Trevor picked us up at 9:00. I had connected with Trevor through a fly fishing friend at home who is also Welsh. Trevor and I were lined up to fly fish the River Dee the next day. Trevor had offered to spend a day showing us the countryside and we accepted.
Karen and I are not ones who try to go everywhere and see everything. We are not the folks who, on a forum, ask “On the day that I drive across Wales will I be able to visit these four castles and see these two gardens? I need catch my plane at 7:00 pm.) My original plan was to see some of the West Coast and Snowdonia. As it happened we also visited the East side of the Island of Anglesey. Which is where Trevor took us first.
As we crossed the Menai Straight on the Britannia Bridge we could see a very handsome suspension bridge. We stopped at a lookout point the Anglesey side of the straight and Trevor told us that it was the Menai Suspension Bridge and it was completed in 1826 and designed by Thomas Telford (Colossus of Roads!). This was the same Thomas Telford who supervised the construction of the canal we had just done. The bridge has been in continuous use since it completed. In the 20th century the wrought iron chains were replaced by steel chains, but the bridge was not closed in the process.
We proceeded down the road to the town of Beaumaris. One of Edwards great castles is in Beaumaris, but we visited it another day. This day we walked along the strand and the pier and looked at the sailboats. The local sailing organization was launching dinghies off the beach and other sail boats were being prepared at their moorings. There were a lot traditional sail boats. (see the pictures). I am a sucker for traditional wooden boats. At one point my wife and owned a lapstreak sailing cruiser.
We crossed back over to the mainland on the Menai Straight Bridge and visited the City of Bangor. Bangor is a college town. Bangor University is one of the top universities in the UK. From Bangor Trevor took us into Snowdonia, the big, rugged, National Park that fills most of Northern Wales. Snowdonia is where the Welsh based their guerilla wars when Edward was attempting to subjugate Wales. Mt. Snowdon is 3,560 feet high, the highest mountain in the British Isles outside the Scottish Highlands. 3,500 feet doesn’t sound very high. But in many respects it is not how high the mountain is but how much up and down. The mountains in Snowdonia are very rugged, very scenic. One thing that is interesting to see is that the mountains are covered in stone walls. Some of the stone walls go straight up and over the top of a mountain.
The main road was, at one time, the coach road from London to Holyhead (On Anglesey and is where you get the ferry to Ireland). As a result, there are many small inns along the road. We saw a replica of a stage coach; it was much smaller than the stage coaches that you see in westerns. Big American vehicles are nothing new.
Trevor bought us tea in LLanberis and we headed back towards Caernarfon. He had hoped to take Karen to visit a garden show, but when we got there they had run out of parking area and would not let us in. So Trevor took us to a local nursery. Karen enjoyed wandering around. The sold things like “walking” bamboo that are invasive in Arkansas.
That evening we had dinner at the Black Boy Inn. It was OK, but the place was kind of touristy. We had an enjoyable day. But there was one major problem. It was my wife’s birthday and, I am very embarrassed to say, I totally forgot!
Some pictures are at: https://goo.gl/photos/UzXb1e3GEhhNGMaTA