A country the size of Wales (oh I'm in Wales)

[VPS]

I've been in the UK for about 7 weeks and another nearly four months to go and have been very slack with posting photos but decided to post some of the photos while I'm in Wales for a couple of weeks.

Today I went up Mt Snowdon on the train (the lady in the supermarket thought I was being very brave going up on my own until I explained that I was catching the train up and not walking - because she normally walks up)



Allan in Welsh means Out - will have to discuss with a few Allan's





A Welsh traffic jam - they could have done with a good Aussie kelpie

 

[VPS]

I went up on the diesel train but we passed the steam one coming down



There are hundreds of wild shaggy sheep - could do with a bit of crutching and shearing - apparently they like to lick the grease off the rails (or so the 12 year old driver told me - he might have been 15 but surely no more but he can climb up in under 2 hours



Just views




The top

 

[VPS]

Lake at Llanberis where the train departs


Scrabble in Welsh would be fun -must try google translate with this





Paddington had a great day out

 

[VPS]

The slate was amazing

 

[VPS]

I've just finished a week in Conwy in North Wales - absolutely fantastic place - so many pubs and restaurants and lots of day trips - can strongly recommend this place.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Vacat...ted-Conwy_Conwy_County_North_Wales_Wales.html

Will post more photos later

 

[Major]

Really rugged countryside

 

[VPS]

Just amazing - in Cardiff now and then to Abergavenny to walk through the Brecon Beacons with my new walking boots

 

[craven morehead]

Looking forward to following this and enjoying more photos.

 

[VPS]

Really rugged countryside

Sir Edmund Hilary trained in Snowdownia before his successful ascent of Everest.

 

[VPS]

So a few of the places I've stayed have had dreadful wifi so it's been a bit of pain trying to keep this up to date

So a trip to South Stack Lighthouse which also has the RSPB visitor centre. They have webcams of the birds but you can't get that close unless you climb on craggy bits (and that's not me) but they do have binoculars you can use.

The bird hide with binoculars supplied




Flowers were beautiful





South Stack lighthouse

 

[VPS]

Then off to Bodnant Gardens - just beautiful - could have spent all day there.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/bodnant-garden - the house isn't open to the public but it provided an amazing backdrop to the gardens

 

[VPS]

A nice Aussie tree to make me feel at home

 

[VPS]

I really enjoyed Cardiff - it's got a population of about 250,000 but fastest growing city in Europe (according to the guide). It's quite walkable and the new port area is lovely

Cardiff Castle






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[VPS]

Cardiff's public buildings are quite magnificent and the older ones all built from Portland Stone. The art gallery/museum was great for a city that size

 

[VPS]

Cardiff bay which 25 years ago was just run down and not particularly savoury




Monument to Scott



The Millennium building - everything made from Welsh products

 

[VPS]

More Cardiff

 

[JohnK]

Lovely trip report. Wonderful photos. Feels like taking a step back in time.

I've wanted to visit Wales since the time I read about Llanymynech golf club. I believe it's the only dual country golf course in the world with 15 holes in Wales and 3 holes in England.

 

[VPS]

So a bit delayed but after some excitement in Wales I'm ready to finish up this part of my trip.

After Cardiff I booked an AirBNB near Abergavenny out in the countryside. I got there and it the countryside was beautiful - very rural with lots of sheep and only the owners next door and then another 500m or more to the next farmhouse. I settled in and couldn't get the bathroom light to work so they came over and fiddled and got it working. Got the wifi password but that only worked if you were by the window and had one leg in the air and very poor mobile reception - can live with both of these for three nights. The place itself was OK but not one that I would want to revisit.

Tottled off to bed and about 12.30am the lights in the living room switched themselves on and the sound of sparking was very loud - there was a plate in the bedroom where there had been a switch and you could see the sparks coming out of that. Then all the lights just went out again. So - no sleep for me that night and the owners had headed off on holiday for a few weeks. In the morning I thought I really don't want to be here with that sort of thing (I've had a family member caught in the house when it caught fire and it's not fun) so sent a message to the owner and checked myself out of there. In the meantime found another AirBNB near Hereford that was just lovely and had a lovely couple of nights. The owner said her father was an electrician and checked the place out and couldn't find anything wrong and she would check with AirBNB about giving me a refund when she got back from her holiday. As you only have two weeks to leave a review I asked if she could do something sooner and the next day got a refund of 203 pounds out of the 236 I paid for it so I was happy with that. She said that is all that AirBNB would allow to refund.

 

[VPS]

So Conwy itself was a lovely little town - huge walls surround the town and Castle dominates the view. I wouldn't hesitate to base myself there again - lots of things to do within an hour's drive. The town itself has a lot of restaurants and cafes and it's a little bit up and down but very walkable.

I went into this house and it was tiny - not sure how someone lived in it


The walls were very thick and driving around the town through the archways was a bit tricky






The harbour

 

[VPS]

A visit to Plas Newydd https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/plas-newydd-country-house-and-gardens

Plas Newydd was built overlooking the Menai Straits and a good view of the Menai Bridge with the Britannia bridge around the corner.

The house was OK with a huge mural by Whistler. The gardens were lovely and you could spend hours just wandering around