I made things easier on myself and signed up for a 3 day tour of Northern Wales. I used the tour company, Rabbies, which I have used extensively in Scotland. They are great and operation the small, 16 passenger Meredes vans. I have always had good luck with the Rabbies tours I have taken. This tour of Wales focused on Snowdonia, North Wales and Chester.
Castle ConwyAlways lots of sheep. More of the CastleBeautiful view from the Castle. The weather during the 3 days in Wales was super windy and overcast but no big rain.Holyhead Lighthouse. Stunning area. It was so windy when we were there that it actually seemed dangerous to go down to the lighthouse. Hillsides covered in heather. It was finally blooming time for heather and very pretty.Ty Mawr hut circles dating back to the Iron Age. There were about 8 of these circles. Porth Dafarch – cove is very popular for water sports. There were several folks using short surfboards…they all had on wet suits! Crazy little train station. As the story goes, in order to boost tourism they gave the station the longest name in Wales – The Church of Mary in the Hollow of the White Hazel Near the Fierce Whirlpool and the Church of Tysilio by the Red Cave. Apparently this has worked to boost tourism.Llandudno Beach Boardwalk. This was one of the largest resorts in Wales in 1861. Harlech Castle
Portmeirion – Some folks might know about Portmeirion designed dishes. Portmeirion is a folly village designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 in the Baroque style and is now owned by a chartable trust. Sir Clough maintained that he wanted to pay tribute to the atmosphere of the Mediterranean. Some accused him of basing the design on Portofino. It reminded me of the playfulness of the Gaude buildings in Barcelona.
Afon Colwyn – the majority of the villages and towns we went through had mostly stone buildings. And the partitions between pieces of property were built of stone. Caernarfon – part of the Snowdonia National ParkSlightly cloud covered Mt. Snowden.More photos of Snowdonia Park.Lovely village – Betws-y-Coed.
Chester – we are now back in England. It is a picturesque city that is still fully walled from the Roman days.
These are the two Rebekahs – they were my travel mates in Wales. They are from San Diego and were very fun to travel with.
York, England
After the tour of Wales, I traveled from Manchester to York…just a two hour bus ride.
A fun merry-go-round.Fun book store – Criminally Good BooksBetty’s Tea Room. The line that goes to the right wraps around the building. I waited in line and had a great conversation with a couple from Leeds, England. The tea was wonderful – a couple of scones, clodded cream and jam.Part of the Shambles. Impossible to get a photo without a ton on people in it. Oh, maybe if I had gotten up really early I could have but I didn’t do that!!! I should have never gone in here – Kathe Wahlfahrt Christmas Shop! Yikes. Their main store is in Germany – Rothenberg. I managed to control myself when I was in the Rothenberg shop but not here. Still trying to figure out how to transport what I bought. Oner of the challenges is that shops in the UK are no longer offering to mail purchases even for a fee. Since they are no longer part of the EU, the cost to get the goods is higher and shipping costs are higher so they don’t offer to do this anymore. I suppose I could take some items to the post office…maybe in London, and send them back. I looked for more animals up on the buildings but this is the only one I found. I know there are more but I didn’t see them.
