Holiday in Wales

We started our trip to Wales, sadly, by dropping off Cooper at his friend Barkmann's house.  After that, we hit the road towards Snowdonia.  The traffic got heavy going through Birmingham, then gradually lighter as the roads got gradually smaller.  The rolling hills we were used to turned to rising mountains in the distance.  As the sun set, we entered Northern Wales and the landscape turned to stunning colors as the Sun's rays bounced off the shear rock faces.  The names of the towns grew longer and harder to pronounce, as we neared our destination.  When the Sun was fully set, we pulled into the town of Llanberis, and found our hotel.  The staff was nice and welcomed us graciously.  After check-in and luggage drop-off, we hit the pub for some dinner, then retired early to get lots of sleep for the coming day.

We awoke to no rain, yet very moist air surrounding the hotel.  After a pleasant breakfast, we hit the road to drive to our first castle, Dolbadarn, maybe three minutes away by car.  The car park's pay meter was broken, so we rounded the corner of Free Parking and headed towards Boardwalk, woops, I mean the castle path!  

This castle was built before the great invasion of King Edward of England and belonged to a Welch Prince.  The walls were built using the indigenous rocks of the region, so it had a very dark appearance.  Only the tower remains, yet all around it were connected rooms, or houses which only have small bits of walls left behind.  The use of wood for the interior was extensive; we could see where the support beams went across the tower's diameter.  We really liked this castle because it seemed to hold the essence of Wales within its walls.  

We then continued towards the next city, following a very twisting, yet very fun road to drive.  When we entered the city of Caernarfon, there was construction in the town square, so we decided to park and walk the rest of the way to the city castle (turns out the Welch are more strict than the English when it comes to sidewalk parking, we got a ticket within the first 20 minutes).  This castle was AWESOME!!  Totally a smack in the face to the Welch during the time of its construction, however, now it is a major tourist attraction, and what better way to bury the hatchet with England than to make money off their tourists.  This castle used the classic Stormwind style construction with multiple layers of defense including a town wall that encircled the city, a mote around the main castle, and the Irish Sea to the east.  The castle was supplied by ships sailing from other English ports, however, no major battles were fought here.  This castle is now used ceremoniously by Welch Service Members and English Royalty.  This is where the Prince of Wales (next in line for the English throne) was "Princed.”

We stayed within the city walls for lunch, sampling some local Welsh sausage, then returned to our ticketed car and began a scenic drive through many of Snowdonia National Park's prettiest mountains and valleys.

The next castle's car park seemed to be public, however, to get to the castle Dolwyddelan, you had to go onto private property and follow a trail past their home and up a hill.  How would you feel if you were buying property and the sellers said, oh by the way, there's a castle in your back yard, enjoy!  I'm sure they charge for visitors during the busy season, but we seemed to get by with a smile and nod towards some fenced-in sheep.  It started drizzling on our walk up the hill, but we didn't mind because we had our rain jackets with us.  At the castle, we had to jimmy the door a bit to get in, but thankfully the trap door beneath wasn't activated, otherwise we may have been made sheep food (seriously, they had a trap door at the front entrance, so cool!).   Inside were some very informative displays that gave a history of the castle and the surrounding area.  Stairs led to the roof, which King Edward had raised during his rule, and we looked out for miles in all directions.  This castle also had a courtyard with connected buildings for various reasons.  

As we left the castle and started down the hill, we were greeted by some very creepy looking sheep approaching us quite rapidly.  They all had very sinister sheep smiles, but baaahhed at us in a friendly manner.  We thanked them for their hospitality and slowly backed away down the hill towards the car.

Next on our list was a waterfall hiking area.  We had a wonderful time hiking along a beautiful path, which lead to a bend in a river known as Fairy Glen.  The tricky part was getting down to the water.  Slippery rocks hindered our movement, but after some very careful steps in our new hiking boots, we reached the bank.  We spent a while enjoying the sights and sounds of the river, and took plenty of pictures, before making our way back to the trail and our car.

It was getting late and our tummies were rumbling for some food, so we returned to the hotel, changed and got some nice diner-style food in the local town. 

The next morning we slept in until we had to wake up for our continental breakfast, then went to a wool mill where they used the hydro power of a river to power the machinery needed to weave wool into all types of materials.  Turns out that wool is expensive, so we bought some drink coasters and dinner mats, and called it at that.  

We decided to only drive by and park near our next castle.  The cool part about this one was being able to drive through some of the castle walls.  The main road went so close to the castle that it reminded me of Bowser's Castle Track on Mario Kart 64, yet with less fire breathing Thwamps.  

We wanted to take the scenic way home, so we followed the northern coastline east back towards England.  The route looked very similar to the drive to LA from San Diego, along the 5 freeway; we even hit bad traffic like California, but it didn't last long.  Soon we were on our way for a leisurely drive back home.

We hope that next time we visit Wales, we'll be able to take some family or friends, maybe even Cooper.  We'll see.  One thing is for sure, when Tolkien was imagining Middle Earth, he was thinking of Wales, it shows.

~Blake

Wicken Fen

More hiking in the East Anglia!  Wicken Fen is north of Cambridge and part of the National Trust.  It is England's first nature reserve, established in 1899.  After taking a look around the visitor center, we started our three mile round-trip hike into the fens.  We followed the Wicken Lode for a while.  The Cambridgeshire Lodes are a network of man-made waterways believed to have been created by the Romans - perhaps to create navigation to certain village areas, or perhaps to drain the fens.

Further along the lode, we came upon two windpumps, one old and one new.  We learned that a windpump is used to control water levels in peat to allow agriculture.

After we turned away from the lode, we walked beside the natural fenland for a long ways.  We could hear many birds hiding in the grasses, but only a few allowed themselves to be seen.  I managed to photograph a couple of Greylag Geese and a Merlin Falcon.

The nature reserve uses highland cattle and konik ponies to naturally graze the fenland year-round.  We got to see both, but wished we could have gotten closer looks at them (they were on the other side of the lode).  Guess that means we'll be going back!

Cooper spent most of the hike rolling around in the swampy grass and running through mud, and came home smelling like a rotten fish.  It was worth it though... after a thorough bath, he played "dead dog" the rest of the night!

~Lindsay

Ouse Valley Way

Another hiking day!  It was a chilly, overcast March day, but we figured we could all use the exercise (especially Cooper!), so we layered up and headed to the Ouse Valley Way.  This is a walking trail that follows the Great River Ouse 150 miles across the English countryside.  The portion that passes through our neighboring town of Godmanchester can be accessed via the Chinese Bridge.

Once across the bridge, we enjoyed a nice view of the village from a park, while Cooper got hissed at by some more swans.

After passing some pretty houses, we had to cross over a river lock and a kissing gate to pass into Portholme Meadow.  This is England's largest lowland meadow, and we're told cattle graze here in the summer months (we'll have to go back to see that for ourselves). Cooper had never been in such a large open space before, and had fun running really far away from us, and then looking back to see if we were still visible.  

Looking forward to coming back here when the cows are out!

~Lindsay