Anglesey
03 to 04 July 2024
Entrance to King Arthur’s Labyrinth
On Wednesday, Julie and Anthony took the beautiful drive up the West coast of Wales.
Our first stop on the way was in the seaside town of Aberystwyth to ride the Rheilffordd y Graig Cliff Railway. The railway goes to the top of Constitution Hill raising 450 feet above the town.
The views from the top of the hill were spectacular. I cannot imagine playing disc golf here, the wind was brutal.
Julie noticed a place called King Arthur’s Labyrinth a little bit further along the road, near a town called Corris. This stretch of the road reminded us both of Hwy 276 in Pisgah National Forest that runs along the Davidson River, back home in North Carolina.
The labyrinth takes us into a repurposed slate mine, with a dramatic retelling of the stories of King Arthur and Merlin (most from the Mabinogion, a book of Celtic legends), complete with a boat ride, dioramas with fire breathing dragons, giants and mannequins.
The first legend depicted a powerful 5th Century Welsh ruler who was building a stronghold that kept falling down every night. The ruler’s priests told him to kill a “fatherless boy” and sprinkle the blood on the construction site. Before he could be sacrificed, the boy (Merlin?) told the ruler his stronghold fell down every night because there were two dragons (one red and one white) fighting under the hill. Sure enough, digging under the hill (Dinas Emrys) uncovered a red dragon and a white dragon. The two dragons fought, with the red one victorious. Which is why the red dragon is the symbol of Wales.
There was another tale where Arthur and his Knights conquer a giant, who killed his opponents and wove their beards into a cloak. We heard two versions of this tale on our trip, one where the giant surrenders to Arthur, becoming an ally and another story where Arthur kills the giant and completes the cape with his beard.
Arthur and his knights
In another story, Arthur digs up and removes the head of a giant which was buried in London to protect England from evil (France of course). Arrogantly, Arthur destroys the head, saying all England needs is him and his knights to protect it.
This leads us to the tale of Arthur’s death at the hands of his nephew, Mordred. As he is dying Arthur asks one of his knights, Bedivere, to throw his sword Excalibur into the lake. Twice, Bedivere refuses to throw the sword away, but Arthur knows Bedivere is lying. The third time Bedivere throws the sword in the lake and the lady of the lake grabs the sword and pulls it into the lake. A boat then comes to take Arthur to the isle of Avalon until England needs him again.
Watery Tart?
Dragons Blood, beware
Fire breathing dragon.
Photos from the road.
Conwy Castle
4th of July! To celebrate our Independence from the English, Julie and Anthony hit the castle trifecta (sort of). First we stopped at Conwy Castle, an impressive fortress built by Edward I in the 1280s to oppress the Welsh.
The castle was the cornerstone of the walled city of Conwy. Parts of the wall still stand around town.
Three Bridges across the river Conwy, as seen from Conwy Castle. From left to right: Conwy Road bridge for cars build in 1958; Conwy (Telford’s) Suspension Bridge, built in the 1820s it is now used only for food traffic; Stephenson's Bridge (Conwy Rail Bridge), build in 1848 for rail traffic.
We drove a bit further North along the coast to Llandudno to the Great Orme Railway. The tram runs in two stretches, with a station in the middle.
It was windy and cold on the tram
It was windier at the summit, and we decided against the clifftop walk. Did not want to be blown over the edge into the water.
There were two iron age mines on the side of the hill.
Julie and Anthony then headed back down the coast to Caernarfon Castle. Another imposing structure constructed by Edward I starting in 1283 and ending in 1330 when they ran out of money.
There was a lot of modernish hand themed art all around the interior of the castle, Anthony had to take pictures of it and share them with you.
On July 1, 1969, Prince Charles was formally invested with the title Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle. He was the first prince to be televised at his investment. The big round circle commemorates (might have been where he was invested) the occasion.
Beaumaris Castle
We stopped at Beaumaris Castle, but unfortunately it was after hours, so all we got were exterior photos.
Julie found a restaurant that shared the name with her favorite place in Asheville, NC, THE Lobster Pot. Google said the restaurant was open until 9:30 PM, it was 8 so we headed out to the far North West end of Anglesea. We got there at 8:30 and sadly the kitchen had already closed. We drove to Holyhead, where we got Chinese take out.
Julie is excited about eating at the Lobster Pot!
We were treated to a nice Rainbow on the way home.
One great thing about travel is that you get to see how things are done differently in other countries. On Thursday, the UK voted to elect all 650 members of Parliament. The winning political party then determines who will be the Prime Minister (a role similar to the US President). The ruling Tory Party called the election 22 May 2024, to be held on 04 July 2024. Since the last general election, the Tories had been up to some shenanigans, including partying through Covid, implementing Brexit and tanking the British economy. The Labor party crushed the Tories winning 411 of 650 seats adding 211, the Tories lost 251 seats, and were left with 121 seats. The Liberal Democrats also gained 64 seats, bringing their total to 72. The Reform Party and Green parties also gained seats. The Tory Prime Minister cleared out on Friday, and the new Labor Prime Minister started working that weekend. The entire election and government change over took place in a little more than 6 weeks.
Maps: 1) West Coast of Wales; 2) Castles and Anglesea
