Day 4 and what a day.

Unfortunately Paul had to work today and Elaine had to attend a funeral for a Guiding friend this morning. It wasn't a problem for us because the funeral was in the Royal Borough of Beaumauris.

Beaumauris is the last in the chain of castles that King Edward I built to contain the Welsh rebels. The building started in 1295 but unfortunately the pesky Scots started to cause trouble so poor Edward never managed to finish his castle. What he did manage to complete is well preserved and we spent over an hour climbing around on the ramparts and through tunnels in the walls.
















We then spent an hour wandering about the town admiring St Mary's Church which was built in the 1300s and the many other very old buildings with Welsh signs.


We headed back to the town hall where Paul works and received a personal tour of the council chamber. There is a list of all the borough mayors starting in the early 1200s to the present day. Unfortunately, Beaumaris lost its borough status in the last years caught up in what we know as "amalgamation" but they do celebrate the borough boundaries every 7 years by "beating the boundary" of 17 miles. That is, trudging through creeks,over crags and even over roof tops where houses now breach the town line...our guide says it is great fun...but harder as she gets older... I can empathize!

We had a wonderful lunch in a little teahouse and planned our afternoon. Elaine phoned to check about the train from the Llanberis station to the summit of Mount Snowdon and she was told that it was indeed going to the summit. We decided to ride up but when we got to the station we were told that they could no longer go to the summit because of high winds. We decided to take the abbreviated trip to Rocky Valley which was 5/8 of the way to the summit. Elaine kept apologizing but even from that altitude the views on both sides of the train were magnificent and besides she may speak Welsh but I don't think that she could be expected to call up Druid spirits to quell the winds. We were not sorry at all and now we have a very compelling reason to come back.































After the train ride we continued up through the pass to the town of Beddgelert where we had the best ice cream in Great Britain, maybe even in Britain and Canada.






We continued through the pass on the west side of Mount Snowdon to the town of Caernarfon (pronounced Carnarvon). The castle was closed but it was impressive from the outside.


















If all the above was not reason to call this a most wonderful day, we went home to the most mouthwatering welsh lamb dinner we've ever experienced. Thank you Paul and Elaine for such a fabulous Welsh welcome and the best hospitality anywhere.



We are saddened by the fact that we have to leave these very good friends and this piece of Eden.






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Location:Llanvir PG, Isle of Anglessey, Wales