We had a lighter breakfast this morning. 1 egg, 1 sausage, 1 rasher of bacon and beans. Along with our standard coffee and juice. We plan to have a castle day. Our very big car has built in NAV so we start with the South Stack Lighthouse. The road here is just as narrow as the Irish roads. The only difference is this car is much much bigger than our little Micra 🙁 A bit nerve wracking!!
The sun is shining brightly this morning. Apparently there was quite a severe storm a bit farther south last night. Lots of damage we hear.
For now Stu is happy with the light for his photos. He takes a lot as it is so much more satisfying than photographying things in flat dull light.
There is a geocache nearby so after walking down to the tower we hike back up to the parking lot and along the road. I am looking on one side of the road, Stu, who just puts up with this activity, is hanging around the other side of the road, when he spots the cache!! Ha ha. He gives me a hard time about my geocaching skills! 🙂
We plug in Caernarfon Castle into our car’s NAV system and wiggle our way through the narrow lanes back into Holyhead and south off of Holy Island towards Castle #1.
The NAV system takes us through the very narrow gate in the walled city and up past the castle where we find a parking lot (5 GBP for the duration). As we walk up to the castle the wind and rain begin. We wander around a bit to check out where we should stop for some lunch after we visit the castle. It is a very nice interesting town. We spot a place that has a soup and half sandwich deal on. Make note of it as we head to the Castle.
We pay the “Special” rate for seniors which is 5.60 GBP each. Full fare is 8.95, so a pretty good savings for us! We chat with the cashier about the wind and rain and she says that “you blow our people away when they are in your country”!! We are quick to point out that we are not associated with Irma at all. Not us!! Them!! We get our tickets and the map of the castle. We start with a short film on the history of it’s inception. Lots of warring going on for centuries. Edward the 1st began building this castle in 1283. He moved in and had a son also named Edward. The called him Edward of Caernarfon. They have a history going back to the 4th century. Welsh, English, Welsh, English, Vikings! Everyone wanted this hunk of rock!. The sun does peak out from time to time as we wander around the grounds, up and down the narrow steep spiral staircases. We do have some good shots.
We leave the castle and head to the little cafe for our lunch. We sit close to the door, which turns out to be a very draughty spot. Everytime the door opens we feel the chilly wind. I order the soup and Stu orders the soup and half sandwich, tomato and cheese. The dishes arrive and Stu’s sandwich is a couple of slices of tomato and shredded cheese!! I look at that and see that this is going to be very interesting!! Sure enough. Shortly there is cheese spilling out everywhere. I can’t help but laugh. 🙂
OK, we decide to move on to Castle #2. Our B&B hostess recommended this castle to us. We set the NAV and off we go. The roads are larger and is more like freeway driving, so it is pretty easy compared to the tiny lanes and streets of Holyhead. We encounter very little traffic on our way into Conwy. After we drive through the city wall we find that we are not alone! Very busy bustling little town. We guess that everyone just arrived before we did. We get through the tight city looking for a parking lot. We see a “P”, but are not clear on how to get to it. We go out of the town and use the first traffic circle to make a uturn. We find some street parking and decide to grab it and walk to the castle.
We learn that Edward the 1st was responsible for building this castle as well as Beaumaris Castle. So 3 castles for this English King in Wales. From what we read, this one was the only one that was actually completed and lived in. It is in a stunning location along the river. The castle was walled as well as the town surrounding it.
After we explore this castle we head back to the car. We cross over this pedestrian suspension bridge to our FREE street parking.
We plug our B&B into the NAV and head back to pick up our rental contract before we return the car. We stop, Stu runs in grabs it, and we are back down to the port to drop it off. We enter the terminal and go to the Hertz desk. It is closed!! OK, there is a key drop box. We drop the keys, all done! We booked train tickets online and need to pick them up. After we drop the car keys, I dig in my bag for my phone with the train confirmation email. hmmmmm no phone!!! I remember that it was in the little tray in front of the stick shift in the car. We panic a bit, we have dropped the key in the slot!! Oh no. There is a number to call at the Hertz desk. Without a phone we need to navigate the pay phone near by, picking out 60 pence from the collection of coins Stu has. I’m sure that this calamity has happened before as the fellow that ansered the phone just said “No problem, give me a few minutes and I will be right over” SAVIOUR!!! Within 10 minutes he arrives, hands us back the key and we now have my phone. Pheww! Disaster averted.
We head across a very cool pedestrian overpass headed back to our B&B. Along the way we come to the pub that we had dinner in last night and decided that we deserve a pint!! So we do. 🙂
For dinner tonight we walk to the west along the coast to a place near the marina called Langdon’s. We have a couple of starters, plus what they call cheesy garlic bread. That turns out to be basically a small cheese pizza. Again way too much food. We head out to walk home and the wind is howling. I have on my knitted hat from Peru and we walk very very fast.
A few other interesting shots 🙂
Long train ride tomorrow. About 6 hours. Heading to Bristol and the south.