Day 6 – Our Excursion to Wales

Day 6 – Our Excursion to Wales

The day started out gray and great. Gray because the sky was overcast (not raining) and great because we got to sleep in. The weather was cooler than London - which is experiencing a heat wave (today 31.5C =88.7F), so we were lucky on the temperature part also. As the day progressed the clouds lifted and the weather was perfect. The Welsh countryside was just beautiful. So green and lush with history anywhere you turned your head. There were old towns and churches in abundance - this was an excellent addition to the tour and well worth the trip.

On the agenda for today = Wales. We toured two Welsh castles. Everyone really found them fascinating, even the boys. They were intrigued by the castle’s lack of safety features and the freedom to roam anywhere that was not closed off. Unlike American venues, there was the ability to explore and climb without a lot of restrictive rules. There were new and exciting ways to do bodily harm if you were not careful. The Welsh attitude is was just use a little common sense and try not to hurt yourself. I am able to report that all of the boys exhibited good common sense and returned to the hotel with all of their limbs intact.

The first castle we visited was Caernarfon in North Wales. http://www.caernarfon-castle.co.uk The Castle has seven towers. In the towns previous life there was a motte-and-bailey castle in the town of Caernarfon from the late 11th century until 1283. In 1282 King Edward I of England began replacing it with the current stone structure. The Edwardian town and castle acted as the administrative center of north Wales and as a result the defenses were built on a grand scale. It is believe that there was a deliberate attempt when the castle was constructed to link it with Caernarfon's Roman past. Near the castle is the Roman Fort of Segontium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segontium and the castle's walls are reminiscent of the Walls of Constantinople.

The second castle we toured was Conwy castle. http://www.conwy.com/. What made Conwy castle special was that it is/was a walled town with the wall still intact. Its circuit of walls is over three quarters of a mile long and guarded by no less than 22 towers. To get an idea of size – our bus was just small enough to squeak through a gate in the wall to leave the area. The combination of castle and town wall makes Conwy one of most complete and interesting medieval town-experiences anywhere. Most of the boys choose to walk the wall rather tour the castle.

My impressions of castle life can be summed up in two words: cold and smelly. With the tide out there was no mistaking that you were near the ocean. The town just reeked with an unpleasant order like all fishing or seaside towns do when the tide is low. It was clear from walking the grounds that in their day these castles were probably the safest place to be. Some castle trivia: spiral steps must turn clockwise. That gives you elbow room (if right handed) to swing your sword against an attacker climbing up towards you.

Tomorrow the boys will tour the stadium where Manchester United calls home and play their final match.

Note to the parents and friends: Internet service is very expensive here. You may not be receiving much in the way of email from folks here. I wanted to make sure that you were aware of that information and not feel neglected.

Regards,

Kathleen