North Wales

The next morning dawned a bit cloudy, but after a hearty English Breakfast we were ready for our tour through the North of Wales. As we had such problems to find accomodation the night before, we decided to stay at the farm another night and that was definitely a wise decission. But before we went into Snowdonia National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri), we went back to Machynlleth to book a B&B for the following night further south. It did not too long and we knew we had somewhere to stay the next day: College Guest House in Haverfort West.

Unfortunately it started to rain quite soon and it was really ghastly outside. We therefore decided to stop in Corris at King Arthur's Labyrinth where you can take an underground boat ride through the great waterfall and the spectacular caverns and a labyrinth of tunnels. There was also the Corris Craft Centre to visit. Sad enough it seemed that many other people had the same idea on this rainy Sunday morning and the next tour we could have taken would have been in 3 hours time and therefore we decided to skip the boat ride and to visit only the Craft centre. That was really a pitty but it couldn't be helped! We made our way to central Snowdownia and stopped every now and then at the little mountain villages with its gorgeous scenery (even in the rain it looked gorgeous!).

Along the Afon (river) Conwy we headed north to have our first real stop at the town Conwy itself. Conwy Castle, conceived and created in just four years by Edward I, is one of the most outstanding achievements of medieval military architecture. Soaring on a rock above the walled town, its battlements offered a breathtaking view of the Snowdonian mountains and the sea. The city is still surrounded by a complete city wall with 12 towers. It had stopped raining and we enjoyed to take a walk on the city wall and have a close look at the castle, even though we did not really go in. The view was just great and it was finally the first time we had a good look at the Irish Sea.

The weather improved by the minute and finally the sun came out - and as soon as the sun came out it got quite warm. We took the road along the coast and headed to Caernafon which hosts one of the most famous castles in Wales. It was also build by Edward I, not only as a military stronghold but also as a seat of government and a royal palace. It had become quite late by then and so we did not stay long, but took a walk down to the harbour where the castle is.

We would have loved to take the Snowdonian Railway up to Mount Snowdon, but as the day had already gone so quickly, we decided to skip that and make our way further south. Unfortunately it started to rain heavily again when we were close to mount Snowdon and in the end we never really saw it because the clouds were so low.

Our last stop for the day was Harlech Castle which keeps a watchful eye over Snowdonia with truly panoramic views from its lofty battlements of sea and mountains. We did not dare to go up as a new rain storm was threatening and it also started to get dark. So we had to satisfy ourselves with a look at the castle from the coast road.

This second day was packed with cultur through and through and we were looking forward to go south to the Pembroke Shire Coast National Park the next day, because we all love the seaside.