Wales - Day 3

Today is castle marathon day! We're visiting at least three castles today, maybe more if time allows.  We're going to wring every last bit of value out of that Explorer Pass that we can. ;-)

First up: Conwy Castle. Built where the River Conwy flows into the Irish Sea, this 13th century Castle commanded a strategic point at the port city of Conwy. We climbed up and down lots of stairs and towers and looked out at the medieval walls that surrounded the town. If we had more time, we would have walked the walls. It is super windy today and the wind is just blasting us on top of these towers.  Another really bad hair day, oh well!

Second: Beaumaris Castle.  This castle was really interesting because it was never completely finished but it has a complete set of outer walls surrounded by a moat, then a green space, and then an inner set of even taller walls and towers. We don't think we've seen a castle with two complete sets of walls and towers before. There were inside passages that ran all around the perimeter of the inside walls too, with archer's stations poisitioned along them. The inside of the castle was never finished according to plan as Edward I ran low on funds.  It costs a lot of money to build a castle!

Outside Beaumaris Castle there was a small craft fair going on. There was an owl rescue group there and, for a small donation, you could hold one of the Owls on display.  I got to hold a very nice owl named Mr. Cheeky-chips who liked to have his feathers stroked.

Third: Caernarfon Castle. This is the castle where the Prince of Wales is crowned. This is because Edward II, the first Prince of Wales was born here. We climbed to the top of the tallest tower and looked around a bit, but at this point we were getting "castled-out" and the wind was just so strong we decided to call it quits at three castles instead of trying to squeeze in a fourth. It was also 4pm and we had started at 9:30am, so time to head back to our B&B. We left the castle and headed toward the pier where we had parked. We turned the corner around a building and the wind quite literally stopped us in our tracks! We both looked at each other like "did that just happen to you too?" Mike even had one foot raised to take his next step! Anyway we made it to the car and out of that freakish wind.

Back at Betws-y-Coed, we strolled along the high street for a bit, had a bite to eat and headed back to the room to relax. Tomorrow we head to Manchester and fly home the day after that. We've seen a lot of great stuff but I'm ready for my own comfy bed and to see the family. It's always nice to come home. ☺️