Gassaway's Adventures: WALES, THE HOME OF THE LONG NAMES.

I should also add that it's the home of the long names you cannot pronounce with the longest being this town. nfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (lan-vire-pool-guin-gith-go-ger-u-queern-drob-ooth-clandus-ilio-gogo-goch). It's a small town on the Island of Anglesey off the northwest coast of North Wales. It's a Welsh word which translates roughly as "St Mary's Church in the Hollow of the White Hazel near a Rapid Whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio near the Red Cave". Luckily the town we are staying in doesn't have a name that long. I still can't pronounce it though.

We are staying at the The Grove another B&B. Gerry and Mair share the duties, with Mair doing the cooking and Gerry providing us with so many ideas of things to do. Actually with all the suggestions he gives us each morning we would have to spend a couple of months here. They've been taking great care of us with a comfortable room, large bathroom, and filling breakfasts.

The first two days here it rained, so we opted for a tour of a castle, actually a stately home called Penrhyn Castle. This was quite the home of sugar magnet Richard Pennant, who it is said build his home on the backs of those he employed.

About halfway through the tour, the battery in my camera died so no more photos. Shortly after leaving Penrhyn it started pouring so hard that even driving became difficult. We ended the day early and holed up in our B&B for the rest of the evening.

The next day we took a drive across the straights to Anglesey Island, driving through the town with the long name. With off and on rain we stayed in the car for most of the morning just taking in the sights.

With the rain letting up we stopped in the coastal town of Beaumaris with it's Castle. There are plenty of castles in Wales and 4 within 30 Minutes of our B&B. Beaumaris Castle is one of Britain's' most beautiful which shows medieval engineering at its best. With four rings of defense, a moat and a fortified dock, it was never finished. Started in 1295, construction stopped in 1330 when problems in Scotland changed King Edward's priorities. It looks like a ruin, but it just was never finished.

It was fun to be able to walk the ramparts, explore dark corridors, and just marvel at what people were capable of building so long ago.

ST. MARY'S CHURCH IN BEAUMARIS

BEACH FRONT HOMES IN LLANFAIRFECHAN

The next day the sun was shining so we skipped breakfast and headed to Mt. Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. At 3,560 feet it's small by U.S. standards, but don't let the lack of elevation fool you. It's not really a difficult climb, depending on which of the 6 routes to the top you take. You could take the Mt. Snowdon Railway to the top, but what's the fun in that. We opted for the Miner's route which starts out on an old road to mines on the side of the mountain. For the most part the path to the top is a maintained trail, with sections where some boulder scrambling is required. After walking the road it becomes steep, really steep. As we started out the summit was obscured by clouds and we never actually saw the summit until we arrived at the top.

THE EVER PRESENT SHEEP

SNOWDON IN THE CLOUDS

MINE RUINS ON THE LEFT

Some of the track looks like this when the path begins to gain elevation. A lot of work went into maintaining this path, one of the more popular route up Snowdon.

LOOKING BACK

We started walking at 20 miuntes to 8 and these people are already going down. Bet they rode the train to the top.

COINS IN A POST?

When we reached the ridge leading to the summit we were in heavy fog, the wind was blowing and it was raining. Did I say it was cold? It was cold, made colder by the fact that I was soaked through from having perspired from the exertion required to getting to this point. Not knowing exactly where we were we immediately headed the wrong way. Luckily we were saved buy a couple of ladies heading in the correct direction.

THE TRAIN GOING DOWN

THE SUMMIT

There is a hikers hut of sorts at the summit. It serves as the train station and a place to get out of the weather. Did I mention that you can get food and of course a cup of tea? The British can't go without their tea. We opted for hot chocolate to go with the lunch provided to us by Mair.

While we were in the "hut" and trying to dry off, the skies cleared and we were able to see some on the views. After about 20 minutes the clouds closed back in and the views vanished. The changing weather is just one reason climbing Snowdon can be difficult.

After an hour at the summit we headed back down and found out just how popular the climb to the summit is. It was a traffic jam going down with the throngs coming up.

LOOKING DOWN AT THOSE COMING UP

GETTING CROWDED

It was a great hike despite the crowds. For people in Wales this is great weather. They take every opportunity to get out and about. As we drove into town, the sides of the roads in the mountains were packed with parked cars, people who were out walking in the hills.

On our last day in Wales we headed to LLandudno and Conway. In Llandudno we drove out and around the headlands taking in the ocean views.