Welsh Gems

It's day three of our long Welsh Weekend, which should have been four days, but isn't.

Peter had some urgent stuff to sort out workwise, the weather forecast is poor, and we have to get home tonight, so we abandoned the planned short walk for a tourist day, starting with the first little gem, the lovely town of Beddgellert.

I left Peter working, and went off to see Gelert's Grave, something I'd wanted to visit since I'd seen it on the Walkersforum.

Walking through the town, I was delighted to see this.  So much better than a billboard or a neon sign.

And these fantastic carvings are outside Beddgelert Woodcraft, a brilliant shop capable of prising money out of anyone's purse, including mine.

It's just a short walk to Gelert's Grave:

A poignant story.  Beddgelert means "Gelert's Grave", so that's how the town got its name.

















But it wasn't really the grave itself that I wanted to see.  It was this:

The bronze sculpture has been placed in the remains of this old building. You don't see it until you get to the doorway. 

I loved it. Look how his back and head have been polished by all those hands touching it.

Peter did get to join me as I walked around.  It's warm, and the hills and mountains are steaming in the rain. 

Don't the rhoddendrons look wonderful.  Unfortunately, they are considered an invasive species, as they crowd out all other plantlife.  The various environmental agencies are having to bring the plant under check.  Still looks pretty though. 

So after our potter around Beddgelert, we drove off to have a look at Harlech Castle.  You know how we like castles............

An impressive place, nearly as good as Caernarfon Castle. (Which we must go back to).

With three to four hour drive ahead of us, it was time to start thinking about going home.  Luckily we went the wrong way (my directions), and got to see Swallow Falls.

It's £1.50 to get in, and it uses one of those automated gates that you get in loos and the tube station.  You have to have the right change, but we thought it was worth it.

Brilliant.

So that was the end of that weekend.  Next weekend, Peter has a workshop in Grasmere, I'm tagging along so I can go for a walk or two in the Lakes. I'm really looking forward to it.

A long Welsh Weekend - Conwy Castle

So here we are, on a lovely campsite in Wales. Our surroundings are beautiful, the campsite is really pleasant, and I could smell onions frying whilst Peter cooked the dinner. It sounds just like our holiday to Skye dunnit? There is one MASSIVE difference though.  Whilst we had sunshine nearly all the way in Skye, here, it's absolutely chucking it down. There are bucket loads of water coming out of the sky, putting the dampers (literally) on everything, especially at the campsite. The people in tents are probably the most more fed up with the wet stuff, but all of us are wishing it would clear off.

If the weather had been better, we'd have been here a day earlier to be honest, but the weatherman said it was gonna chuck it down, and it did. So, although we were gonna be here for four days, we've cut it down to three, and today, Sunday, is day one.

So today, knowing that the clouds were gonna spend all day emptying themselves on our heads, we decided to drive down from Yorkshire in the morning and spend a few hours in Conwy in the afternoon. I'd seen some pictures of Conwy Castle on the Walkersforum, and after spending a little time on the Tripadvisor site, I thought it looked like a lovely place to visit.

And it is. Here are the pictures.

We started with a visit to Conwy Castle.  I have to admit idea of visiting Conwy was prompted by a Walkersforum member who wrote about the walls.

I'd come up with a list of things to do in the town, researched through Trip Advisor - Things to do in Conwy, and walking the Castle walls was on that list. 

Sadly, we never got to walk the walls, cos it rained too much.

But the castle was brilliant, although I have to say getting up and down the stairs in those towers is telling on the legs.  Worth it for the views though.

Looking North West from the castle, over the River Conwy as it joins the sea.  

A South East view

The estuary again, 

Looking over to Conwy Town. 

Me n Peter love an old ruin.  And Conwy Castle is a good 'un.  As usual we were in our element. We got a good view of the Suspension Bridge too.

Just as we finished our tour and left the castle,  it started to rain. Showers at first, but enough to send us scuttling first into shops and then into the tents of a craft and food fair down on the quay.  Mmmmmm Mmmmmm.  May I recommend lamb hot dogs..........  Absolutely delicious.

The trouble with shops, and food and craft fairs is that they empty the purse!  But I did spend it all on presents.  Honest!

We took a walk along the quay

Visited The Smallest House in Britain

And then went to have a look at Aberconwy House, a National Trust property.  I'll be honest, we only went in to get out of the rain, but it was a fantastic old building.  The loft space was amazing. 

And then it stopped raining and started absolutely chucking it down, so we made for the campervan.  Next stop our campsite in Beddgelert and back to the beginning of this blog post and pity for the campers in tents. 

Tomorrow the rain is supposed to stop, and we should have a good day for a walk.  We've got a big one planned (big for us that is).  Keep yer fingers crossed we get some sunshine. 

LLechwedd Slate Mines

After a strenuous weekend, we had a lie in before leaving the Travelodge to head home.  We'd decided to make a visit to something touristy on the way, and I remembered a Slate Mine that I'd visited previously:-  LLechwedd Slate Caverns I'd thoroughly enjoyed my previous visit, taking both the Deep Mine and Tramway tours.  It's quite an education..  We complain about work now, but Oh My!, what a life those people had.

Some of my pictures (although the ones on the website are much better):

I've been meaning to buy slate table mats for a long time.  I now have a prized set.

Caernarfon

Caernafon Castle Front Gate

The date to start our long weekend in Wales had finally arrived.  So we started by not rushing, and after leisurely preparations and a steady 4 hour drive we arrived at the Travelodge in Caernarfon around 3 pm.  Despite drowsiness from the journey, we were keen to get out and look round.  Our hotel was just off Victoria Dock and overlooks the Menai Straits.  We were just yards away from the walled town and Caernarfon Castle, so guess where we went?

Sadly, we didn't actually get to the castle until just gone 4, which didn't give us enough time to look round.  We were just about the last ones to leave, but the guy in the ticket booth couldn't have been more helpful.  He started by taking pictures of me and Peter (as you do), and then, when he found out that we hadn't had enough time to look round, provided us with a "re-admit" ticket so that we could go back,.  Wonderful Welsh service.

View from a tower

After a quick change, we were back out for our evening meal in the nearby Cantonese and afterwards a short stroll around the little harbour to enjoy the beautiful sunset.  A glorious start to our weekend break.