Caernarfon and Surrounds

 Of course, Caernarfon had a castle too.

For our first full day in Caernarfon (Saturday June 13) we planned to make a circuit around the Llŷn Peninsula but first we stopped in Portmeirion. It is an odd fake village designed around 1925 and built over following years to resemble an Italian Riviera village. I did not realize until we were there that it had also been the main location for filming of the 1960s series The Prisoner with Patrick McGoohan. There was a small shop devoted to the show with a life-size cut out of Patrick outside the door. The show also featured prominently in other shops. Interestingly, at the entrance there was a sign indicating that dogs were not allowed in the village. There were two couples with a dog trying to decide what to do – eventually one of the four took a taxi back to where they had come from (with the dog) and the other three entered.  I have since looked back at the first episode of The Prisoner and the village looked exactly as it does now.

Our next stop was in the sea-side town of Criccieth where we had “lunch” (ice cream) at Cadwaladers then visited the Castell Cricieth. From the castle there was a good view of the sea front row houses similar to those seen elsewhere.

We continued navigating through the Llŷn Peninsula on many single lane (but two-way) roads, ultimately arriving in the busy little sea-side town of Aberdaron where we had second lunch/early dinner at the Sblash Fish Bar (Falafel burger for Miki, Fish and chips for Denny). The GPS chose more single lane roads for our return journey to Caernarfon.

On our second day based in Caernarfon we hit the road again and crossed over to Anglesey Island with our first stop at the Beaumaris Castle which was quite large and interesting.

Next we took a leisurely, picturesque drive (Miki was driving, Denny was bored) along the coast to Holyhead which was shut up tight on a Sunday. We had a tough time finding a restaurant for lunch but then managed to find Reubens Café and Coffee and had good sandwiches.  We walked a little along the shore on the Holyhead promenade and noticed that there is a ferry terminal where ferries depart for Dublin. Next we drove over to see North Stack Lighthouse which was quite scenic. Access to the lighthouse was closed, so we did not bother to hike down to it.

Lastly we stopped for a Denny photo opportunity at the railway station in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwlllantysiliogogogoch. It is the actual name of the town and, yes, it has the distinction of having the longest railroad train station name in the world.

Monday, June 15 was all about a journey on the rack rail train (aka cog railway),the Snowdon Mountain Railway, up to the summit of the tallest mountain in Wales, Mount Snowdon. It was quite a ride with a lot of beautiful views and scenery. For much of the way it parallels a hiking trail which is very busy. At the summit there was a Everest-like line for hikers wanting to take a summit photo. This is one summit we skipped.

Upon return to Caernarfon we devoted ourselves to the mid-trip task of laundry.

On Tuesday, June 16, we packed up to leave Caernarfon with the eventual destination of Chester, England. Of course, there were stops along the way which will be described in the next post.

Cheerio!