North Wales

Well, I suppose I ought to crack on with showing my photos from Wales…

They are a little repetitive, and I’m only showing photos taken using an app on my phone… they are a little misleading as they do up the contrast, making the skies glorious blues but also making grey clouds look black and stormy – when they weren’t!

Why am I using only phone photos? Well, less work for me having to crop and edit photos since the phone app has already done it for me, but also because I kinda like them.

Day 1 – Great Orme

Actually, first we went to Llandudno… I didn’t take any photos as it was a flying visit (I forgot to take any jeans with me and had only yoga style pants! Oops, any excuse!). So a quick trip into Monsoon, jeans bought (and a nice top and cardi…) some pounds lighter (eek) and a run into Costa for coffee and lunch, I wanted to relax by the coast and watch the world go by… Sadly there isn’t really anywhere in Llandudno to just relax as it’s quite a busy place! So up the Great Orme we went to avoid the crowds (and millions of oldies… no offense!!) where it was lovely and peaceful; most of the time only a few people around and lots of sheep.

So, what is ‘Great Orme’? Well, it’s urm… a headland on the north coast of Wales, near Llandudno (part of it, in fact). And it’s very famous for its copper mines, which used to see people travelling from across Europe to mine at – in fact it boasts to be perhaps the most important copper mines of the bronze age.

OK, that’s the sum total of my knowledge; my mum could tell you far more as she’s the history person. And I’m far more interested in the breath-taking views…

Mum kept telling me how she’d like to go up in the cable cars; I didn’t take her seriously after her reaction to being in the large wheel in Sheffield city centre… Holding onto the sides and staying as still as possible made me assume she also wouldn’t like the cable cars!!!
Turns out, she did actually want to go in them; so that’s something for next time.

Now, I’d like you to steady yourself for perhaps one of the most stunning views I’ve ever witnessed… I don’t think anywhere in Scotland has beaten this. Not even the top of the Cairngorms.

I think it looks better for the mist; there’s an ethereal quality to it. Like a daydream. Like we’re in heaven.

I don’t think this castle was old… once we got close it looked very new, or at least converted… the planner in me had to wonder how someone had got planning permission for such a building…

By the time we came down from Great Orme and fought with all the traffic (grr) and cooked dinner my plans to go to the coast and catch the late sun were almost scuppered… Mum insisted we rush out to catch it; we didn’t have to wait long for the sun to disappear.

It’s just a shame once we made our way through the sand dunes the sea was nowhere to be seen!

Nooooooooo! (yes that is the sea in the distance, beyond the reed beds.)

Oh well…

Day 2 – Snowdonia, Betws-y-coed and mountains

Knowing that the weather would not be on our side, mum decided that it would be criminal not to go into the Snowdonia range… off we went, leaving sun behind and slowly but surely it became more and more grey – hardly surprising though since we were in mountains!
It’s like Scotland but on a slightly smaller scale, and the main positive is that everything is much closer in Wales with lots of places only a few miles from each other compared to travelling an hour or so in Scotland. However, with this it also means there’s fewer places to stop, and stare.

As the weather wasn’t up to much, we decided to pop into the National Slate Museum – exciting stuff; mum and I really know how to live the dream.

It wasn’t bad, it was free and it was something to do for a short while. Somewhere to stop off for a cuppa before heading back.

And look, some Welsh Heather!!!

Finally, just to prove I did go to Anglesey, here’s a photo for Janet!
It was a short, but sweet trip onto the island – on via one bridge, stop off to take photos and off on the other. Mum just wanted me to experience the bridges; it’s a shame I was driving so didn’t really get to see a great deal.
I’ll have to make sure we actually spend longer next time.

Copyright 2012 Liz.
All rights reserved. Content created by Liz for Gwirrel’s Garden.