We were both comforted by the fact that the air beam (see recent entry) was still inflated on rising this morning and while Sue performed her ablutions, I reattached the sleeping section. All back to how it should be.
Over a lazy breakfast, we decided to visit the National Trust property of Penrhyn Castle near Bangor.
The fifty minute drive was without incident and we were parking the car just before noon. As well as the castle and grounds to explore, there were also three geocaches in the grounds to discover.
From the entrance building, a path meandered it’s way up the hill and on turning a corner, revealed a magnificent castle complete with turrets and everything you’d expect a proper castle to have.
First port of call was refreshments which comprised of curried cauliflower pastie and a chicken & pickle sandwich for myself and Sue respectively. Food for the body was followed by food for the mind and a visit to the second hand bookstore from which Sue bought a couple of books about making teddy bears, and a novel.
Back outside the walls and we quickly discovered our first cache (bottom right of the tower) before heading downhill to the second which wasn’t quite where it should have been. Luckily, eagle-eyed Sue spotted it.
It was just starting to drizzle / rain as we made our way to the walled garden. Unfortunately, some of the extensive garden was closed for maintenance but what we saw was mightily impressive.
As we had dropped down to find these caches and the garden, it was, inevitably time for a climb back up and into the castle proper.
An earlier Manor House was extensively remodels in the eighteenth century by the first Baron Pennant used his ill gotten gains from his slave plantations in the West Indies.
The baron used his wealth, apart from kitting out his castle, on the local slate mining industry centred around the town of Bethesda.
After the 1st baron’s death the estate passed to his second cousin who had the Manor House rebuilt as a castle in a mock Tudor stylee.
The building is very ornate with carvings all over the shop, especially the ceilings.
After many years of disagreement between the estate and the miners working in the quarries, the longest industrial dispute in Britain took place between 1900 and 1903. There are still people in Bethesda who refuse to visit the castle.
Our final Penrhyn geocache was found on the way back to the car park.
We chose to return via a different route and noticing an Adventure Lab in nearby Llanberis, decided to call in there.
At one site we caught a glimpse of a little steam train across the lake. We have ridden on the Llanberis Lake Railway before but how could we pass up the opportunity to ride another train (third day and third train) ?
The final AdLab location to visit was at Llanberis’s more famous railway, the Snowdon Mountain Railway. I believe that I may have travelled on this as a child and Sue never has.
A look on the Snowdon railway’s website revealed that a trip to the summit, behind a steam engine, would cost us best part of a ton. What?
Sue, sensibly pointed out that for that amount on money we could have another slap up meal at Dylan’s on night, and that is what we’ll do.
The poor cousin, The Llanberis Railway (as seen earlier) was only twenty quid, plus a few pounds for a teddy bearing the railway’s name bought from the gift shop.
Our engine, Dolbadarn, chuffed into the station belching out thick plumes of smoke. As it passed I asked the driver is he was burning old tyres. “Colombian Coal” he offered as an explaination. “You wouldn’t get that with Welsh coal”, I countered. “You’re right but you can’t get it !”. It’s good to be able to talk to an engine driver about the quality of coal.
We got on board and enjoyed a very pleasant, little ride along the banks of Lake Llanberis.
We made our way back via a misty Llanberis Pass with zero visibility of Snowdon (Y Widdfa) and Bedgelert.
DInner would be fish and chips. “You know what I fancy?” Sue asked. It wasn’t what I was hoping for but the chippy would have to suffice.
Another Google and the chip shop in Cricceth, Castle Chips, looked promising. Everything was cooked to order and was well worth the wait. We parked and ate our paper-clad meal overlooking the sea.
Then it was back to base and the tent was still tent shaped. Bonus.
Talking of things tent, we called into Go Outdoors (they had a sale on) and bought some repair tape (just in case) and a spanner for the gas regulator.