The unique natural beauty of northern Wales captured us as we drove through Snowdonia National Park. An incredibly wild and lonely landscape battered by thousands of years of changing conditions, but none so forceful as the glaciers during the Ice Age.
Our two hour walk into the mountains above the Ogwen Valley was magnificent. Ellie’s little legs (combined with a bit of time on Dad’s shoulders) braved the thousands of rock steps up and down. Vid, Georgia and Tom were a little braver as they scrambled higher up the mountain for better views of the glacial lake nestled snugly in the shadows of the mountains.
The steep sides on this mountain were used by Edmund Hillary in winter for practising ice climbing before attempting Mt Everest.
Energised by our walk, we decided to make the most of the blue sky day and visit Conwy Castle. This imposing fortress, completed in 1287, fulfilled the perfect image of a fortress castle.
Its solid round towers and soaring stone curtain walls gave an intimidating presence that has not been diminished by the passage of time. The views from the battlements over the town and out into the Irish Sea were breathtaking.
Back into England ...
Conwy – Chester – Windermere
The Roman walled city of Chester, with its Tudor style houses, was an easy place to spend a morning.
We walked the 3 km trek around the top of the wall surrounding the city, and up and down Chester Rows with its 700 year old shops, some of which are half a level below street level.
The Lake District was another corner of Europe where we were met with “oohs” and “aahs” from the back section of the motorhome.
Green, green paddocks, black faced sheep and beautiful dense vegetation leading right down to the edge of magnificent bodies of water.
The geology of this area provides a dramatic record of nearly 500 million years with evidence of colliding continents, deep oceans, tropical seas and kilometre thick ice sheets.
In the middle of the 1800’s half of the world’s textile industry’s bobbin supply came from the Lake District. Visiting a mill was a fascinating insight into the world of bobbins – who would have thought of their importance.
There were 64 mills in this area of England and this small mill alone used to produce 250,000 bobbins per week.
Off to MacScotland ...
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