One Day in Wales

Martin on Conwy city walls

 To see our Wales photos, click here

As my country list grew to 48 with the recent addition of Iceland, I realized that there is an easy one I hadn't yet added, and it is right under my nose so to speak.  We HAD to make a drive to Wales.  So, after a visit with Michelle's friend Vida in Liverpool, we drove from the Wirral across into Northern Wales.  It was a cold, crisp morning with a nice layer of frost, but the sun was shining.  We had decided that we would aim for Conwy, a short drive along the coast.  On the way, of course, we past a few castles including Bodelwydan.  This one seemed to be a relatively new castle (last 100 years or so), and there was a hotel and spa residing in it now.   Another few kilometres down the road we past this massive castle on the hillside, but we couldn't find the way to get in.  Turned out it was a private castle........ A PRIVATE CASTLE!!!
We found Conwy, parked up and proceeded to climb up on the city walls.  You are able to walk almost the entire circle of the walls and you get some great views over the town, towards the castle and over the River Conwy.
We picked up some take-away fish and chips and climbed back on the wall to have lunch with a view over town.  

Smallest House in the UK

After lunch, and a few steps around the corner, we found a funny sight - The Smallest House in the UK.  With dimensions of 3.05 metres x 1.8 metres, it was in continuous occupation from the 16th century (and was even inhabited by a family at one point) until 1900 when the owner a (6 ft fisherman – Robert Jones) was forced to move out on the grounds of hygiene. The rooms were too small for him to stand up in fully.  The place made me look like a giant, which is nice for a change!!!
We followed the waterfront and went into Conwy castle.  The castle is still in pretty good shape and you are able to climb up some of the
towers to get a great view over the River Conwy and the town.  We enjoyed winding our way through all the nooks and crannys of the castle, even down to the old dungeon and kitchen areas.

On our drive back to Birmingham we cruised through the elegant resort town of Llandudno, with big Victorian buildings lining the rocky waterfront and a long pier out into the water.  A great little day trip out to Wales and another country checked off my list.   *Stub

Conwy Castle and River Conwy

River Conwy