle of Wales (you have to pay an entrance fee to get in which makes it feel somewhat like a theme park!). From the make believe town of Portmeirion we drove to Black Sands beach (the sand was not black). It was very windy but we managed to get a few games in which unfortunately involved running – my aching pins were not enjoying another day of exertion. That was our last stop before our long – 6 hour – drive home. It was an enjoyable weekend in which we covered a fair amount of North Wales and met some interesting and some not so interesting people. I would definitely recommend a visit to Wales to take in the beautiful scenery.
Robyn
Windsor castle is certainly one of the better castle's I've ever seen. For starters, it really is pleasing on the eye, the brick/stone work and arched wooden window frames really seem to compliment each other. It's been restored unbelievably well, or someone cleans it fairly regularly because it just looks so clean! It's also classic looking, exactly what you would expect (in a good way) to see from a Castle, elegant turrets and fortified stone walls skirt the perimeter. Coupled with the well manicured lawns (the gardens within suggest that Alan Titchmarsh may be a close friend of the Queen), and it's strategic location atop a hill; it really makes a strong statement. Maybe it was the perfect weather, I'm not sure. It did however, seem smaller than I was imagining. It really didn't take long to do the tour and if you do do the tour (most of you probably have been there) I would recommend (thanks Dave!) the 'ear-piece' commentary for some background information. It also helps to know what you're looking at and some times what to look-out for!
