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Ticket back to WalesDay 9: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerych- wyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Bless You!

Leaving Dublin, we went to the port of Dun Laoghaire to take the ferry back across the Irish Sea to Wales.  This ferry was a lot faster than the first one (and also not as nice).  In Wales, we passed through the villiage of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerych- wyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. That's a Welsh word, probably meaning something like "town that keeps its name out of sheer bloody-mindedness." The name is, of course, the towns main claim to fame.  Most people just call it "Llanfair".  You can see why.LLanfair... on a Volvo dealership

As you can see, I was not quite able to fit the entire name into my shot!   Of course, we were in a moving bus at  the time...  Only a few places that I saw actually showed the entire name: this was the best shot I got.

From Llanfair, we took a pleasant drive through Wales: as you can see from the pics, it was a gorgeous day!  Just like Ireland, Wales has a lot of signs in both Welsh and English, in an attempt to preserve the language. 


Caernarvon Castle

Our next stop was Caernarvon Castle, where the Prince of Wales was made, well, Prince of Wales ("Invested", I think is the word).  Unlike most of the other castles we'd seen so far, this one was very well kept and in good repair.   The Castle is also the home to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers (with their mascot, a goat), and had an interesting museum with the history of the castle and of the British Royal Family.  There was a family tree shown in the castle, and the most interesting thing about it was that it looped!  Boy, those Royals sure are a kinky bunch...

 Caernarfon Castle in Wales
Caernarvon Castle

The view from the top of the castle was absolutely beautiful!  There are stairs all the way to the tops of the towers you see in the image above.  The castle is not far from a bay and a dock area so there were lots of sailing ships about.

Llangollen, Wales

Our final stop of the day was in the town of Llangollen (those Welsh sure love their double-L's, don't they?).  On the way we drove through a place called the Horseshoe pass, so named because of its very narrow, very tight curls of road through sheep-infested hills.  We actually had to stop for some sheep as they were herded over the road and over into a field across the way.

 

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© 1995-2002 William Geoffrey Shotts. Last update: Tuesday, March 09, 2004