Wet Weekend in Wales

 I just realized that it would have been cool for me to include maps with the location of each place I went.  Oh well, better late than never.  "A" is Caernarfon, and "B" is Beddgelert.

My mom and I had planned to do a day trip to see Caernarfon castle while we were in Conwy, but ended up spending more time than originally planned for in Bath and weren't able to see it.  Exploring castles has been one of my favorite aspects of traveling so far and I was pretty disappointed that we missed one of the most renowned castles in the UK, so I decided to check it out myself.  Plus, it was just a good excuse to visit Wales again.  There are some great hiking opportunities southeast of Caernarfon in the Snowdonia National Park, so I was able to make a weekend out of the visit.

I tend to prefer walking from Lancaster Uni to town rather than taking the bus, so I decided to wake up extra early and walk to the railway station, which takes just under an hour.  About ten minutes into the trek, it started to down-pour.  By the time I got to the station, I was completely drenched and freezing.  I'll know the check the weather report from now on.

I sat next to an old Irish woman as the train took us closer and closer to the coast.  She grew up in Dublin but lived and worked in Australia for much of her life, so she was able to give me good insight into what working abroad is like.  Australia is definitely the next big trip I hope to do, and the wildlife conservation opportunities out there are ideal for me, so this conversation got me very excited.

Caernarfon (kuh-NAR-von) 

 

Once I finally arrived in Caernarfon, I immediately went to the castle.  Caernarfon is situated right along the port of Menai Strait (which is part of the Irish Sea), and the views of the water from the castle are spectacular.  I spent a good couple hours exploring the various towers and learning about Wales' infantry regiment in the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum, which is located within the castle itself.

There really aren't many other "sights" in Caernarfon other than the castle, but the owner of the hostel I stayed in gave me some good tips.  I took her advice and climbed Twthill, a large hill about ten minutes' walk outside of town that gives wonderful views of the city.  The climb wasn't difficult at all, but the wind was absolutely insane.  Caernarfon is windy in general due to its location, but it really picks up with altitude.  Remember how I mentioned that the wind nearly blew me over at Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh?  Well, this time I actually did get knocked completely off my feet. 

 

 I tried to snap a nice photo of myself with the view of the water and castle behind me, but you can see by my failures how the wind didn't want to play nice.  Once I had my fill, I made my descent and wandered around the nearby Victoria Dock, the port which is primarily responsible for past and present trades.  It's the main source of economy for the town, right behind tourism.  I then followed along the water to a close-by park, where I enjoyed a quick afternoon hike.  

Unfortunately it started to rain and I forgot my umbrella, and my shoes were going splish-splosh-splish, so I ran back to the hostel for some shelter and a cup of tea.  Once it cleared up I explored the town itself, stopping in some cute little Welsh goods shops and relaxing by the fountain in the main square with some cheap supermarket grub.

 

It was only 6pm and I had completely saturated the city, so I went back to the hostel and hung out with two Canadian sisters for the rest of the evening.  They were fellow bird lovers and told me what they'd seen in the area, so I was able to jot some notes down in the hopes of seeing something cool the next day.

Beddgelert (Beth-GELL-urt)

 

Caernarfon is right on the edge of Snowdonia National Park, an area known for its incredible hikes through the mountains.  There are many little towns within the park that offer cozy lodging, and I went with the smallest and most hobbit-like of them all: Beddgelert.  

I started off my morning by hopping on the Welsh Highland Railway.  This is an old-fashioned steam train that runs 25 miles in total through the gorgeous Snowdonia terrain, but I only did a fraction of the trip (from Caernarfon to Beddgelert).  It was, of course, raining the entire time, but the ride was still well worth it.  We made a steady climb up into the mountains from Caernarfon, and started descending about an hour and a half later to get into the town of Beddgelert.  

Plas Gwyn guest house

The town is very small.  It's centered around a triple-arched bridge over a river; on one side are all the B&B's, and on the other are a couple of bars and the main restaurant, Llyn's Cafe, which is owned by Brian's ex-wife.  That's literally all there is in the town.  It's just meant to be a starting point for some great hikes.  I stayed in Plas Gwyn guest house, one of my favorite accommodations of my entire trip abroad.  It definitely felt more like an actual Welsh home than it did a B&B, but that's because it is.  Brian, the lovely owner of the place, lives in a small room under the house and rents out rooms above.  He had bought the place 20-something years ago and has been refurbishing and improving it ever since.  He's actually trying to sell it at the moment so that he can retire and travel.  So if anyone's interested in a cute little Welsh cottage, I know a guy. 

 He's truly a wonderful person and he helped me out so much during my stay.  Right off the bat, he upgraded me to a double ensuite room.  I told him that it wasn't necessary, but he said that I would deserve it after a long day of hiking.  He gave me a couple maps and recommended the best trail to do; 10 kilometer hike up the main mountain next to the town.  After dropping my bag off in my room, I set off for the trek.  But I didn't make it more than 20 steps out the door when I heard Brian hollering my name (with the incorrect pronunciation of "Rennie"...).  He wouldn't let me leave the house in the clothing I was wearing.  I wasn't necessarily water-proof: a hoodie, yoga pants, and sneakers.  Brian insisted that I borrow his rain jacket and long woolen socks, and made me go to the nearby camping store to buy some water-proof boots.  After buying the cheapest rainboots I could find and throwing on Brian's jacket that could have easily fit two of me, I finally set off, armed with a water bottle, camera, maps, and a couple of power bars.

 

The hike was breath-taking.  It pretty much downpoured the entire time and I got soaked to the bone, but I loved every second of it.  It started off along the main river, and then cut across up into the hills.  There was a steady incline for a couple hours, which led to the peak of the mountain.  Then there was a pretty steep descent next to a lake, which felt a little dangerous since it was so wet and slippery.  After the lake, the trail wound back around into the town.  I'm actually not sure exactly how long it took me to do the entire thing since I didn't have a watch or anything on me and wasn't too concerned about the time, but it certainly took me the majority of the day.  I knew that it would be a beautiful hike, but I wasn't prepared for how spectacular it actually was.  It probably took me longer to do the hike than most because I kept stopping and just staring around in awe.  Unfortunately, the pictures didn't turn out as good as I wanted since there was such heavy cloud cover, but hopefully you can get a feel for what I saw.

(Hopefully you guys have realized by now that you can click the photos to enlarge them)

 

 

greater spotted woodpecker

I returned to the guest house completely soaked and freezing, but high off the adventure.  After a very long hot shower, I curled up in the lounge with some tea and read some of Brian's books.  I noticed he was a bird-lover as well from all of his ornithology books, so I made the most out of his materials.  It was a pretty uneventful night afterwards of watching Star Wars in my room, but I was okay with just sitting back after a long day.  In the morning, Brian cooked me up a delicious full English breakfast before I departed.  He sat with me and talked about the birds that he gets in his backyard feeder.  As we were talking, a Greater Spotted Woodpecker showed up at his feeder.  This was one little guy that I was hoping to see in my trip, so I was pretty pleased (especially since I didn't get to see any aves on my hike because of the cloud cover).