Day one Llandudno
We left Liverpool and made our way to Llandudno and our first activity was to go up Orme head by cable car where we had great views over the town, the north sea and the pier.
this was followed by a walk along the pier and seeing the water front.
Then over to our accommodation overlooking the sea on the other side of the headland.
Day 2
we drove towards Conwyn which we missed but we drove past more of Conwy bay and then past the Menai strait to Caernarfon.
We saw the harbour
and the castle which was huge 13 c
We walked around the estuary and town area before moving on to
Llanberis in Snowdonia national park.
We were lucky enough to get tickets on the snowdon mountain train and spent a few hours walking in and around Llanberis waiting for the time for the train with sun predicted for our trip. You could see where slate was mined…spoiling the landscape and the lake view.
But half way up the mountain on the train the cloud, sleet and rain came over the mountain and we saw nothing.
The view for the first half was amazing. I took photos of the drone video at the visitors centre so some pictures show is what we should have seen.
Next was the Llanberis pass and the Pen-y-pass
and then more great scenery , mountains of slate as we went past Llyn Gwellyn ..lake ( some above) on our way to
Beddgelert
our accommodation for the night a local pub . A small pretty town with a stream running through the centre.
Day 3
First we took a wander around Beddgelert. Pictures above.
Then we went back up the same road we came in on which was over looking lake Gwellyn and drove on towards
Betws-y-Coed which is nestled in Gwydir forest and the gateway to the Snowdonia/Eryi national park.
On the way we stopped to see
Swallow falls
In town we walked around and visited
St Micheals church 14c
with a font and burial from the 14 C also. The trees in its courtyard were 1000 years old
Pont-u-pair bridge in town was lovely with its stone slate houses and waterfall
had lunch and moved to our accomodation at
Dolwyddelan., seeing its small castle from the road. the tiny pub where we stayed was lovely with a asian owner and her meals and decor lovely.
Day 4
We visited a slate mine for an underground tour, very interesting talk and what a horrid life the miners had. They hanged off chains attached to the slope of the slate , the chains wrapped their around their legs smashing rods at angles into the slate for 12 hours a day often in the dark or by candle light.
Then onto towards Portmeirion.
To find it to be a fake tourist place costing a fortune to go in we so left and stopped at Porthmadog
seeing the harbour and buying some welsh cavern aged cheese for dinner at our B and B tonight.
Day 5
We followed the A496 towards the coast briefly seeing the ocean, the Irish Sea near Harlech and its castle on the hill then great views through the mist at Llanfair coast and river mouth with boats sitting upright in the low tide.
Next Barmouth beach pier and harbour but it didnt stop raining.
Next inland mostly till the coast again to
Aberystwyth.
We went to the funicular railway at the north end of town. It rises up to Constitution hill where you can see town and bay, Dovey estuary and Barmouth and amidst the cloud even see Mt Snowdon.
The views along the Promenade, Pier castle ruins etc taken
and then a drive along the beach front to the end up at
New Quay.
A pretty town on the harbour and a beach where lots of people were swimming as the weather had gone from cold and rain this morning to sunny.
The waters have harbour porpoises a smaller shyer than the bottle nosed dolphin and we saw a few single ones swimming. These porpoises are loners compared to the bottle-nosed dolphin’s that swim mostly grouped together. We saw the dolphins.
Our accomodation a Band B a few miles away, Swallow head’s guest house, a lovely private pace with frigerator and some kitchen facilities.
Day 6
A rainy windy horrid day so the headland walks planned are off.
We drove through Fishguard and Newport
Arrived at St Davids to our average accom left the car there and walked to
the cliffs overlook onto St Brides Bay.
The old ruin chapel was there and chapel well and new chapel
The scenery over cliff was great.
Then back to town to see the
Cathredral which has great significance as it makes St David a city, the smallest city in the UK
The Cathredral is 12C Norman with a lovely timber ceiling
Then we wander the ruins of the Bishop’s Palace.
Day 7
Another very windy and quite cold day so we are doing the coastal drive and the planned headland walks are off or maybe later in the day if the wind debates. (it didnt).
The wind is from Storm Floris, the worst up near Scotland.
We drove through Solva and onto Newgate.
So many camping grounds !
Then the skinny lanes
along the coast At St brides Bay with its wild windy surf.
Broad Haven
The lanes here and at little Haven ridiculously narrow even to let walkers past let alone traffic.
St brides itself a windy bay.
And onto Pembroke where we stopped to see the huge castle which in its original wooden state was 1102 -32 The time of Richard Strongbow.
The first stone in 1148 and later the birthplace of Henry the 7 th. in 1400s.
It underwent many changes and after destruction under Cromwell , it was rebuilt in the 1880s.
Col John Poyer a business man took over the castle when the king died and remained till Cromwell defeated him in a civil war.
The great tower 1200 was built by Earl William Marshall 1 and dudgeons where Whitborn held prisioners.
Still windy as hell we continued to abandon cliff walks and went to our accommodation at Lamphey near by.
Day 8
We left our accommodation and drove more skinny lanes to Stackpole bay and did the 20 minute cliff walk to Barafundle bay. finally a nice for a walk.
Then fed up with no internet for Gps and skinny lanes we didnt go to the other headlands we’d planned to see and went to
Tenby
a walled town with no car access so we did the park and ride into town.
A lovely town ,very touristy with a harbour and lots of beaches and heaps of people on them as its a nice day.
We viewed castle hill headland
St catherine island which had its access closed.
Then back to the car and drove to Llanmorlais .
Day 9
Miserable wet and cold.
We drove out to the end of the peninsula to Rhossili, more skinny lanes and even though probably beautiful for a walk to Worms head but with the weather we took a photo and hurried back to car.
We drove east to Mumbles head and the weather wasn’t as hard , so we walked out to the pier and lighthouse.
You could see (just) Swansea across the bay and the old lighthouse slipway , the life boat in the water as the building looked condemned.
Next around the outskirts of Swansea and on to our accommodation near Newport. this was the last of wales. we didn’t see the large towns our preference small areas and scenery.
