DAY 24

Wednesday June 15^th 2016                                                    

Conwy to Caernarvon (via Anglesey)                                Miles 125

I ended up today just 20 miles further down the coast, however I drove 125 miles.  I also visited two more of Edward I’s castles and the town with the longest name in Britain.

 

Conwy Castle

I had a late start this morning (10.00am) from my B&B.  This was mainly because of my back, which I tweaked yesterday putting my suitcase into the trunk of the car.  I had hoped to walk the walls of Conwy and visit the castle, but I decided not to do it as I thought it might aggravate it further.  However I did find that I was OK sitting down so felt that I could drive.  I was stiff getting in and out of the car, but by early afternoon (and some ibuprofen) it felt a lot better and I was able to visit another great castle.  I had also hoped to have been able to take a photo of the Thomas Telford suspension bridge that used to be the main bridge into Conwy.  This is now pedestrians only and there is both a road bridge and a rail bridge; the latter having been built by Robert Stephenson, he of the lighthouse fame. In building this bridge he invented the box girder construction method that was used for many years in building the bridges on the motorways of Britain.

The weather was sunny when I left my nice B&B and stayed with me all day.  My objective was a circuit of the island of Anglesey and then on into mainland North Wales.  There are actually three bridges across to Anglesey so it does not feel like it is an island.  Samantha took me through the old town of Conwy and out via a gateway in the city wall and it was here that I saw the only chalet park for Conwy.  Out of the town and out of sight of the castle.

 

Penmaenmawr Mountain and ex Quarry Workings

As I neared the seaside town of Penmaenmawr the sea looked remarkably blue.  Above the town was a mountain that had clearly been quarried and there were chutes or roads of some sort that channeled the stone down to special gantries, that I at first thought was a pier and then onto trains.  Though quarrying is no longer very active, the whole top of the mountain and an ancient Neolithic fort have all been removed over years.  The town is now bypassed, but in building this a fine Georgian Esplanade was removed.  Because of the bypass the town is quiet and is still a holiday destination.  

I went back onto the bypass and then through a very smart tunnel, emerging the other side of the mountain by Llanfairfechen.  It is also quiet, thanks to the bypass, with nice coloured properties fronting the sea on the Promenade.  On leaving the Promenade to take the road back to the bypass I passed through a short tunnel with a clearance of only 6 feet.  Assuming that this was higher than the car (but not completely confident) I drove through slowly, but no doubt had good clearance.

The double “Ll” in Welsh is enunciated as “Cl”, so Llanfairfechan is pronounced something like “Clan fair feck un”.  It is not quite said as “clan”, but to make the sound you have to hollow your tongue and push the “clan” to the back and roof of your mouth.

The bypass then took me towards Anglesey and I crossed the Brittania Bridge onto the island.  Just over the bridge is the small town with the longest name of any place in Britain.  

The map shows it as Llanfair PG, but its full name, as written on the station sign board is:

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.  Go on I dare you to try and say it.  I’ll buy you a drink next time I see you if you can say it correctly!  The English translation doesn’t really help very much either.  If you can’t say it in Welsh you can always ask for a train ticket for the same place in English.  Then you would need to ask for a ticket to: “The church of Mary in the hollow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tysilio by the red cave”.  Might be easier to learn to say it in Welsh.  There is not much to distinguish this place from anywhere else, but I’m sure people go there just because of the name. 

Menai Strait Bridge 

Having visited Llanfair PG, I turned around and made for Beaumaris.  This was a beautiful short drive and gave an excellent view of the Menai Bridge, which is the bridge I will cross to leave Anglesey.  You also get a good view across the strait to Bangor with its nice looking pier.  There used to be a chain ferry at this point, prior to the bridge being built.  

Ines Gored Goch Island with fish trap

You also have a good view of Ines Gored Goch island in the middle of the Strait.  The word Gored means a stone fish trap and was used to catch fish who would swim in but be left high and dry when the tide went out.

Beaumaris is a pretty little seaside town, which is built around the (now) ruined Beaumaris Castle.  This castle, like Conwy Castle, was built by Edward I.  Indeed he built 4 massive castles to keep the Welsh in check.  The third one at Caernarvon is not too far from Conwy and Beaumaris and the fourth is about 30 miles further south at Harlech.  All four have UNESCO World Heritage status.  Beaumaris town has a small pier that seems to serve only the lifeboat station, pretty painted houses and lots of sailboats at anchor in the harbout

 

Beaumaris Castle and moat

Beaumaris Castle seems much smaller than Conwy, but at one time it was a mighty fortress with 12 towers on its outer walls and 6 on its inner wall.  It was started in 1295 but not fully completed until 1330. It had a dock to the ocean and a moat around three quarters of it, which is still evident today along with the large gatehouse.  It was the last of Edward’s castles to be built.  I contemplated going in, but then two groups of schoolchildren, with around 40 in each group, arrived and so I decided to give it a miss and just take photos from outside.  I thought, if time permitted, that I would later try and visit Caernarvon Castle, which is the most complete of the four.

Once again I found that the town toilets required a 20p coin to enter.  One can no longer say that you are going to “spend a penny”.  It does not sound quite the same to say you are going to “spend twenty pence”.  I saw one elderly gentleman looking quite distressed as he did not have 20p, and neither did I so I could not assist him.  He was hoping that someone was inside and he could go in when they came out.  I think for coach parties or groups, you can all get in for the price of one person as each holds the door open in turn.  I do understand a Council that says it costs them money to keep the toilets clean, but they also want visitors to visit their town and spend money there.  Some of this tourist money goes to the Council through business taxes and can be used to maintain the toilets.  If they want people to come and spend money in their town, then I think they should recognise that they need to be “hospitable” to their guests and provide basic facilities.  They will anyway still need to employ someone to keep the toilets clean whether people pay to go in or not.

I continued on around the island passing through Amlwch and then Cemeas with its large power station (and on-land wind farm) near by.  My destination was Holyhead the man ferry port to Ireland.  As you enter Holyhead there is a turn off to the ferry, but keeping on to the town centre takes you to the large railway station from where numerous trains are ready to distribute passengers right across the UK.

 

Holyhead Looking Toward Ferries

I drove out to the Esplanade and had a snack in the car. I decided to throw away some ham that I had purchased two days before, but had been sitting in the car and put this in the nearby garbage bin.  I also thought about throwing away some bread rolls, purchased only yesterday.  I didn’t really want to waste good food and decided to give at least one of the rolls to a gull standing looking hungry by the car.  Big mistake.  As soon as I threw some bread towards him others swooped in and a big gull fight broke out.  In order to not allow further damage to be inflicted I stopped.  As I prepared to leave I saw a youngish man, who looked decidedly as if he was living on the street, put his hand into the garbage bin and take out my discarded ham and proceeded to eat it.  I couldn’t stop him, however, as he was obviously hungry I gave him my bag of bread rolls.  Rather him than the gulls.

 

Touch & Goes at RAF Valley

I then continued on my round the island drive and headed for the village of Rhosneigr.  This has the most fantastic beach and also an excellent view of the RAF Advanced Flying School at Valley where two jets were carrying out “touch and goes”.  It was here that Prince William was based as a helicopter pilot and carried out search and rescue operations on nearby Snowdonia.  He, Kate and baby George lived somewhere nearby while he was stationed at Valley.

Anglesey is very much a farming island and I saw little more of the sea as I headed back to the Menai Bridge.  I then followed the Menai Strait south west to Caernarvon.  As my back was feeling better I decided that I should take time to visit at least one of Edward’s castles so I parked up and went into the Castle.  

Carnarvon Castle

The walls and towers of the Castle are still in good order though some areas of the castle inside, such as the Great Hall, are no longer there.  The castle and the city walls were completed in 1330, but after the English Civil War the castle was allowed to decay and it was not until 1870 that the state decided to begin some repairs.  In 1911 it was used as the site for the investiture of the Prince of Wales and in 1969 the Queen used Caernarvon Castle to also invest Prince Charles as the current Prince of Wales.

Caernarvon Castle

The castle has some very steep and very worn steps up the main towers.  I went up three of them but I must say I felt very nervous descending them.  There is just a rope but nothing especially firm to hang onto.  At the end of my visit my back was sore once again so I decided to find a B&B and stay in Caernarvon for the night.

My B&B is not as good as last night, even though it costs slightly more. It is clean, which is fine, but it is one of those places that have lots of notices as to “dos and don’t’s” for guests, which I find irritating.

Tomorrow I head further along the coast, firstly to the Lleyn peninsula, where I once holidayed a number of years ago and then on to Harlech (the site of the last of Edward’s great castles).  One day after this I expect to be joined by Bob, a friend from Wargrave.  He is Welsh and promises to show me the “hot spots” of west and south wales.