In the next morning, Kamesh (the first to wake up as per our plan) went in late to bath, there by making the rest of us to rush up. Gobbled up breakfast and when we set our foot out.. Realised we still have some time to start.. So shot more photos at the farm till we saw Dan moving towards the van.



We then set out to our first spot for the day - Harlech castle. This one is a world heritage castle and was built by King Edward. Going by the display boards around it, could make out that this was one of his strong holds during the period of frequent wars. I still feel, with all due respects to the architect of this massive castle, that many of the forts in India seem to have been built much stronger. But what was impressive is that this castle is built that way that there is only one face of it was open for possible attack (i am talking of traditional warfare here..). There was also a provision for getting supplies to the castle from the sea which was interesting.














We then moved top Pen-y-pass where most of our trip mates began there trek of the snowdown (Highest peak south of scotland). Dan's parents had offered to guide them treking along. It was very nice of them to do.We initially choose to use the snowdown steam train instead as some of us were having a bit of pain in the hamstring and the other feeling they are near to getting one. Since the steam trains were all booked by the time we reached the station, we had no other option but to trek the way adjacent to the rail track. This was shorter by a few miles but is steeper and hence tougher to climb than the other path (we plan to visit snowdown sometime later in summer and trek the other path..I was told that that path is more scenic..lets see how it goes..). Whiler treking the snowdown, spotted some people doing parachute jumps. It was fun to see them land and to my surprise, the whole of the parachute when folded goes into a bag, the size lesser than my laptop bag. We had our lunch mid way of the trek. After the trek we started downwards and luckily met Dan in the foothill. Since the other parties on the longer trek were going to take some more time to come down, Dan took us to the National Slate Museum for us to kill time.














The area around Snowdown (Bleanau Ffestiniog) was famous for slate and at the peak of industrial revolution, i am told that wales produced more slate than the rest of the world put together. We did see some huge slate mountains. Not much of activity happens here now as it is commertially cheaper to import slate from other countries i am told. This museum also has the largest working waterwheel in the mainland britain (thats what the dispay board told). Kamesh and Rajesh jumped into a demostration session showing the art of slate cutting and got locked up for the entire demo (they still argue that they had the better time..). Ravi and me went around the rest of the museum. What was very interesting is at the end of the museum there are 4 houses of quarrymen reflecting the different time periods - 18th century, early 19th Century and end of 19th century when the quarry went into sort of downsizing an lay off mode.













We then treated ourselves to a good round of ice cream. I got myself some sovenuires.. We then did a quick trek to a nearby castle (very small one..did not bother to note down the name of it..But a sign post in its proximity displayed a name "The Keep"..Hence i assume that the name of it). By then the other parties had arrived and off we hopped to the town of Aberystwyth.










This town is supposed to be between south wales and north wales. I was told that there are some minor difference in the slang and culture of the noth welsh and the south welsh (as in the case of people from Madurai,Kovai and Chennai in Tamilnadu). We went around the sea shores in the night while Clare got some fish and chips arranged for dinner. After a good helping of chips, we went back to our farm house. As usual had a few rounds of playing cards, arguments on who is going to wake first and what to eat tommorow. Slept with our Alarms set for 6.00 AM. zzzzz.....

Continued here

Labels: Outings