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Cŵl / Pics / Retro — No Comments
28
Aug 10

Menai Bridge

Menai Bridge

Tolls: Foot passengers, 1d.; motor-cycle and side-car, 6d.; motor-cars seating no more than 3 persons, 1s 2d., seating 3-6 persons 1s. 9d. All these tolls are for the double journey.

This bridge, which spans the strait at a point 1 1/2 miles from Bangor station, carries the road.

Up to the beginning of the nineteenth century, ferries, five in number, afforded the only means of communication with Anglesey; but owing to the inconvenience and danger to which travellers were exposed, the attention of the Government was seriously directed to the matter, and, Telford’s plans for the bridge having been approved by Parliament, its construction was begun in 1818, and on January 30, 1826, it was opened. Its actual cost was £120,000, and the sum of £26,577 was awarded to the owners of the superseded ferries. The roadway is 100 feet above the surface of the water at the highest tides; the distance between the points of suspension is 560 feet, and the total length of the roadway is said to be 1,000 feet. Only four fatal accidents occurred among the workmen engaged in the erection of the bridge, and those who lost their lives represented the four nationalities included in the United Kingdom.

Coincidence? I don’t think so! In any case useful trivia in case this question ever came up in the Thursday pub quiz. Also, the house by the bridge looks totally awesome now!

Cŵl / Pics / Retro — No Comments
27
Aug 10

Caernarfon

Caernarfon castle through ages

or Carnarvon, as per our awesome guide, had to be the first stop in our retro-project.

Caer-ar-fon “the fortress opposite Anglesey” stands just within the western entrance to the Menai Strait, at the mouth of the river Seiont. It is the ancient “metropolis of the hills” – the chief town in that mountainous stronghold known as Eryri, and the best view of the town (that from the path leading to the Baths) still shows the stout little fortress backed by the wild and rugged giants of Snowdonia. Carnarvon is the best modern representative of the British fortress Caer Seiont, and of the Roman military station, Segontium, and in position, beauty and historic associations there are few towns, if any, in Wales to compare with it.

Yes, yes, that’s quite right. In fact, there are few towns altogether, not only in Wales, that can compare to Caernarfon. Also, the seagulls. The guide doesn’t mention them, but we love them, and love to be woken up by their cries early in the morning. (Yes, we.) So what does the guide have to say about the castle?

Admission – sixpence; children 3d.; parties over 20, 3d each.
 Open daily 10-8 or dusk, Sundays from 12 noon to 6 or dusk if earlier.
 Entrance by King’s Gate, on north side.

With the exception of that in Alnwick, in Northumberland, Carnarvon Castle is “the finest in Great Britain”. Dr. Johnson, who visited in 1774, observed in his diary: “The Castle is an edifice of stupendous magnitude and strength. To survey this place would take much time – I did not think there had been such buildings; it surpassed my ideas.”

Seriously, a sixpence? The prices have gone horribly up, haven’t they? They made me pay like a fiver. Worth it though. Specially up the towers – everybody should do that. And who ever heard of Alnwick?

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04
Aug 10

Fort William – Ardnamurchan peninsula

Iestyn is actually proud of this picture

Oh no, Iestyn’s knee hurt in the morning, and got swollen and red from yesterday’s slip on the rocks, so we couldn’t go do Ring of Steall trail. We decided to do a nice scenic drive up North instead, tuning into the smooth sounds of radio Nevis (really :)).

We dropped in the award-winning information centre near Fort William, which hosted a beautiful exhibition of wildlife photographs. Other than that, the award-not-winning information centre was equally as nice, and we got our postcards there.

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03
Aug 10

Ellenabeich – Fort William

Putting on Gina's Gaiters

Late-ish start, but who could blame us in such a lovely place. Drove up by the Stalker castle, which I finally got to see in the sun, we even had our morning coffee outside with a view. But then we wasted no time no more, and got to Glen Coe to do our first epic route over one of the Glen Coe ridges.

The clouds were low, which meant the views were mostly obscured, which was quite a pity as this route was named #3 most beautiful route by the Trail magazine (and that certainly does mean something :)!), but we still got a really nice walk out of it. Also the fogginess and occasional rain brought some good stuff with it, namely 1) the opportunity for me to put on my new fancy waterproof e-vent gaiters, and 2) there were no other people on the trail, which I assume otherwise in good weather turns into somewhat of a bloody tourist highway (I don’t count the unfortunate couple we met at the beginning, who decided to do the route with a rope, and who both looked so uncomfortable on the rock that it was quite scary to watch, and we can only hope they finished it ok).

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02
Aug 10

Coniston Water – Ellenabeich

Ridge at Ellenabeich

Surprisingly early start followed by a beautiful foggy scenic drive through the Lake District. After that we hit the highway again, and soon we saw the Scottish welcome sign. By that time the morning mist cleared up, and we had some nice views along another scenic drive along Loch Lomond, Inveraray, and over to Oban.

Oban had lots to offer but mostly we were after its big Tesco to stock up on food for the trip. We were a bit hesitant then which fish & chips place to visit for regaining some energy, we narrowed the options down to two, which the information board in the town centre labelled as ‘the best’ and ‘preferred by locals’. This posed a bit of a conundrum – is there a reason why the locals wouldn’t prefer the best? Which one should we choose? We decided for the best one at the end, and it really was quite good indeed.

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01
Aug 10

London – Coniston Water (via Wales)

Llandudno beach

We got up real early and bravely, and made it to Euston in time, despite a little scare at the Northern line being opened late. It was a first train ride for both of us together, and Iestyn turned out to be an awesome train co-traveller – he doesn’t annoy me at all and lets me read the Guardian from yesterday and everything :) Good times.

Anyway, I survived the train (I even managed to sleep some), and at noon we got off at Llandudno Junction, where Iest’s parents picked us up and brought his car for us too. Iestyn had to go to get measured for some gay clothes he’s gonna be wearing for his brother’s wedding next year. I couldn’t go with him for reasons unknown, so I went to the beach, which was pretty even if a bit rainy.

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