We had a great day yesterday. Left Ireland around 7:30 am and headed to the port to jump on the ferry. The ride over to Holyhead is only 90 minutes, so after a cup of coffee and a few runs to the toilet we landed.
Our rental car was waiting right at the front of the terminal, so if literally just took 5 minutes to do paperwork then we were in the car. I think it took longer to figure out the car controls then anything else. We headed out toward our first castle: Caernafon Castle. It had a big courtyard and had a history museum that would have bored the socks off anyone. It had lots of dark places to explore and was nice and "Castly". Next stop was Conwy Castle. It was very nice too... not as big but still lots to discover. It was a giant brute with lots of walls to climb on. I was very brave and walked along, but refused to go up the towers. We walked the battlements and along the city wall which seemed enough for me for the day. Afterwards, we headed for Ruthin, the town we stayed in. Surprise....they too had a castle! Luckily this one was more of a hotel with drinks to be had and some grounds for checking out. Very nice! I had the best glass of wine so far this trip. We spent an hour enjoying the scenery then headed to the pub for dinner around 6:30. Met the owner and had a long chat with him as well as a young fellow (21) who had run Offa's Dyke when he was 17, in just 4 days. His second day of running he hurt himself so most of that day was spent in the hospital. He went back on day 3 to finish up. His first day he ran 59 miles! Impressive.
Today, breakfast at 8:45 (the land lady offered no earlier than 8:30 but wanted to wait till 9!). We drove to an unwritable name of a place (I'll look it up later) and did a 5 mile hike up to a beautiful lake and back down again. It was quite steep... and exhausting. I'm thankful Stephen isn't training hard for this walk or I'd be in huge trouble! It sprinkled a few times but otherwise the weather was cold but dryish. Next stop was supposed to be another castle, which we did stop and take pictures of. Unfortunately the hill up was VERY steep and after just having finished the last walk we voted and it was decided seeing it from the bottom of the hill worked just as well. We then drove through twisted, turny roads to our destination for the night "Harlech" which is a world heritage site....the entire town is OLD. Very cool.
We had our first Indian dinner of the trip tonight, and it was worth the wait. Excellent food, spicy naan, and more wine and Indian beer.
