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qatsiWe decided to go for a long weekend in North Wales. It was almost inevitable, given the earlier heatwave, that the weather would have broken by mid September, so rain and wind wasn't that much of a surprise, but we did also get some sunny spells, and the weather was much milder than last autumn's trip to Dublin.
Thurs 13th: We divert via Welshpool to visit Powis Castle, an obvious defensive site but also with some whimsical touches in the terraced gardens, and a Clive of India exhibition inside.
The direct route to Porthmadog is thwarted by a small sign announcing that the road to Bala is closed. Instead of backing off to "A" roads, we take the next most direct route instead. As it turns out, this is quite narrow in places, and steep in others, and with the preferred route being closed, it's relatively busy, and we take rather longer than expected.
Fri 14th: It's a bleak start (as a child, we knew this as "Roman Wall weather", implying that we would go to the great outdoors regardless, but with an eye for the poor legionary stationed at the damp edge of civilisation). This slightly upsets our plans, but we decide to head to Harlech Castle, the first of Edward I's castles that we will visit over the weekend. The weather certainly impresses upon us the formidable task of anyone intent on storming the castle.
The weather shows little sign of improvement, so we backtrack to Criccieth for lunch, and then its Castle, which is smaller but perhaps even more intimidatingly situated on a promontory. The weather is vacillating and we consider our options, but in the end we decide to defer the Lloyd George Museum, take the risk and go on to Portmeirion, which is the expected highlight of our trip. As we arrive it looks like we may have made a mistake, but later on, the weather clears and we get to appreciate this quirky travel in hyper-reality. The buildings running down the hill to the sea in particular remind me of Castrovalva.
Sat 15th: The weather is more settled - though that's settled in the sense of stable, but cloudy and breezy. We head up to Caernarfon to see another of Edward's castles. There's a lot of climbing around up and down spiral staircases, and quite a few dead ends. The castle also contains a museum on the Royal Welch Fusiliers, which contains some interesting material on the Napoleonic campaigns, the Crimea, and the two World Wars.
In the afternoon we head over to Bangor. To be honest, this is a bit of a disappointment; the cathedral's opening hours have been trimmed, and the town doesn't appear to have much to recommend it. But the pier is nice, although under maintenance, and the Storiel museum is quite interesting.
Sun 16th: The forecast implies the weather will be better in the afternoon, so we first head across to Anglesey and visit the Oriel Ynys Môn, which has an interesting museum focused on local history, and an art gallery mostly containing contemporary landscape works for sale. By lunch time we move on to Plas Newydd, which contains a frieze and other works by Rex Whistler; there's also an exhibition on the Battle of Waterloo, where the First Marquis of Anglesey lost a leg. The house had its own telephone network, and each phone had instructions for use (how many people nowadays can remember using a telephone dial?)
Into the afternoon, it takes longer than expected to trek across the island to Beaumaris. Edward I ran out of money before this castle was completed, but the flat site allows for a much more rational and symmetrical design.
Finally, we have some difficulty locating Penrhyn Castle, and it's a bit of a rush around the house, which additionally is disrupted by the presence of a film crew.
Mon 17th: We decide to drop the Lloyd George Museum through lack of time, and go out to Conwy instead, where we see the castle and various bridges. Again the weather is mostly dry but blustery. This was worth seeing, it feels like the right combination of logic and preservation.
We're heading back via Wrexham, where we take in Erddig Hall. Apparently the family were great hoarders, which probably explains why the music room has an organ, a grand piano, a harp lute, and a Polyphon.
It turns out to be a long route back to the M6, and we eventually get home quite late.
Porthmadog doesn't have an overabundance of restaurants, but one of the local Indian restaurants provided necessary sustenance on our first night, and we dined twice at The Australia, which may have been the only gastropub in town. Caernarfon had more options; we had some decent fusion tapas. Overall, I found the area quite reminiscent of the Lake District, but rather more remote, with larger swathes of apparently uninhabited countryside.
Thurs 13th: We divert via Welshpool to visit Powis Castle, an obvious defensive site but also with some whimsical touches in the terraced gardens, and a Clive of India exhibition inside.
Powis Castle
The direct route to Porthmadog is thwarted by a small sign announcing that the road to Bala is closed. Instead of backing off to "A" roads, we take the next most direct route instead. As it turns out, this is quite narrow in places, and steep in others, and with the preferred route being closed, it's relatively busy, and we take rather longer than expected.
Fri 14th: It's a bleak start (as a child, we knew this as "Roman Wall weather", implying that we would go to the great outdoors regardless, but with an eye for the poor legionary stationed at the damp edge of civilisation). This slightly upsets our plans, but we decide to head to Harlech Castle, the first of Edward I's castles that we will visit over the weekend. The weather certainly impresses upon us the formidable task of anyone intent on storming the castle.
Harlech Castle
The weather shows little sign of improvement, so we backtrack to Criccieth for lunch, and then its Castle, which is smaller but perhaps even more intimidatingly situated on a promontory. The weather is vacillating and we consider our options, but in the end we decide to defer the Lloyd George Museum, take the risk and go on to Portmeirion, which is the expected highlight of our trip. As we arrive it looks like we may have made a mistake, but later on, the weather clears and we get to appreciate this quirky travel in hyper-reality. The buildings running down the hill to the sea in particular remind me of Castrovalva.
Portmeirion
Sat 15th: The weather is more settled - though that's settled in the sense of stable, but cloudy and breezy. We head up to Caernarfon to see another of Edward's castles. There's a lot of climbing around up and down spiral staircases, and quite a few dead ends. The castle also contains a museum on the Royal Welch Fusiliers, which contains some interesting material on the Napoleonic campaigns, the Crimea, and the two World Wars.
Caernarfon Castle
In the afternoon we head over to Bangor. To be honest, this is a bit of a disappointment; the cathedral's opening hours have been trimmed, and the town doesn't appear to have much to recommend it. But the pier is nice, although under maintenance, and the Storiel museum is quite interesting.
Bangor Pier
Sun 16th: The forecast implies the weather will be better in the afternoon, so we first head across to Anglesey and visit the Oriel Ynys Môn, which has an interesting museum focused on local history, and an art gallery mostly containing contemporary landscape works for sale. By lunch time we move on to Plas Newydd, which contains a frieze and other works by Rex Whistler; there's also an exhibition on the Battle of Waterloo, where the First Marquis of Anglesey lost a leg. The house had its own telephone network, and each phone had instructions for use (how many people nowadays can remember using a telephone dial?)
How to use the telephone at Plas Newydd
Into the afternoon, it takes longer than expected to trek across the island to Beaumaris. Edward I ran out of money before this castle was completed, but the flat site allows for a much more rational and symmetrical design.
Beaumaris Castle
Finally, we have some difficulty locating Penrhyn Castle, and it's a bit of a rush around the house, which additionally is disrupted by the presence of a film crew.
Mon 17th: We decide to drop the Lloyd George Museum through lack of time, and go out to Conwy instead, where we see the castle and various bridges. Again the weather is mostly dry but blustery. This was worth seeing, it feels like the right combination of logic and preservation.
Conwy Castle
We're heading back via Wrexham, where we take in Erddig Hall. Apparently the family were great hoarders, which probably explains why the music room has an organ, a grand piano, a harp lute, and a Polyphon.
Polyphon at Erddig Hall
It turns out to be a long route back to the M6, and we eventually get home quite late.
Porthmadog doesn't have an overabundance of restaurants, but one of the local Indian restaurants provided necessary sustenance on our first night, and we dined twice at The Australia, which may have been the only gastropub in town. Caernarfon had more options; we had some decent fusion tapas. Overall, I found the area quite reminiscent of the Lake District, but rather more remote, with larger swathes of apparently uninhabited countryside.