Wythnos mewn Gogledd (a week in the North)

Last week, Cathy and I had a lovely week in North Wales. We were based in Caernarfon, right next to the castle. 

When I say, next to the castle, this was the view from the table where we had breakfast each morning.

Of course we did have a look around the castle. There were some displays relating to the investiture of Charles as the Prince of Wales in 1969. That was suddenly very relevant as we were in the national week of mourning for Queen Elizabeth II, which meant Charles was now King. I predict a lot of those displays will be updated soon.

In the meantime, the flags were flying at half mast. I noticed the Welsh flag was flying slightly higher than the Union flag. 

The large round dais was installed in 1969 for the Investiture. 

Caernarfon castle has lots of corridors, walkways and winding stairs to explore.

That wasn't the only castle we visited. We also went to Conwy, which I don't remember doing before. We climbed every tower in the castle and enjoyed great views of the estuary and the town.

What else is North Wales famous for? Well, it also has mountains. We were able to see the Snowdon horseshoe while we ate a picnic lunch one day, although Snowdon itself was being shy and hiding in the cloud.

It's also famous for trains. We were staying very near the Northern terminus of the Welsh Highland Railway and saw the engine steaming up on a few mornings. 

The loco on the Welsh Highland Railway was built in Belgium and used in South Africa before ending up in Wales. However, the diddy steam engine used on the Llanberis Lake Railway was used in the slate quarries during its working life. It's about the size of a Landrover and just too cute! 

The engine was steaming up outside the shed, next to a blue diesel locomotive that also had some personality. 

We saw the Snowdon Mountain Railway train depart from Llanberis as well, but that was being pushed up the mountain by a diesel engine rather than the steam engine, so I'm not including a photo of that.

We decided to have a day on Anglesey - here's a picture of Anglesey and Puffin Island taken on the way back from Conwy.

Our first stop on Anglesey was Oriel Mon, a great little art gallery and museum which houses an exhibition in honour of Welsh artist Kyffin Williams. There's a statue outside - time for a celebrity selfie!

Oriel Mon also has a selection of artworks by Charles Tunnicliffe, a wildlife artist whose work featured on everything from nature books to those collectible cards that used to be in boxes of tea. 

We drove around the island looking at a few beaches before ending up in Beaumaris for a short look around the town. We did Beaumaris castle on a previous trip and we were a bit castled out after Conwy and Caernarfon so we didn't visit it again this time. 

On the final day of our holiday we went into Bangor and visited Bangor Pier which has just won 'Pier of the Year'. Walking out on the pier took us about halfway back to Anglesey. 

The views along the Menai Strait were fantastic, but our favourite discovery was Dinas Dinlle beach, which we went back to a few times during the course of the week. The views here down to the sharp coastal mountains of the Northern edge of the Llyn Peninsular and out to the horizon beyond the Western edge of Anglesey are all captured in this panoramic shot. 

Dinas Dinlle is a rocky beach with an astounding array of different pebbles. (Some of them might have travelled home with us!) We drove the long way back into Caernarfon, along the edge of the tidal reaches of the Menai Strait covered in flocks of birds including egrets, sandpipers, oystercatchers, herons and curlews. 

It was a very full week, with castles, steam trains, mountains and beaches, and yet it feels like there was still a lot more to see. Maybe next time!