We lived in Bristol for nearly 20 months. The whole time, people told us how beautiful
northern Wales was. We’d been to Cardiff
many times, but nothing quite prepared us for how different the northern part
of the country is and how it contrasts for the south.
First I have to brag on Adam’s amazing B&B choice. We’ve stayed at many lovely places over the
last two & half years. We’ve learned
to love the variety that staying in a B&B gives you. There is something more personal about it; a
feeling of staying with friends and family.
But the Castlebank Hotel has to be one of our favorites so far. It was warm, had a lovely fire going in the
afternoons & evenings, the hosts were so friendly. Henrique is a remarkably artistic
photographer who proudly displays his work throughout the property (&
rightly so!). Their breakfast was
sourced from the area and you could tell it was farm fresh. We so very highly recommend them to anyone in
the Conwy area. Even as we checked out,
we wanted to stay longer.
We headed out to the National Slate Museum. The workshop was in use until 1969 to support
the giant slate mine just behind. Now it’s
a tribute to the slate industry and a fun place to buy some slate souvenirs. (We might have added some new plates to our
housewares collection).
Probably the coolest part of the Slate Museum was the waterwheel
to power the whole thing. It remains the
largest working waterwheel in Britain. It’s
50 ft 5 inches in diameter, 5 ft 3 inches wide and built on a 12 inch
axle. It was built in 1870. The first turbine lasted until 1925 when the
wheel was then abandoned in favor of coal power. In 1982 when the workshop was converted to
the museum, they restored the wheel to full working order. And incase you didn’t realize from the
measurements I gave you a minute ago, it’s huge!
From there we strolled through our home base of Conwy. Conwy is a town with its original town
walls. The town (and the castle) arose in
the 1280s to help Edward I prove his power over the Welsh people. The community today is still about 4,000
people. The walled old town center is
compact but full of Welsh charm and friendly shops to wander away an afternoon.
The turrets around the city were positioned about every 50
yards, connected by ramparts. Each
rampart had a drawbridge that could be raised to keep out enemies. One turret had large cracks down the
middle. Our B&B hosts said that when
they tunnelled underneath this turret to run the railroad tracks under the
wall, the construction accidentally undermined the foundation, effectively
taking the same tactic that invading armies would have. Whoops!
We were assured that it was perfectly safe for us to climb up the
turret. Um. Pass.
We also came across the Smallest House in Great Britain. It’s 72 inches wide, 122 inches high and has
no bathroom. Again. Pass.
We then came across a sculpture of mussels. (The one on the right is the sculpture…)
Finally we made it to the castle. Built in just 4 years, it’s a pretty
impressive castle and much more intact than any of the others we’ve visited in
Wales.
We were going to explore the area further, but a huge storm
rolled in across the Irish Sea so we decided that we liked the warm B&B
living room much more than the cold, wet, windy outside. Our host provided us with cup after cup of
hot tea. It was the perfect way to spend
the day before heading across the sea to Dublin.
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