Wednesday 17 April 2013

Day Three


Sunday night, Monday morning was a cold one - the wind blew and we did shiver a little. We had planned on making breakfast in the morning, but it was so cold - even the Olive Oil solidified! We headed to Betws-y-Coed for Breakfast on the Village Green and a potter around the village. The boy bought some Thermal Gloves - which the lady in the shop even warmed for him after a discussion about our camping exploits!


Our next stop was the Wool Mill at Trefriw where they make traditional Welsh blankets, Tweeds and other lovely woven things. We got to see the hydro electric turbines and weaving in action. The best bit thought was the Hand Spinners studio - there was the nicest and most knowledgeable lady who spent quite some time talking to us about how to Spin and different types of fibres. We learnt so much and came away with several bags of Fibres.



Then our hearts called us back to Anglessey as we fancied seeing some of the ancient monuments - first up was Bryn Celli Ddu at Llanddaniel. This monument is one of the most intact burial chambers I've ever been too.



After our this, we wanted to see another one so we headed towards Aberffraw to visit Barclodiad y Gawres. It dates from circa 2500 BC which is the same age as the building of the Pyramids and it houses five original carved stones. Because of vandalism, it was unfortunately locked but we did just about see one them.



The coastline here is amazing - high craggy cliffs and the wide open sea. I think Porth Trecastell might have just become one of my favourite places in the world. In English, it's called Cable Bay because its the place where the telegraph cables linked Britain with Ireland and America. It's such a wonderful peaceful place and we spent an hour sitting nestled in the cliffs watching the sea.


Towards the end of the day we headed to the south of Anglesey towards Beamaris. We had a walk along the Pier and around the town - the old jail was a proper fortress! The view of the mainland and the snow covered mountains.



We carried on further up the Coast to Penmon to see the Priory, Dovecot and St Seiriol's Well. The Dovecot was built around 1600 and had room for nearly 1000 birds. The inside was completely beautiful - rows upon rows of individual bird roosts and a circular stairwell in the middle. I've never seen anything like it.  The well skirted the medieval Monks fish pond and seems to come out of the cliff. The spring water was crystal clear. I cannot express my love for Anglesey enough - it's going to be a place that stays with my for a long time and I can't wait to go back for a whole holiday on the Isle.



We ended the day with Fish and Chips in Caernarfon - completely yummy and warming which prepared us for our next night of camping!

3 comments:

Lynne said...

betwsy-coed is beautiful, isn't it? Especially on a nice day!
I have been past but not into the tweed place, you timed it really well there, I think.

Louise said...

I really enjoyed this post and Anglesey is now somewhere I want to visit even more. Bryn Celli Ddu looks great - we like to hunt out this sort of thing too, we found some nice ones in Pembrokeshire last year - there are posts in my blog from late August if you are interested - day 4 and day 6 for the ancient monuments I think. I look forward to your next post :)

Lisa said...

You can tell from your post just how much you have fallen in love with Anglesey.
Beautiful photos from a stunning part of the country.
Lisa x