Caernarfon Castle, Cooking and Computing

Day Fourteen – Nantmor Wales

Our first full day in Wales was an enjoyable one. We were lucky with the weather which threatened early but turned out quite nice in the end. We were a bit undecided what to do given the sky but eventually decided to go to Caernarfon Castle. It proved to be a good choice. The weather forecast for the week is pretty grim and any sunny day is not to be missed.

Caernarfon Castle is one of a number of Edwardian castles built in the 13^th and 14^th centuries to help control Wales and gradually convert it into a more "English" aspect. Caernarfon is arguably the best preserved and most impressive of all of them.

The drive to the castle was a nice one, down to the coast at Tremadog and then North to Caernarfon. Along the way we got a good look at a lot of the larger hills and the odd mountains in the area, the tallest of which seem to generate their own weather. The top of the tallest were in cloud for the majority of the day. We also got our first proper look at the sea and the estuary the Caernarfon sits on.

We arrived at the castle around 11:00am and parked in the carpark immediately under the walls. Because of the waty you approach, the castle pretty much appears from nowhere right in front of you. Since I was here as a kid they have made some changes (for the better). Entry to the castle is now via a large curved bridge in steel, timbe and slate – quite well done and the fact it is modern doesn't detract at all.

On entry we went and bought a Wales Explorer Pass. For GBP36.00 we get a week's worth of entry to a long list of castles, religious sites and other properties managed by CADW. We spent a while chatting to the people in the shop about what we were going to see, where we are from, etc.

The next hour and a half was spent climbing, descending, wandering, peeking and poking through the various towers, passages and halls of the castle. The kids did very well given the steepness and height of the some the staircases, especially James who is no fan of heights. Some of the tallest towers, like the Well Tower and the Eagle Tower are really very high and we took some great photos of the town walls, estuary and surrounding countryside as well as the castle itself.

From there we visited the regimental muesum of the Royal Welsh (23^rd) Fusiliers and saw one of the most amazing collections of medals I have ever seen. They have quite literally HUNDREDS of medals from a great number of past members of the regiment from the lowest private soldier right up to senior officers, including a few VCs and plenty of Military Crosses. They also have another French Napoleonic Eagle (82^nd) which was also taken at Martinique along with the one we saw at The Tower in London. Jenni was very impressed with the "flash", a cluster of ribbons worn at the nape of the neck to represent when the regiment wore wigs with a ribbon at the rear.

Lunch was pies and drinks from a local chippie. The pies themselves were great but James ended up with salt on his after the girl in the shop didn't listen. She offered to put salt and vinegar ON A PIE and Jenni thought she was offering sauce. I think she just automatically put salt and vinegar on everything.

After lunch we went looking for Segontium Roman Fort which is, theoretically, quite nearby. A large number of Roman road builders would be turning in their graves at the number of rounabouts and bad signposting we went through before we found the place behind a 5 foot steel fence. With no visible way to get in and time getting on we gave it a miss. It was only a "top-up" item on our list of things to do so none of us was particularly upset.

Last stop for the day was shopping for the week. Like everything else it involved narrow streets and people parked everywhere and anywhere. At least now we had some proper home cooked meals at sensible prices. Even the kids have commented on wanting something on a plate and a family dinner table instead of a paper bag in a park.

Tomorrow is still up for grabs. Right now the weather looks pretty good but Wales is like Melbourne (thankfully minus the Mexicans!) and tomorrow could easily be rotten, especially if the forecast is correct. Just a quick thought, I wonder if the Reds won today???

Cheers,

Millsy