Bit of rain last night and this morning. We’ll have to stop gloating about the sunny weather. Walked out along the half mile Llandudno pier this morning. The big UK piers all seem to have amusement arcades and sideshow kiosks taking up much of the pier deck. It must be difficult to eek out a living running these activities, particularly on days like today. These buildings ruin a perfectly good pier but, I suppose, without them, there would be very little money for maintenance. Many of the piers are privately owned.
We visited Penrhyn Castle, just outside Bangor. Not sure why it is called a castle (does look like one), because it was not built for fortifications but as a private home. The owners, before National Trust (yes, again), were very wealthy, having made their fortune from slate extraction. There is so much carved stone inside that took many stonemasons many years to complete and includes intricate arches along wide passages and impressive stair cases. There are over 300 rooms, fortunately only a small percentage were open.
A visit to Conwy was a must, this bridge nut had to see Telford’s suspension bridge, built between 1822 and 1826. By today’s standards it is a small bridge, but when built, was a great feat of engineering. Conwy is a medieval town and the walls (and castle) were built in the late 1200s.
We also visited Aberconwy house, a medieval Merchant’s house, completed about 1300 with the top story added in the 1400s.
A detour through Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch was necessary, just to see the name. It is often referred to as Llanfair PG.
We’ve settled in to the “Tafarn-y-Rhos” for the night. it is only about 20 mins from the Port of Holyhead, from which we catch the ferry to Dublin, as foot passengers, for 24 hours. We’ll return to the “Tafarn-y-Rhos” for Friday night and hopefully will leave most of our luggage here, we only want to take a change of clothes & toiletries with us and don’t want to leave stuff in the car at the ferry terminal
Wow, Penrhyn Castle looks magnificant.
ReplyDeleteTelford’s suspension bridge - so good to see things in real life that you have seen on TV.
Not at home now to look at our photos but I think Conwy had a great castle ruin overlooking the railway station that was built to look old. We were there on a weekend and didn't see inside Aberconwy house but did see inside a beautiful old building further up the hill towards the railway line - a multi-story building being restored with fabulous history (can't remember the name of it!).
How do you pronounce the full name of Llanfair PG? I told you I need to brush up on my Welsh!
I trust you enjoyed Ireland (by the time you read this) - we must go back there.