With my time off I have done a little bit of exploring around Bangor and North Wales. One of my first adventures was off to a little town on the North Welsh coast, called Conwy. The town is built within the castle walls.The castle was built by the English monarch Edward I in the years 1283 and 1289.
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| Conwy Castle and Town Walls © Crown copyright (2013) Visit Wales |
As you can see by the above picture the town is a lovely little place, it doesn't take long to walk around the small town. There are some lovely little shops, and when I say little I mean it. The oldest building in Conwy is the Aberconwy house, which is now a National Trust shop, it was built in the 14th Century. A warning to tall people when visiting this shop, mind the wooden beams! Along the Conwy beach is the smallest house in Great Britain, the building is 1.8m wide and the last person who inhabited the house was 6' and 3" tall! However, in the 19th century it was deemed too small to live in, so the owner went around the country measuring all the small houses and found that he had lived in the smallest. You can have a look inside the house (Adult: £1, Child: 50p).
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| Smallest house in Great Britain |
As you walk along the beach to the house you can see across the water to Llandudno Junction, which you can easily walk to over the bridge (10min walk max.). In Llandudno Junction there is a Cineworld, Pizza Hut, KFC and Mcdonalds. However, if you want to go on exploring a little more, once you walk off the bridge you can follow the coast a bit further, this is a perfect walk when the sun is setting. It also gives you a good chance to see some coastal birds.
Now back to the Castle, it is owned by the National Trust. You can walk along the walls of castle, for most the way round the town (for free, I think). Once you enter the main castle you can learn a bit more about its history and truly appreciate how the King lived there and how the castle defended itself.
Even though this may not be a very large castle, I still think this is awe inspiring just to look at the towers and some of the old staircases, how difficult it must have been to live in the castle. I would find it interesting to have seen how the everyday life of the people would have been effected by the on goings in the castle.
When you are walking through the castle, you have to go up some of the towers. Only one tower has got especially narrow stairs, the others are well spaced and easily to go up and down. The view you get from the top of these is beautiful on a clear day. You can see all of the harbor and the sea. If you go to the castle around springtime and on a warm day then you maybe lucky enough to seeing some of the birds which nest within the castle. There where a few pigeons but the main bird that nested with the castle walls was the Herring Gull (Larus argentatus). I managed to get some pictures of some a the chicks, they can be difficult to see due to how well their feather blend in with the nest material.
Everytime I visit this little town, I understand more and more why people live here and have it on their place to retire list! All pictures that aren't credited are taken by myself. Here are some websites that you may want to look at if you are interested in going or want to find out more:
Here are some more of the pictures, including that of the Herring Gull chicks. Hope you have enjoyed the blog and are encouraged to visit this place.
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| Three Herring Gull Chicks |
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| Herring Gull Chick |
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| View from one of the towers |
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| Don't go falling down this! |
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| Kings Head |
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| Three Bridges that leave the castle, from left to right, car and foot bridge, foot bridge (have to pay £1 to get on) and the train bridge. |
