Wales
First stop – Cardiff!
We took the train from London Paddington to Cardiff Central – quite an adventure! Unfortunately, someone apparently jumped in front of a train that morning so there were major delays and cancellations on the train line! We ended up able to get on a train that was supposed to leave before ours and got to Cardiff only a little over an hour late – luckily we were booked on an afternoon train so we weren’t as affected as people on the morning trains! Another wonderful thing about the train line was that apparently if you are just 15 minutes late to your destination you are entitled to a partial refund of your ticket! Since we were over an hour late we get 100% of our train tickets refunded! Wow – can you imagine if the airlines offered that?!?!
Finally got out today to explore Cardiff after settling into our new home for the next 2 weeks. First stop – Cardiff Castle! On our way we walked through Bute Park – lovely and very large park! Will explore some more on another day. The castle and grounds were very interesting. The inside is very ornate. We climbed the steps of the keep and the view from the top was worth it! We wandered through a bunch of streets downtown, very empty early in the day but the foot traffic picked up mid-day. We had lunch at one of the MANY outdoor eateries, then walked some more. We ended up at The City Parish of St. John the Baptist – very old and very beautiful parish.
Still enjoying time in Cardiff but also doing day trips around the area. Took a boat ride down to Cardiff Bay and walked around. Saw the famous Pierhead Building and also the Enormous Crocodile – Roald Dahl. Was a beautiful day for a walk and a lunch on the water! Walked around the downtown area of Cardiff & had drinks & oysters in the Royal Arcade (basically a cute indoor shopping area in downtown Cardiff)
Took a day trip to St. Fagans National Museum of History where we got to see some of St. Fagans Castle (under repair so couldn’t get a good pic!) and the beautiful gardens surrounding it. There were a lot of outdoor buildings set up to show life in Wales – a bit corny but still fun.
Next, we took a day trip to Swansea & Mumbles. Very cute towns, Mumbles is a beach town, fortunately for us it is past high season so not overly crowded but a perfect day for lunch on the water!
Today was my favorite in Wales so far – we went to Caerphilly to see Caerphilly Castle – most beautiful one yet! It’s second in size only to Windsor Castle in all of the UK! There is also a tower that they say leans even further than the leaning tower of Pisa! What a beautiful setting as well!
More scenes from Cardiff with a side trip to Castell Coch or the red castle, also known as the fairy-tale castle – the pics show why!
Day trip to Bath
Yes, I know Bath is in England but I’m leaving it here under Wales since we are still staying here! What a beautiful town! So much fun and well worth the train ride! Even though once again there were issues on the railway with a gas leak in London… Oh well back to claiming a delay refund!
Hiking Day! Made our way to the Gower Peninsula for a hiking day with sweeping views of the Bristol Channel.
Final Day in Cardiff was a chill day, went to the food festival they were having in town, stopped at a local brewery and had the famous Welsh roast for lunch! Yum!
We are now in Tenby, a beautiful coastal town. Staying at a great VRBO overlooking the Tenby Harbor & the Bristol Channel. Had a great dinner at Twelve Tenby a great tapas & wine bar! Explored the town yesterday including the medieval town walls, north & south beach and Tenby Harbor. Everywhere you look there is a cute street!
Today we went for another hike along the Pembrokeshire Coast Path from Tenby to Saundersfoot. Lots of great scenery along the way!
Another beautiful and busy day in Tenby! We started out at the ruins of the Tenby Castle and the historical museum. Then it was such a nice day we were able to go out on a boat to cruise around Caldey Island, St. Margaret’s Island and St. Catherine’s Island. Unfortunately, Caldey Island was closed for the season but at least we got some good views! Once we got back, we were very happy to see that they had opened St. Catherine’s Island to visit. You can only get on the island during low tide! What an interesting and historical place to visit. It was a fort, lots of history and then it was a zoo for a bit and now a Welsh family has purchased it to fix it up, not sure for what purpose yet but one of the family was there to talk to us!
On Friday we decided to get out of Tenby and visit Pembroke castle – very impressive! Also, a pretty cute town! Interesting side note – Wales has the most castles per square mile than any other country!
Saturday, we decided to take another walk on the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path – this time the other way to Penally. What beautiful views! We walked through the WWI practice trenches where they still practice today! Luckily not while we were hiking!
And now we have said goodbye to Tenby. On to Western – Northern Wales!
Today we took a train to Carmarthen to pick up a car! We are now driving through western & then northern Wales. Today we went first to St. Davids Cathedral – SO Impressive, the pictures do it no justice! After exploring a bit and having lunch in St. Davids we drove to see the Blue Lagoon (also part of the Pembrokeshire coastal path). This time of year it’s closed to visitors for the seal mating season but we were able to get some pics from above! Wasn’t going to cliff dive anyway!
Stayed in the IvyBridge guesthouse in Goodwick near Fishguard for the night. Had a pub dinner in Fishguard. Next morning went to Strumble Head Lighthouse. Very picturesque!
We drove along the coast until Aberystwyth when we headed into Devil’s Bridge for the night. We stayed at the Hafod Hotel which was amazing. Along the way we stopped to see Ceibwr Beach but there were so many scenic places along the way!
On Wednesday we hiked to Devil’s Bridge Falls before we set out on our drive north.
After seeing the falls, we drove through Elan Valley to see the reservoirs. Because of the drought this summer Wales had there wasn’t much spillage on the reservoirs but still beautiful!
After the dams we went to Gigrin Farm to see the Red Kites! They are birds of prey that were reduced to a single surviving breeding pair in Wales but conservation efforts have brought them back – they were spectacular to watch feeding!
We stayed the next 2 nights at the Royal Ship in Dolgellau a super cute town and the Royal Ship was a great place to stay – right above a cozy pub where the people were super nice! We walked the Precipice walk – beautiful although there were a few narrow paths!!
On Friday we made our way to our final stop in Wales! Betws-y-Coed! We hope to explore this village today, looked so cute when we drove in last night! On the drive there we stopped at a few places including a reservoir and then went through a slate mining area – in a town called Blaenau Ffestiniog. What a contrast in the scenery after seeing so much green!
Well, we got settled into our house for the week in Betws-y-Coed. Had fun checking out the town and doing a beautiful circular hike to Llyn Elsi (Lake Elsi). The place we are staying has laminated topographical maps with very detailed directions – so we only got lost once!
Today we took a ride to what I can only say was the weirdest place we have been to date! A place called Portmeirion, a village designed apparently in an Italian style. It felt a lot like a Disney type village that was made for tourists. I wouldn’t recommend wasting time. We did end up walking around a bit and there was some good scenery but really a waste of time. Fortunately, we started our day at Tu Hwnt I’r Bont Tearooms which was not only incredibly cute but had great flat whites & scones with clotted cream and jam! After we finished with Portmeirion we headed to Caernarfon to have lunch and then we decided to visit Castell Caernarfon. What an incredible castle with a lot of history. This is the birthplace of the first English Prince of Wales and also where the investiture of the current King Charles III of England (then Prince Charles) was held in 1969.
Our last couple of days in Wales! We had the best hike through the mountains and saw one last castle! Our hike was a loop from Llyn Dinas thru the mountains along the Aberglaslyn Pass and up to Beddgelert then back to Llyn Dinas – such great scenery!
And then our final day of sight-seeing in Wales – one last castle! Castell Conwy! Beautiful castle with 4 river crossings to get to the castle – 3 of which you can see. The Chain suspension bridge was built in 1826, the Tubular was added in 1848 – the first ever in the world! The single arch bridge was added in 1958 to handle the increased traffic and then apparently there is an immersed Tube added in 1991 sunk into the riverbed! We also looked around in Conwy a bit, saw the smallest house in Great Britain – apparently at one time a family of 6 lived there! Then we went to Plas Mawr – Robert Wynn’s home. Apparently the finest surviving Elizabethan town house anywhere in Britain!
Well, that is it for Wales! Next up Northern England so check back under the England link in the next day or so!
