Wales Part I – North And Central Coasts

October 23, 2022 by libertatemamo 20 Comments

Hey ho, and another few weeks on the go.

I’m so sorry, my dear readers. I’m trying not to make this ad-hoc posting a habit (really I am), but in my defense I’ve been busier than ever, busier than even the previous two weeks when I went to the UK. There’s been family over, then we sped off and spent another week canal-boating with friends, and finally we added two teeny little new members to our paw-enclave that are already destroying the house (what can I say….we’ve been suckered in, finally). All of that for future posts!

So many significant moments in so little time.

In blog-time alas we are behind a little, so I will try and move it forward without passing up too much of the good stuff I’ve seen along the way.

Because oh my, do I have some gems to share.

When I last left you I was in the UK on my way to explore the wilds of Wales. A magical place with a crazy coastline, over 400+ castles, a language that looks like it was invented by aliens (technically Brythonic or British Celtic, spoken even before Romans times) and roads so narrow even the most well-honed stunt driver would pucker up a bit at their sight. I dove in and immersed myself fully in this place for over 9 days, allowing myself to be distracted by every castle and piece of wiggly coastline that passed my way, hiking over 100km and embracing the ever-changing faces of the crazy weather that make Wales so indominable.

It was all worth it, and over the next few blog posts I hope to convince you of that too. For if you have not yet been to Wales I think really you must put it on your list. What a place!

A Quick Orientation

First off, a quick orientation.

Wales is a constituent country of the United Kingdom that sticks out on the West side of the big island. It’s a land famed for it’s rugged landscape with over 600 miles (970 km) of coastline that varies from dramatic cliffs to low-land estuaries.

Water-wise it’s bounded by the Dee estuary to the north, the Irish Sea to the west, and the Severn estuary to the south. Further inland are two significant mountain ranges; the Cambrian Mountains running North-South across the middle, and the Brecon Beacons in the south. The whole is divided into 22 principal areas some of whose names I’ll use as I work through my travel blog.

On a practical level most folks know of Wales via Snowdonia National Park, home to Snowdon the highest mountain in Wales and England at 3,560ft. In fact my one and only ever visit to Wales was to come and climb this mountain many moons ago in completely inadequate gear and atrocious footwear (predictably, we never made the top).

Ah, the sweet naivety of youth….

This time around, my focus was on much better clothing and a thorough coastal exploration where my inner wild could be set free.

Overall I made 49 stops and drove 930km (578 miles) which may not seem like much, but lots of the roads are crazy narrow and wind more than a snake on a pole. You learn to take it slow and you very quickly get very good at backing up, for roads that are bordered by 6ft high hedges and rocks and barely a hairs width wider than your car are all two-way streets…true and completely insane.

Snail-pace exploration with the constant element of surprise, my favorite kind of travel…

A North Welsh Whirlwind – Gwynedd, Anglesey and Conwy

My first few days in Wales I spend with old friends and their adorable 4 dogs near Dolgellau where I not only get to stay in their custom-built wood cabin (soooo cool!) but also get taken on a fabulous hike and eat my absolute best meal of the week at a vegan restaurant (Foxglove) in Barmouth. Such a great coupla days (no pics, sorry…my friends are off social media).

Their house becomes my base for a whirlwind tour of North Wales, a route that I dub my castle and lighthouse day.

Fun fact: Wales has more castles per square mile than any other country in Europe, a testament to how much this land has been fought over from Roman times onwards. Invaded by the Normans, defended by the Welsh and of course ultimately conquered by the English with multiple fierce wars back and forth in-between.

For my personal tour I decide to visit Harlech Castle, Caernarfon Castle and Conwy Castle, each more elaborate than the last, all built in the late 13th Century by King Edward I as a ring of new English fortresses to encircle the heart of Snowdonia. They’re fabulous and lots of km are walked and many steps are climbed as I explore them in detail. Most of all I marvel at the stonework and imposing towers, and imagine how bitingly cold it must have been to live here (a Welsh noble-woman I would not have wanted to be).

By the way in Conwy the city itself is also walled and boasts a rather cutesy tourist attraction, the smallest house in Great Britain. Such a tourist trap, so awesome….

I had more castles planned believe it or not, but then I happen to pick-up a tourist flier showing a 1809 lighthouse (South Stack Lighthouse) along some beautiful cliffs in the very NW corner of Wales. Not only that, but apparently they offer tours (the only lighthouse in Wales to do so)…wheeeeeeeeeeee! I immediately drive the hour out of my way to get there, pay for a full day of parking and skip like a toddler with ants in my pants to the visitor booth to buy my ticket.

“Oh so sorry love, the lighthouse is closed today”

Noooooooooooooooo {{insert sad puppy dog eyes here}}

My little lighthouse heart broke in two.

Still, it was a gorgeous setting along the spectacular cliffs and the day could not have been more perfectly sunny or warm. I took a few teary-eyed pics of the white beauty, walked the coastal trail, read about the birds (over 10,000 breeding puffins, guillemots, razorbills, fulmar petrels, shags and kittiwake call this place home in the warmer months) and called it a day.

The Central Coast – Ceredigion

I finally leave my friends to start my slow-mo exploration south, stopping to explore several towns in the central coastal region of Ceredigion. My pace is set to extreme slothness for maximum visitation, and will soon slow down even further.

First stop is Aberystwyth, a University and seaside town with a long boardwalk, sandy beaches and a pier the type of which you could find in any surf-town on the CA coast. A guy with two enormous speakers on a bicycle rolls by playing reggae at top volume, two hippy types dance and at the far end is a funicular that takes you to a snazzy overlook.  At the top I drink tea and eat a flapjack which sends me into a major sugar overdose and makes my fingers sticky.

Oh, what delicious decadence….

Further down the coast is Aberaeron, that has an upscale Carmel-by-the-Sea kinda vibe packed with gourmet coffee shops, fancy eateries and framed by the most perfect line of pastel-colored houses (a trend I will find extends to almost all small Welsh towns). It’s low tide when I arrive and all the boats are on their keels in the harbor, quite the sight. I walk around town, order a coffee, am asked if I want the milk warm or cold (how fancy) and pet several of the at least 30 dogs I see with visitors around town.

Perhaps this is a dog-lovers upscale town?

Finally I take a ridiculously narrow road out to a wild cove (Penbryn Beach) that’s lovely and peaceful and reminds me of the Oregon coast. I spy the beginning of the southern cliffs here and also the famous coastal hiking trail which will soon become a major part of my travels. I spend at least an hour lost in my thoughts on the sand.

I finish the day at a seaside hotel in Gwbert where I treat myself to a gin and tonic and a good ol-fashioned beef and kidney pie. A perfect travel day.

My First Days Are Done

I’ve only started my Wales tour, but I’ve already had so many impressions. From Castles to cliffs, beaches to mountains and all those crazy, windy roads in-between.

Most of all I’ve learned several universal truths about Wales:

• Every town in Wales has ice cream, and all of it is award-winning. This is impressive.
• Pastel colors are clearly the mandated palette of choice for all Welsh towns. This is so ubiquitous that I briefly wonder if it’s written into law somewhere?
• There is no such thing as too many castles, nor roads that are too narrow to be two-way streets. I love the first, but never get used to the second.
• Dogs are allowed almost everywhere, and most eating establishments even advertise this fact proudly up-front. This is enough to melt my heart and endear me to Wales evermore.

Oh, and don’t even try to pronounce the town names. It’s beyond regular human voice capabilities.

Throughout my days I listen to BBC Wales Radio, marvel at my weather-luck (although this will soon change) and chat to just about anyone who will listen as is my nomadic way.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the central and northern coasts, but I’m about to see much, much more and some of it will really blow me away (both figuratively and literally). Alas, I’m out of space so that story must wait. All that in the next blog post to come your way.