Wales

Wales – I haven’t been here for more than 20 years; and I wouldn’t have gone this time either if the Japanese embassy hadn’t taken my passport off me forcing me to stay in the UK! Still, I’m quite glad they did now, because we had a good time.

July 4th we (my friend Nik and I) set off at about 10AM for Snowdonia in the North of Wales. Snowdonia is the national park surrounding Mt. Snowdon. The idea was to start in the North and travel South staying in B&B accommodation. The first place we stayed was Tyddyn Du Farm, set up on the moors and hills about a few minutes from the nearest town by car. They owners were really friendly who run the B&B and the farm; a huge place with sheep and cows. I’d just got my new digital camera ready for Japan so the first afternoon we just went walking on the farm to try that out – I’m really pleased with the improved Macro photo function as I love taking close up pictures of small details; flowers and insects mostly. So I took a lot of those – here is a selection from the whole holiday. (38 pics)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014642&id=1122485897&l=8348be91ff

We stayed at Tyddyn Du Farm for 6 nights and mixed classic sightseeing with action fun. So on one side we took trips on the Welsh small gauge steam trains, visited ruined castles and small coastal towns - and on the other side tried out the local hiking, kayaking and white water rafting.

Here you can see the Farm building and it’s grounds – lots of typical Welsh landscapes made up of hills, streams and rolling grassy fields covered in sheep. We hiked to the top of the hills behind the farm where there’s a memorial to plane that crashed there during exercises around WW2 – and we got quite lost in very muddy, swampy fields on the way back down – fun, fun, fun! (20 pics)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014648&id=1122485897&l=2efe67120a

Here are a few pictures of the river Dee valley, which we travelled down by steam train to Llangollen, and the castle ruins that look down on the valley. (21 pics)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014644&id=1122485897&l=77a68009cf

One of the most interesting places we visited in North Wales was Port Merion – famous for two reasons. Firstly, it was all designed and built by one architect so it has really unique feel to it and a very singular vision; odd angles, shapes and bright colours. Secondly, it was used as the main location for the filming of the fantastic 1960s TV series ‘The Prisoner’; a cult classic, quite surreal, 13 part series about authority, identity and freedom (highly recommended!). What I didn’t know was that it also has really nice grounds and gardens surrounding it. The gulf stream hits this part of the Welsh coast raising the temperature and making it possible for more tropical plants to grow – so there are huge ferns and moss covered ancient trees from the subtropics, so it’s all very Jurassic park and you kind of expect a little dinosaur to run across the path at any moment. There’s even a dog’s graveyard hidden away in the woods. (47 pics)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014645&id=1122485897&l=2687e37e59

Another interesting place we visited was Conwy – home to the smallest house in the UK (which I remember visiting as a young boy, but it didn’t seem so small then). The town also has the remains of a big medieval castle and a very well preserved Elizabethan house. (31 pics)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014643&id=1122485897&l=7e25a5b410

But I know this is what you really want to see – pictures of me nearly drowning at the white water rafting centre – and the pictures where you can’t even see the boat for water that’s not trick photography, the boat was underwater  We did three runs down a length of river with class 2 and 3 rapids, crashing into rocks several times and getting soaked. Luckily that’s my idea of a good time. These pictures were taken by a very nice girl working at the centre; unfortunately I didn’t find anybody to take Kayaking photos  So there’s just the one next to the lake. (13 pics)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014652&id=1122485897&l=e09f452da8

And that is about it for North Wales and the Snowdonia bit of our Welsh odyssey – next time Part 2: Going South ...