DRUID’S ISLE

Sunday was a bit of a throw away day. We drove back to Conwy from Manchester in time to attend services at 11:00am at St. Mary’s and All Saints Church. It’s an Anglican Church, so it was just enough like a Catholic Mass to be a bit confusing. Add to that parts of the service were in Welsh. I was able to follow along for most of it. The people were very friendly and it was very cool being an a church that has been actively serving its community since the 1200’s. The rest of the day was spent doing laundry and cleaning up the townhouse in preparation of leaving on Wednesday. We did manage to try out the Bakewell Tart. So good!

Monday was going to be a castle and drive day. The plan was to visit Castell Caernarfon (pronounced car-narvon), Castell Beaumaris, and take a drive through Anglesey Island, also know as Ynys Môn. As was the case throughout our trip, the weather cooperated.

We began in Caernarfon. Anglesey is separated from Wales by the Menai Strait. Caernarfon is on the Wales side, on the south end of the Menai Strait. The drive to Caernarfon was fairly quick, and the road came out on the town square, right in front of the castle. It was a splendid sight!

We were there right as the castle opened, but it was not part of the plan to go inside the castle. We had a lot of miles to cover. We did walk around the castle, and I took some time to mess around in the nearby tidal flat. Robin had another fall, this one after stepping off of a curb she didn’t know was there. She was OK, and I stared at the curb, daring it to try it again. After a few moments, I felt we were good to go, as the curb did not seem intent of repeating its attack.

We stopped at a nearby pharmacy to pick up some cold medicine, and had an interesting shat with the pharmacist. He was a young man who was very interested in the states, once he realized that’s where we were from. His questions centered over which states had constitutional carry. He said he wanted to be able to carry a gun. Vastly different from the guy on the Snowden Mountain Railway train who thought we needed to do away with the Second Amendment. I guess, in his mind, we all go around wearing guns. I tend to conceal carry, so I am definitely not one to judge…

From the town square we went a half mile to Segontium, a Roman Fort. The fort’s foundations were the only thing left from a fort that dated back before the birth of Jesus. There was a very powerful sense of age as we walked around. I could hear the sounds of the garrison as I walked around. I don’t speak Roman, so I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but…

In the photo above, there was litter in the storeroom. Some idgit visiting an ancient site decided the best place for the trash was in the ancient site itself. Even the Welsh have Those People. Robin gets greatly irritated when people litter. She began voicing her irritation to me. The clouds darkened, the grass around her began wilting, and for once I wasn’t the object of her wrath. Yet, I still found myself smelling vanilla. Since that wasn’t fun, I climbed down into the ancient storage area and policed up the litter. Instantly, the sun came back out, the grass perked up, and little birds and butterflies began flying around Robin, landing on her and immediately taking flight again. It was a startling site. However she smiled at me through the swirling fauna, and it made it all worth it. Robin has a million-dollar smile.

From there, we drove to Bangor and crossed the Menai Strait over the Menai Suspension Bridge.

After crossing the bridge, we drove to Beaumaris, home of Castell Beaumaris. We actually stopped to use the public restrooms, and decided to give this castle a look. It was the fourth castle of the four Edwardian Castles that formed a World Heritage Site. It was an unfinished castle, but still impressive.

From Beaumaris, Robin and I drove around the edge of the Druid’s Isle. Much of the island has been declared an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty by the British government. We could see why. It was beautiful! Rolling hills, sea views, cliffs, gorgeous green grass, the requisite sheep, although there seemed to be more cattle farms than sheep farms. We traveled the coast to Amlwch, on the north coast. There, we turned left and cut across the island to get to Holy Head on the west coast, as time was slipping away.

Just to the west of Holy Head is another Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, South Stack. There is a light house there, as well as cliffs that contained thousands of sea birds. We drove up to the visitor’s center. Robin was not going to chance the paths on the grounds, so I set out to take a look.

The lights house was on a small island away from the cliffs. It makes for a captivating photograph, so of course I took a few pictures. Nearby was a structure called Ellie’s Tower. It was a haven for bird watchers and ornithologists, who were looking at the sea birds and talking about bird things. I left them to their devices, and took a walk through my first moors. The area was extremely beautiful. I wished I could smell the sea, but you could hear the waves against the cliffs, the cries of the birds, and the sound of the wind.

It was a place I wished we could have stayed longer, but the day was drawing to a close. My path had taken me down a bit from the visitor’s center. I began walking up toward Robin. We drove back to Conwy.

The night before, the Northern Lights made a rare appearance all throughout Wales. Robin and I went to a beach to see if there would be a repeat. The sun set, and we waited to see if the Northern Lights would appear. It seemed to take forever for the light to go away. After a bit, Robin surmised that what were were seeing wasn’t the fading light from the sun, but the southern end of the Northern Lights. While not as prominent a display as the night before, It was my first view of this celestial display.

It was a good end to a great day.