Drove across to Conwy today for a look at Bodnant Gardens. Very impressive and some good Facebook photos for Mrs Ash. Even the nipper enjoyed herself. We gave Prestatyn and Rhyl a body swerve. But called in on Colwyn Bay on the way back.
It comes out top on Trip Advisor of things to do in North Wales. http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g186435-Activities-North_Wales_Wales.html
Unfortunately slate mining did do a lot of environmental damage, but the times, way of thinking and needs were different to what we see and experience today. Start at the very beginning .... drive through the beauty and ruggedness of the Denbigh moors, which incidentally still has hotspots of Caesium 237 of Chernobyl fame, to Bala, with a small gauge train ride and pic-nic starting from Llanuwchllyn, Then drive to Dolgellau, up to Trawsfynydd, Porthmadog and Beddgelert, for the start of the return journey through Capel Curig, Betws Y coed, and llanwrust to Colwyn Bay... Over the 40 years in Wales, I avoided like the pest having to climb or take a train ride up to Snowdon, but by other people's accounts, it seems that for them it was enjoyable....
It is enjoyable but I strongly suggest extra clothing/raincoat even if its absolutely sweltering at the base. Incidentally colleagues walked up yesterday for our local hospice, 5 hours to get up and down.
The village of Groes is a massive blot on the landscape, as some scouser lives there. For some bizarre reason, everytime I have to make a journey north, the satnav takes me through that place.
I didnt go up there expecting it. It was a bit of a shock. IOM is also famous for slate. But they ended up importing from Wales, in the end. Not sure why but maybe they didnt want to wreck the Manx environment.
Welsh slate because of its abundance, was on the whole much cheaper to extract and ship. Apparently competition was fierce.
Also, Welsh slate was better quality for roofing, it would seem. The IOM tended to build walls with their slate. So they had to import roofing slate from Wales.
If Mrs Ash wasnt with me I would have called into the Slate Mine Museum in Blaenau Ffestiniog. I often visit an old slate quarry on the island here. The slate I see there seems good but a lot of it is not that good that it could be used for modern roofing slates - too bucked up in many instances. I was never certain why IOM were importing slate. Now I know. Some guy was re roofing a large building in a town here. The slates were from Wales. I couldnt figure out why he had imported them. I do now.
It is only a couple of hotspots........ Not hot pots.......... Welsh lamb is very tasty, but also terribly fat. Saying that, salt marsh lamb, from either Deeside or Pembrokeshire are "la creme de la creme"...
Anyhow, the chief objective of this thread was to highlight some of the highlights of North Wales, for those Pinays just arriving or are on their way to the UK. We could easily have spent a good few days there to see all there is to see. It isnt all sheep and slate. ( Thats the Isle of Man )
This is a nice photo. The tunnel effect is quite stunning with the flowers also on the side. I was looking at your shot for a while and used the "rule of thirds" to see if it made any difference. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds FWIW, I am not sure that the two I just posted are better. Perhaps it is because the overhanging trees are so much more colourful than the ground. Let me know.
