Wales: Harlech Castle

On our way back from Wales (and the Snowdonia marathon) we took a bit of a scenic route stopping at Harlech, a coastal town south of Snowdon.

Driving through this part of the country, you find a lot of slate mountains. They look amazing! Many slate mines and lots of black flaky rocks.

Right in the small town of Harlech you find an imposing castle--Harlech Castle, a majestic Welsh castle built by Edward I in the 13th century as part of his "iron ring" of fortresses designed to contain the Welsh independence seekers. In the 1404 it was taken by a Welsh leader who organized a parliament here. This was the place where during the War of Roses a very-very long siege occurred and the reason people were able to sustain themselves was the positioning of the castle. 

See? The castle is located really close to the Irish Sea. The crazy thing is that in the 14th-15th century, the sea was a lot closer to the castle, in fact, so close that boats could come from Ireland or wherever and provide supply to the people at the castle to their back gate.

The weather was miserable this day--very windy with stormy clouds. And of course, somehow it turned out that we left Mark's coat at home, so he had to wear Alex's coat (miraculously we brought an extra jacket for Alex). 

The kids had to find a few clues throughout the castle to spell out the answer to their puzzle. That kept them occupied. That and the fact that it was so windy AND then rainy. 

Here is Mark in his oversized coat with the puzzle pamphlet.

We love ruined castles like this the most, especially when there is no one else around. 

Since we were the first people at the castle, we were able to wander around wherever we wanted.

I know my coat and hat are not matching, but who cares when you are freezing?

Although the warning signs specifically said "No unsupervised children", ours kept running away to explore the very top of this castle wall. It was so scary! Low walls and two dozen feet above ground.

That's the side of the castle that faces the sea. So maybe technically this is somehow the front? 

We got a bit soaked at the castle, but still enjoyed our time very much. After this, we went into town, got a pizza to share as a snack (it was not even 11, but this was the day that the clocks were turned back so we were hungry as if it was already noon), walked back to our car, stopping on the way at a cute village shop with ice cream and pasties. We ordered a few Welsh pasties for lunch to be ready after our drive to the beach (5 min away). 

It was so horribly windy, that we knew we wouldn't stay on the beach for a long time. The beach here is nice though...

The white sand and the dunes are play heaven for kids. 

Alex wanted to stay for a while. 

Oh, how I wish this was not a cold beach...

After we were done with the beach, our pasties were ready, ice cream was there as well (made with Welsh cow milk, they said), so we were good to go home. Three hours later--we were back in Brampton.

Lyana.