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Portmeirion: Welsh 100 – No 21
This is another place we managed to fit in during our Easter Weekend stay in North Wales. I’ve had to go back to work for a rest. Portmeirion is a strange place. Fitting when you consider the magical myths and legends that abound in Wales. Today it is a mishmash of Italianate buildings that…
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Castell Harlech: Welsh 100 – No 20.
Harlech Castle. What can I say about it? This is a real and proper castle. One we all imaged a castle should be when we were kids – young or old. Sitting on top of the crag, it seems to grow out of the rock itself, with plunging cliffs on the seaward side, making it…
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The Albion – Welsh 100: No 19.
Well once you’ve travelled on a Victorian Tramway up the Great Orme and explored a Bronze Age copper mine, what do you do next? Have a pint or two of course. The Albion Pub in Chapel Street, Conway is a proper pub that serves a great choice of beers. Besides the usual big…
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Bronze Age Miners – Great Orme.
We are still on the Great Orme at Llandudno, but this time we travelled back almost 4000 years to the Bronze Age copper mine near the summit. This isn’t on the Welsh 100 list but we think it should be. In 1986 the local council approved a scheme to landscape the derelict site full of…
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Hills and Trams. Great Orme Tramway – Welsh 100: No 18
Aunty and I are up in North Wales for the Easter break. Unfortunately the weather is not as good as one would hope, with temperatures below 6C, a bit of a gale during the night and a lot or rain. Putting up the awning in the caravan was a little challenge but it was still…
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Castell Carreg Cennen – Welsh 100: No 17
A fantastic day out to Castell Carreg Cennen. We were last here before Number 1 daughter was born, so at least 23/24 years ago. The sun was shining and the castle remains as craggy and remote as ever. We took a slightly circuitous route towards the castle as the satnav was determined to take us…
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Solar Eclipse – Shame about the photographer
This morning we had a partial solar eclipse of the sun so I tried and failed to take a reasonable photograph. Luckily the time was reasonable with the eclipse started at 9.25 am. The down side was I had a conference call that started at 9am and everyone had to put up with me banging…
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Palaeontologists for the day – but don’t give up the day job.
The weather this morning can only be described as dull, dull and very dull. Oh yes and cold! Whatever happened to spring? Aunty had thebrainwave this morning and suggested we pretend to be palaeontologists and search for dinosaur footprints on Sully Beach. Not quite Jurassic Park, but exotic in its own way. We wrapped up…
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Romans in desolate places – Tomen y Mur
On the bleak wind swept slopes above Llyn Trawsfynydd in Meirionydd lay the remains of a Roman fort and amphitheatre. It’s an unexpected find on the slopes of Mynydd Maentwrog, among the fields and sheep, surrounded and over looked by the rugged peaks of the Rhinog Fach and Rhionog Fawr brooding along the horizon to…
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What have the Romans ever done for us? Caerleon on the Welsh 100 – No 16
There were only three legionary fortresses in Roman Britain: Caerleon, Chester and York. Caerleon was the permanent garrison base for the II Augustian Legion and was the main base for the subjugation of the Silurians, the tribe who resided in this area. They put up quite a resistance over a number of years…
Travels With My Aunt
Random notes on the travels of a Welshman who has been allowed out to play after finishing his chores. OK so I don't travel with my Aunt, but I am usually under the adult supervision of my long suffering wife.
Travels With My Aunt 