From Cheshire we drove the huge distance (27km) into Wales and to Wrexham.
We obviously had to have a beer at The Turf pub, adjacent to The Racecourse Ground. Wrexham’s home ground.
We had a burger for lunch from the food truck in the pub’s carpark. It was quite busy for lunchtime on a Friday-the publican must be loving the business the documentary has brought to his door!
After lunch we visited a lake for a walk and in addition to ducks, heron, Eurasian Moor Hen and a Eurasian Coot, we saw a black beaked magpie – we had no idea they even existed! They have an amazing blue back, so should really be called the blue-backed magpie.
We stopped to look at a small waterfall before heading to Tesco to get our groceries and drive to our accommodation.
Currently overlooking the lovely green Llangollen valley.
This morning we headed southish towards a waterfall, Pistyll Rhaeadr, the tallest waterfall (240ft) in Wales and England.
It was quite a nice waterfall, but we were a bit late getting there, as a large tree fell down across the river, minutes before we arrived. Would have been cool to hear!
On our way out the two-way, single lane road we observed an almost road-rage incident when one car was apparently unable to reverse back into the passing place sufficiently to let oncoming traffic through, and one of the oncoming cars thought he’d get through despite their mirrors touching!
They eventually worked it out.
From here we drove back near where we are staying to see the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
We walked along the canal tow path to the aqueduct, over the aquaduct and to the Telford pub in Trevor.
We then went back over the aqueduct then followed the Offa’s Dyke path back to our car.
We will be back here tomorrow afternoon to canoe across the aqueduct!
We then went back to our accommodation and did a load of washing and started discussing our plans for August to November.
A hot day today – 30°!
This morning we watched the birds and some squirrels in the yard. The squirrel was having a right old feed on the yet to ripen strawberries.
I then did some painting whilst Kevin went for a walk along the canal.
This evening we went canoeing for a couple of hours on the canals and across the aqueduct.
This aqueduct, the same one we walked across yesterday, was opened in 1805, designed by Thomas Telford and, at the time was the highest aqueduct in the world (it is now second highest).
It is a remarkable piece of engineering and is World Heritage Listed. We were lucky that the waterways were empty tonight and no barges were around.
The guide was even happier as it made his job easier.
We saw plenty of Mandarin Ducks and their ducklings! Though only females, not the spectacular males, apparently they only live in the river, not the canal.
This morning we packed up and headed out relatively early stopping for a walk along the canal before leaving the area.
We then drove towards Flint to visit the castle there. It was built by Edward I, right on the edge of the River Dee which was at low tide.
The castle was great and included spiral staircases in the towers so you could climb up and take in the view from the top.
We continued along the coast to the Duke of Lancaster-a ship than has been beached and currently sits abandoned.
We took the scenic route through some seaside towns that had SO many caravan parks, this is obviously the Gold Coast of Wales. The beaches looked lovely.
As we were driving through Rhuddlan we looked to the side and saw a castle that looked more intact than many we’ve seen. Castell Rhuddlan, built by the same King who built Flint Castle a bit later. A quick left turn and we found it, got out and took a walk. This one also had staircases in the towers so you could climb up and take in the view.
We then headed to our next stop on Anglesey passing Snowdonia National Park on our way, stopping to buy some groceries for dinner.
Today was a letter C day. We started with a visit to Conwy Castle followed by a trip to Caernarfon Castle.
Both of these were built at the behest of Edward l, in the late 1200s as he sought to subjugate the Welsh into accepting him, obviously grabbing land at the same time.
Both castles were impressive in their scale and design and gorgeous sea views-especially on a sunny 30° day.
Both towns have walls around them also, we walked along the town walls in Conwy after visiting the castle, then through the town passing an Elizabethan house and Britain’s smallest house.
Caernarfon Castle had some really interesting sculptures representing the trades involved in building the castle,
and is also where King Charles’ investiture as Prince of Wales took place.
Afterwards we returned to Anglesey, this time over the Menai Suspension Bridge and headed to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. With 58 letters this is the longest place name in Europe.
It’s an extension of its previous name, a publicity stunt to attract more tourists to visit by train.
A lovely beer in the sunshine outside a pub completed our day.
Wales has really put it on for us this week. Absolutely gorgeous weather, thankfully not reaching the promised 38 as we’re near the coast.
This morning we drove to Mynydd Parys, site of an historical copper mine.
There is a walk around the mine with points of interest in various places. We missed a turn and ended up walking much further than required. We were both thrilled with that.
From there we drove past Holyhead to South Stack Lighthouse. Here we were lucky to see another few puffins-no photos, just seen through the binoculars. There were thousands of razorbills there though.
We got ourselves some fish and chips for lunch and then headed to the south of Anglesey.
We discovered that Halen Môn, the Anglesey Sea Salt Company offer hot water seaweed and salt barrel baths. We do love those. Interestingly, they ship their seaweed in from Ireland as Welsh seaweed is protected!
From where we sat we could see Eryri National Park (Snowdonia) and Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) peak.
An hour later we were heading home refreshed and relaxed.
Today we left the north west of Wales, keeping close to the coast and have ended near Cardigan in Pembrokeshire for a couple of nights. Our plan was to stop at 2 waterfalls on the way down. What wasn’t on the plan was a visit to a slate shop or a vineyard. The slate shop had some cool souvenirs, some have ended up in our bags, most were too heavy to even seriously consider!
Outside they had a massive cutting disc that is used for cutting the slate! Welsh slate has a really cool purplish colour.
Then we saw a sign for a vineyard a few km down the road, so in we went. We tried, Rosé, Red and their cider. The wine will only last until next week when we visit our Welsh/English friends in England.
We considered visiting the village of Portmerion, but the £20 fee each, plus the number of 1 star reviews of what you actually see/do there made us keep driving. We did see some lovely banks of hydrangeas though.
Then we got back on plan to stop at the 1st waterfall Rhaeadr Dolgoch. The shade, breeze and feel of water was a welcome relief as temperatures rise above 30°. (>30°in Wales!!) Lunch and beer was at the edge of Llyn Mwyngil, near Mach Loop, a place where ex-military jets do joy-rides, including low-level valley flying for paying guests! There were none seen today by us though.
As we continued to our next waterfall we passed through the gorgeous town of Aberaeron-houses all along the main street are painted in a range of bright colours. It really does make a difference when compared to the very common grey pebble-dash exterior of many houses.
We then drove down a road with a 32% gradient! The steepest we’ve driven on, but not the steepest in Wales-that is 37.5%!
We then noted that the car was displaying a external temp of 36°! Definitely hot!
We arrived at the final waterfall, only to discover that access is via a beach, which on the hottest day in the history of Wales was packed and had zero parking. We’ll try again tomorrow as it’s not far from where we are staying in an old vicarage.
After coping with a night where the temp was still 28° at midnight, in a room with no fan or AC and essentially no breeze (we resorted to draped wet hand towels, flipped frequently to get cool enough to sleep-it worked we slept through what was apparently a MASSIVE thunder & lightning show in the early hours), we started our day in Aberteifi/Cardigan. We walked the artisan trail around town. We stopped at a wood turner that produced beautiful wooden bowls and vases – they were simply stunning. An art shop had some amazing pictures that looked so lifelike, we have enough art though!
By 11am it was about 26° and we felt the time was right for a swim. So we put our bathers on and went for it at Aberporth beach. Technically the St.George’s Channel.
It looked lovely, but was f**king FREEZING!!
However it was a very refreshing 5 minutes in the water! We were both committed enough to actually swim, not just bail when our toes discovered how cold the water was!
After changing back into clothes we headed to the National Wool Museum in Felindre, it was very interesting with lots of original machinery associated with a mill.
It still produces some wool items today, scarves, blankets, gloves etc. 3 balls of Welsh wool has been added to the stash, at some point I will figure out what I’m going to knit with them.
The temperature dropped about 8° whilst we were inside the museum so was lovely when we left.
Then it was to Caws Cenarth cheese factory, they received a Royal Warrant as cheesemakers in 2014. They produce many varieties, tonight for our supper we have a brie, blue, etc.
We got a taster pack of 4 cheeses for free as the guy behind the counter was wearing a Leeds United shirt so he and Kevin became instant buddies.
We then found a nearby pub for our main meal – it was 2.30pm by this point – we ended up at the Nag’s Head and ate delicious meals of Welsh steak and Welsh lamb by a babbling brook.
On our way back to our accommodation we stopped in to look at the Cilgerran Ogham Stone and had a chat to the church organist whilst we were there.
I also noticed that each seat in the church seemed to have individually made kneeling cushions that were mostly hand-made tapestries. Quite unique to see.
This morning we left the west coast of Wales and headed south before heading north east.
The reason for heading south 1st was because we stopped at Pembrokeshire Alpaca Trekking to take an alpaca named Barry for a walk!
We also got to feed and pet them
and see the new babies-one only 12 days old. So cute!
We also got the answer to the question we’ve discussed several times on our driving days “how effective do you think the wind turbines are?”.
The alpaca farmer installed the one he was allowed to (as he is inside a national park), not the one he wanted to, and it generates about 50kW of electricity daily. This covers his electricity and he gets a cheque every quarter for what he puts into the grid.
After a couple of hours driving through rolling farmland and the Brecon Beacons, then stopped at a waterfall called “water-break-it’s-neck” but obviously due to low rainfall should currently be called “water-couldn’t-break-a-fingernail”.
From there we did some shopping and drove to our accommodation for the next few days.
We crossed into England, the back to Wales a few km later, and saw this cute dragon.
Spending our last few days in Wales in a grade 2 listed cottage.
A day was planned, the plan didn’t play out as we’d hoped.
First stop was The Spaceguard Centre, to learn about ‘near earth objects’. We tried booking tickets, but the website is poor so we just drove there, 10mins up the road. We got there and despite a couple of cars in the yard, it seemed deserted. Kevin knocked on all the doors, to no avail. Hopefully we will be successful tomorrow as they’ve responded to an email.
Next stop was meant to be a hillfort. We found a track, that led to a field growing potatoes. There was a hill behind it, so maybe that was the fort? Who knows!
It seemed like baseball, strike 2.
Third on the agenda was a place called The Arches.
These are the remains of a Norman church that stood on the grounds of the present day church.
They’ve been moved up to the top of a grassy knoll.
The church that replaced the original one is, without being rude, a bit odd inside, decoration wise. It was described as “English Rococo”, but honestly we’ve no idea what that actually means. The church was white and pale blue inside.
The quirk of the church was an assortment of mini (1inch) figurines placed all around it.
We counted 27 Jesus’ , 1 Yoda and 1 matchbox car. We did ask the treasurer of the church about them and she had no idea. She thought the Rector’s husband may have placed them.
By then we needed a beer so off we went to the nearest pub.
Refreshed we headed back to the accommodation to do some admin.
Today we made it back to The Spaceguard Centre and had an interesting and amusing 2+ hours. The Spaceguard Centre has been operating for 30 odd years and currently monitors asteroids (near-space objects) that have the potential to impact earth.
They are one of 3000 volunteer astronomers who monitor these items and report to NASA, who then calculates trajectory and path etc.
We toured the facility which includes three telescopes (two of which are the largest two in Wales), a camera obscura and a star dome.
Our tour guide, Dierdre was informative and funny; we digressed onto a whole range of other topics of discussion. The 1 hour tour took nearly 3 hours.
Two key things for us were seeing that our universe actually “follows” the sun in a helical type pattern, and that the next big asteroid risk to earth, is expected to pass between the earth and the moon (all going well) on 13 April 2029 and be visible to the naked eye.
From there we went to the town of Knighton, had lunch in a pub, then returned to our cottage for a relaxing afternoon.
We packed up and left or final stay in Wales this morning and headed north. We ended up back near where we started in Wales to see one more aqueduct that we missed first time around.
This one is the Chirk aqueduct, still part of the same Llangollen Canal.
What’s unique about this one is that after crossing the aqueduct, the canal enters a 450m long (unlit) tunnel.
Walking through you just have to hold the handrail and hope for the best. A couple of long boats passed through as we did. It made for some great photos!
We stopped at the Horseshoe Falls, the start of the canal to eat lunch.
We’re now back in England, for a week of catching up with friends.
An Unplanned Year 
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