Day 19: Our Last Day

Just one last castle to see, one last town to visit. It's our last full day in Britain, and once again it was a glorious day. 

Powis Castle and Gardens was actually a welsh castle for 300 years until it was sold to William Herbert, the 1st Earl of Pembroke in 1579, and thus remained in the Herbert family until 1952. Astonishing, the lineage that these old places have.

We were too early for admittance inside so we spent a lovely hour wandering the formal gardens.

Once again, the interior was amazing - full of incredible art and decor. No pictures were allowed so I'm afraid I can't share the splendor...

Off next for a quick look around the town of Ludlow, which is full of Tudor-style, and older, buildings. 

A cup of tea, a chat with an HF hike leader who just dropped off his weary group, and we were on our way to our last B&B of the trip. Ivydene was so pretty, I had to include some pics:

See you soon, Canada!

Day 18: Canals and Castles

Our trip is nearly to a close and the touring days getting a bit shorter. Today started with a couple "Great Drives". 

First was the EVO Triangle, "made up of bits of road from the A5, A543 and B4501, each as individual as the last. The result is a 20 mile geometric jaunt across the rolling moorland." One could see how the motoring enthusiast would enjoy it - sprawling views, tight curves, and good sections of straightaways.

We followed by driving down the Horseshoe Pass, similar to the above but descending along a ravine to the farmland below, to finally end at Llangollen and the Plas Newydd house.

The house is as well known for its two spinsterly ladies who lived there together for 50 years as it is for its beautiful setting and overwhelmingly carved wooden interior.

Just down the road we stopped to stroll along the Llangollen canal and the Ponscysyllte Aqueduct, which was built by Thomas Telford in the late 1770's. The 'bridge' spans 1000' across the Dee valley, carrying water and narrow boats 128' over the river below. 

Lastly, we visited Chirk Castle - castle or family home? asks the signboard. We're not sure... But it was beautiful.

Day 17: 3 Drops of Rain

3 drops of rain, that's about all the weather these gloomy dark clouds produced. It was atmospheric, driving up and over Llanberis Pass, with Snowden hidden in the mist somewhere above us, and luckily it didn't interfere with our plans at all.

It was an easy day - not a lot of driving nor sightsseeing, perfect for this point of  our vacation. It's too easy to get tourist overload on Allison's Whirlwind Tours, so it's important to intersperse quiet vs. frenetic days in order to successfully make it through to the end!

A peaceful constitutional to Fairy Glen was a lovely way to start our morning. One starts off walking through a farmers' fields then veers off down to a stream and lo and behold, this fairy ravine. 

 

Then we cruised over to the Ugly House, just for a quick boo. Look how huge the building stones are!

Being time already for morning tea, we popped into the Pen-Y-Gwryd, the bar at the base of Snowden that had collected lots of mountaineering memorabilia dedicated to Edmund Hillary and his hiking buddies (they trained here in preparation for Everest). The bar was very cool, but there was also a wedding about to happen, and that was cool too.

Then we drove the misty Llanberis Pass, across to Penrhyn Castle - a 19th C., 310-room behometh of a family home. Far too costly to run after death taxes were introduced, it has been in the care of the National Trust since 1951. They've done a magnificent job restoring 30-odd rooms for us to gape at, but in order to protect the fabrics from fading they keep the rooms horribly dim so unfortunately the photos don't do it justice.

And that was our day. Home in time for a spot of tea and a good read before our 5th wonderful dinner in a row. Bread & water only when we get home!!

Day 16: an Easy Day

On the day after tackling Mt. Snowden we found our joints a wee bit stiff and the going a touch bit slow. We decided to mix up the remaining couple of days' sightseeing itineraries to suit, cherry-picking from the sights today's viewing pleasures.

The weather dawned gloomy and the forecast was dire - 65‰ chance of rain today, our first bad forecast since we've been here. As the day was overcast but still dry, we headed to Bodnant Gardens first to take advantage of the calm before the storm. 80 acres of horticultural treat, Bodnant was a family estate donated to the National Trust in 1949 (gardens only, not house), and although it was long past the prime flowering season, the garden was amazing for its mature trees and plants in a natural setting (many dating to 1890 including giant sequoias and humongous rhododendrons) and it's formal terraced gardens. We spent a couple of happy hours wandering about.

 

Further north on the A470 was the seaside castle town of Conwy. I hadn't had high hopes for it but it turned out to be surprisingly delightful. There was lots to see: Telford's Suspension Bridge, a medieval Merchant's House, the magnificent castle walls that surround the town, Britain's smallest house, the seashore, and Plas Mawr, a stunning 16th C. wealthy merchant's house. Castle-smatzchel, who has time for that?

As you can see, the day had cleared up remarkably well and we were starting to wonder at our luck with the weather.  Could we possibly make it 3 weeks without rain on our parade? Even the statuary seemed a bit smug on our behalf...

We had a few more minor stops, then a scenic drive back to our B&B in Betws-y-Coed. 3 nights at the same place seemed a luxury; was booking dinner at the same place for 3 nights lazy? Or a very smart decision...? Dinner 2 was as delish as #1!

Day 15: The Top Of Wales - Mt. Snowden