Yesterday, we headed to north Wales via the Cambrian Coast.
The landscape changed dramatically, from the rolling pastureland of the Pembrokeshire coast to the jagged, mountainous qualities of Snowdonia.
The Cambrian coast looked much like its neighbor to the south, but with the university town of Aberystwyth and seaside resort towns of New Quay and Aberaeron, mid-Wales seemed more about the part-time resident than the multi-generational farming families of Pembrokeshire.
We spent most of the day driving at an easy pace, making a few low-key stops along the way.
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| Cambrian Coast |
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| Aberaeron |
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| Aberaeron |
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| Aberaeron |
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| Aberswynth |
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| Fish and chips by the sea. |
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| One-size-fits-all servings of fish and chips. |
It's slate country up north.
We arrived in Conwy at dusk, awed by 12th-century castle dominating the town. At this hour, the castle was bathed in uplighting, and if we didn't know that we were staring at a 12th-century fortress (one of the best preserved in all of Britain) we could have easily mistaken it for Disney.
Edward I had Conwy castle built as part of his Iron Ring, a string of castles intended to protect English interests in northern Wales--each a day's march from each other. We learned today that the project only took four years to complete, at a cost of $45 million in today's dollars.
For all of the expense and intensity of the effort, only three kings visited the castle in 700 years.
The town of Conwy is also completely surrounded by thirty foot medieval walls, still intact and pushed up against the Conwy estuary, which leads to the Irish Sea.
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| That's Abby, Reese and me down there! |
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