North Wales Days 6 and 7

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North Wales: Day 6 – Criccieth, Borth-y-Gest, cawl

Apart from saying hello to the sheep in the paddock next to our cottage, we spent the morning resting and doing some administration – including booking our accommodation in Yorkshire.

In the afternoon, we went in search of some real Welsh lamb to make some local traditional ‘cawl’ (soup / casserole). This wasn’t particularly easy to find as butchers tend to close when they’ve done enough trade for the day, and supermarkets only have ‘British’ lamb – country not specified. First we tried in Porthmadog, to no avail, then in Criccieth where we persuaded a reluctant butcher to sell us some Welsh lamb steaks. He definitely disapproved of the transaction – maybe thought steaks were too good for the purpose, but they were pretty delicious…

While we were in Criccieth we checked out the outside of the castle and the coastal part of town, which were basking and sparkling in the continuing good weather.

On the way back home we visited the seaside village of Borth-y-Gest opposite our cottage on the other side of the estuary that the Porthmadog causeway crosses. The causeway is now bypassed by a new road, but used to be tolled, causing long queues of traffic during the holiday season – if Caroline remembers correctly?

Porthmadog

Criccieth

Borth-y-Gest

The cawl

North Wales: Day 7 – Snowdonia, Menai Bridge, Conwy Castle

After driving through Snowdonia for a second time (see North Wales Day 4), and a small detour to Anglesey, Ian and Caroline toured around Conwy Castle.

The morning was fine, and we went on a more westerly route through Snowdonia National Park this time, getting a very good view of the highest mountain in Wales – Snowdon / Yr Wyddfa (1085m) – from the Rhyd Ddu railway station car park.

Next we hopped over to Anglesey on the new road bridge, then stopped at the old Menai Bridge before returning to the mainland on that bridge.

Once we reached Conwy, we bought lunch at an excellent bakery that E recommended. We ate our Cornish pasties under one of the town wall’s arches as it started to rain, and kept our delicious vanilla slices (custard squares) for later consumption.

Conwy is considered by some to be the finest example of a Welsh castle. It is one of the four main castles built by Edward I between about 1283 and 1330; the others being Caernarfon, Harlech (see North Wales Day 3) and Beaumaris (Anglesey). Town walls were also built in both Conwy and Caernarfon during the same period.

Conwy Castle is certainly is very large and impressive. Many of its staircases, towers and walkways are still intact, as are two chapels. There are also several modern sculptures, reflecting the castle’s history. However, basically it’s a ruin now and not waterproof, so we got fairly soaked, and Ian questioned how anyone could have lived there!

Snowdon / Yr Wyddfa from Rhyd Ddu station

Snowdon / Yr Wyddfa

Menai Bridge

The Menai Bridge joins the Welsh mainland to the island of Anglesey. It was designed by Thomas Telford and, in 1826, was the first significant suspension bridge to be built in the world.