Wales – first impressions

The girls and I first visited Wales in 2008 and immediately put it on our list of return destinations. I’m sorry I’ve listened to people saying Wales is mostly slag heaps and wet weather and not really worth visiting. That’s not at all true (well, maybe the weather bit). The obvious lesson here is: don’t listen to others, but see for yourself. I’ve wanted to write about the great – and not so great – places we explored, but things, well, life… got in the way. A year later is as good a time as any, so for the next few days, Wales (and England) are on the agenda.

Wales – or Cymru – is beautiful and mystical and I absolutely adore it. Our introduction to Wales was Snowdonia National Park. It was early July, and we must have hit before tourist season, because we had it nearly all to ourselves. Snowdonia was a great surprise, quite on par with Scotland (another favourite) for grand nature. We stayed at T’yn Rhos Country Inn. I had booked a one-night-stay, but Cat, my youngest, immediately demanded we stay longer. So even though it was absolutely a splurge, one night became three. T’yn Rhos is a beautifully restored country house near the hamlet Llanberis and the narrow-gauge Snowdon Mountain Railway. The kitchen is legendary, we were told. We didn’t try it much, though, as we were never back in time for dinner.

We visited so many great spots and I’ll post separately about the beautiful Isle of Anglesey, Llandudno and that marvel Portmeirion. The towns closest by our inn, Bangor and Caernarfon, were a bit eeh, though. Some might disagree on that, especially the last one, home of a UNESCO-listed 13th century Caernarfon Castle, an old walled town, the Roman ruins of Segontium and all. I just didn’t warm to the town, even though we visited twice.

Caernarfon is a great name, though. Brings on visions of knights and rebellious natives – past and present, so I had looked forward to visiting. Perhaps my expectations were too high; that has happened before. Caernarfon does have a great pub, the Black Boy Inn. It’s an interesting overnight stay, as well. Built in the early 1500s, who knows what kinds of ghosts may roam the hallways at night.

On a board in the pub, was a list of unwanted clientele – trouble makers, no doubt. Some were barred for 1 year, 5 years or for life. Interesting bit of local flavour that. I found myself idly wondering what mischief Flatfish and some of the other blokes had been up to deserve their forever bans.

Update: I’ve reviewed T’yn Rhos and Black Boy Inn here.

Caernarfon