Friday 8^th August                               WANFAUR  -  CAERNARFON -  BEDDGELERT

Robyn writes:  We’ve had a lovely day today! After yesterday’s quiet day, today we have certainly seen a lot of northern Wales. Just an aside: we’ve finally found out how to pronounce the name of the small village we’re staying in – it’s wine-fower! Welsh names are incredibly difficult, but the conductor on our train explained that they are actually very logical, once you know the letter combinations (unlike English.)

I had the best sleep in this morning; it was 8 o’clock when I staggered downstairs. Lex had been up for ages, though, so he very kindly went off for a walk and left me in peace to wake up properly, have breakfast (and chat to Sandy, then Cait and Danny.) By the time he got back, I was dressed and organised, so we decided to go for a drive into Caernarfon to see the castle there.

It only took about quarter of an hour to drive into the castle, and we easily found a park (it was only quarter to ten, so very few tourists around.) We ran into a problem with the stupid parking though – it’s the bane of our life in this country. You don’t start paying for parking until ten, but the machines won’t work until then. So you either hang around and wait for ten, or go off and come back. Lex said he’d wait nearby while I went and took photos.

                                                    Gate to the city walls

We were parked right near the City Gate walls – Caernarfon actually has the castle plus a nearby walled town area with lots of shops and places to eat as well, which is very impressive. I spotted a café, where we arranged to meet once Lex was able to sort the parking, and I went through the town area and down to the harbour to see the castle.

                                                        Caernarfon Castle from the car park

                               Statue of David Lloyd George, Wales's most famous politician

It’s an incredible piece of building – Edward I ordered it to be built in the 1300s along with Harlech and Conwy Castles to show those pesky Welshmen that the English were in charge. It certainly sent a strong message. It’s a huge castle, and photos just don’t do it justice. Right on the estuary, it’s in a very strong strategic position. I wandered around and admired it, then went to meet Lex for morning tea (after the usual number of things not working, he’d finally sorted an hour’s parking.) We sat outside at Betty’s and enjoyed the morning. We both had Welsh cakes (my favourite) which were delicious. Afterwards, we had time to go for a walk right around the castle and take a lot of photos! It’s a simply delightful area, and we were lucky that the tourists were only just starting to arrive in droves as we were leaving.

                                                       Welsh cakes - yum!

                                                              Morning tea at Betty's

                                     Castle from the swing bridge in the harbour

We were back home by about twenty past eleven, which was good timing for us to get ready for our next excursion: the steam train trip. I changed into a cooler top, as the day was warming up (though we still took jackets; no need to be reckless!) and we walked to the railway station, about half a kilometre down the road.

                                                 The Afon Gwyrfai, at the bottom of our hill

The train arrived just a little late at about ten past twelve, and we started for Beddgelert, about an hour’s travel. It was just lovely to ride along up high; we saw a lot more than from the road. We passed Snowdon again, and the cloud pretty much lifted as we went by so we could see the top. Lex had his binoculars, and you could see the crowds on top through them. (In summer, it’s usually a half hour’s wait in a big queue up there to go and stand on the summit!) We travelled on through some extremely impressive mountains and past lakes and valleys, all very green. Near Beddgelert we went through quite a bit of forested area too. We arrived there just after one, and were told to be back for the return journey which would leave at 2.30.

                                              The never ending fascination of Snowdon

                                                    Llyn Cwellyn

Beddgelert is such a pretty little town, nestled into the mountains around it and on a river with a very picturesque old stone bridge. It’s named after the hound, Gelert, of Welsh legend, and literally means ‘Gelert’s grave’. The story is, for those who don’t know it, that Prince Llewellyn had been out hunting, when he returned to find his baby son’s room upturned and in chaos. His faithful hound, Gelert, bounded up to greet him, covered in blood. The stupid hot-headed Welshman assumed Gelert had killed the baby, so drew his sword and killed the poor dog. Of course then, he heard crying under a blanket – there was his son, unharmed, and there was a dead wolf, killed by the noble hound. Llewellyn, of course, was devastated with grief and guilt and never smiled again, so the story goes. Fortunately, the consensus of opinion seems to be that the story is just a myth, and the cairn that is Gelert’s ‘grave’ is only about 200 years old. Which I’m glad about, because I’ve always thought it was a horrible story!

At any rate, Beddgelert is a lovely place to visit. We found lunch in the Tanronnen Inn, then had about twenty minutes to have a bit of a wander around. The Afon Colwyn and Afon Glaslyn (rivers) meet in the town, so it is very picturesque. There were some great little shops to visit; we wished we had more time. We never did get to see Gelert’s (supposed) grave, as we ran out of time and had to head back to the train.

                                                        Lunch at the Tanronnen Inn

                                                 Meeting of the waters

Our return journey left at 2.30. There were quite heavy clouds around, and I really thought it might rain, but we were lucky – not a drop. As we passed Snowdon, a helicopter flew over it. The snack trolley happened to be passing by, so Lex asked the lady about it, and she said it was the rescue helicopter. Apparently it’s out a lot during the summer months when people are sure they can handle the going up there, and then discover they can’t! We enjoyed the trip back and were back at our station by 3.20. The conductor popped by and waited with us, so we had a nice chat to him. He said the line is run by almost entirely volunteers, which is wonderful. They had envelopes there for donations, so we gave them all our Euros!

                                                             Goodbye train!

Since then, Lex has had a nap, I’ve dried a final load of washing, repacked, and sorted photos. Tea was quite delicious – pork steaks with Tesco’s pre-prepared red cabbage, apple and redcurrants, cauliflower cheese and roast potatoes. Yum! We are great fans of the pre-prepared meals, especially the vegetables, as you often can’t buy just one carrot, zucchini etc in some shops. While we were having tea, we heard the helicopter go out again, so obviously someone else has come to grief. Tomorrow is yet another travel day – we are off to Pembroke. Lots more Welsh scenery to come!