George & Victoria's Travels

 Dear Gentle Readers We left Aberystwyth and headed south for Pembrokeshire. On the way we stopped off at the Cenath Falls.  This is the Cenath Falls. Dramatic eh? Unfortunately in summer the water flow is not as great as in winter when the falls are really spectacular. However, the weather would cold, wet and miserable then, so we were happy enough to see them in summer. Was not impressed to be charged £3 just to park there, every car park in the UK has to be paid for. It gets really annoying after a while, especially as we usually have no cash on us and this one was cash only! The bridge over the river was interesting though, especially with those holes through it. According to the nearby documentation, they were to lighten the bridge weight and also to lessen the stress on it. It has obviously worked as the bridge was built in the 18th century. There was an old mill on the other side of the river with an old water wheel that would have originally powered the milling equipme...

 Dear Gentle Reader Today we went to the Llandudno SDA Church (don't ask me to pronounce it) for Sabbath worship. The internet said the main service started at 11.30 but when we got there we found it didn't start till 12.10pm after Sabbath School. Sabbath School went over time and didn't finish till 12.15pm. At this point we realised that if we stayed till 1.30pm when it finished, we would be very late to our destination, so we reluctantly left after Sabbath School finished. It was a very traditional church singing only hymns and only had about 20 people in attendance. They met in a Methodist church and were very welcoming. It was much cooler today, thank goodness so we drove to Harlech Castle, another of Edward I constructions. The drive there was very scenic with high hills covered in verdant greenery and dotted here and there with sheep. Like Switzerland, photos cannot capture the grandeur of the scenery. Of course there were the usual towns with very narrow streets, som...

 Dear Gentle Readers This was our first view of Caernarfon Castle. Instead of the usual circular towers, Caernarfon's towers were polygonal and had different layers of coloured stone. Edward I wanted it to be impressive and indicate his control over the land. This castle had an elevator which whisked up to the top of the castle. Heaven on our aching feet. This is the view from the top level of the castle. Edward I constructed this in 1283 but it wasn't fully completed until 47 years later with construction continuing until 1330. However it was never fully finished, as parts of the King's and Queen's Gates were never completed because...Edward ran out of money. This statue depicts the Chamberlain's hands with money falling through his fingers as Edward's construction costs exceeded his income. Taxes from the locals paid for the construction of his castles. These tools commemorate the unknown and unnamed labourers who worked furiously to build Edward's castles...

 Dear Gentle Readers We have arrived in Wales during the tail end of a heatwave and all the dwellings, including our hotel, are not equipped to deal with such heat. Last night we slept with a fan blowing on us all night, it was so hot. Our room only has a very small window we can open, so cooling is practically non-existent. Today we visited Conwy Castle, one of the two most splendidly preserved castles in Wales. This was our first view. It was built by King Edward I in 1283, taking 6 years and costing £15,000, an astonishing amount of money and worth many tens of million pounds today. Conwy Castle is just part of the wall completely enclosing Conwy and you can see most of it in this picture. It has survived well considering it is nearly 800 years old. This is what it would have looked like upon completion. Edward I spent ruinous amounts of money on building castles. It sent him broke, plus an Italian family he lent money from. The castle and wall were built on the coast so they co...