One of the most memorable places we visited was Caerphilly and the Castle there. I loved the fact it was near water( Moat). While John and I walked around we came across a maze where you could fire a bow and arrow of course it was secured into place for safety reasons.
The maze had willow weaved screens. We came across one here you here funny noises later John and I discovered it was an old long drop replica and the noises were different kinds of farts.
I went up high as John didn’t feel like climbing lots of steps again. I came across a room which had an old fireplace in it . I sang “Marble Halls “ a song from a long time ago and one of the verses includes a knight on bended knee asking for this woman's hand in marriage. I then sang “ Danny Boy” the acoustics were great. Later on after I came down I read about a lady who was married to a nobleman and fell in love with a knight on discovery he was hung and she was put to death she is said to haunt the Castle . I'm sure one of the photos I took shows her and I know this is why I sang the songs.
I went downstairs even further and sat on the kings seat, it felt good.
John and I spotted people dressed as soldiers who were from Canada celebrating the formation of their battalion 71st I think .
After popping in to look at the Castle we went down to the village to have a cuppa the lady in the shop who served us was lovely. I went to the loo and she recommended I use the disabled toilet as it was close. On the wall it had if you need assistance please ring which I thought was very considerate I bought a book called “ Welsh Ghostly encounters” .
While we were in the tea rooms the soldiers who were dressed up gathered together and marched up to the Castle playing the flute and drums as they marched.
A welsh lady asked us what was happening but couldn’t understand the kiwi accent. She did find out from someone else who is Welsh.
Driving from London to Cardiff (Wales) was a bit of a mish.The Rental Car people wouldn't let us have the car until we had an amount on our credit card. I transferred from our bank some money but it was going to take up to two days to arrive. I offered to pay cash no good though. The guy in charge was doing his very best and I felt this . Long story short My daughter Clare came to the party. Thank goodness she was in London the same time we were. They didn’t need money as we pre paid, they just needed our card to hold in case we didn’t fill the car up with petrol when we arrived back with the car, which would not happen. Clare helped us out which I am very grateful for. We went to the local pub tiny but lovely food friendly people.
We said our temporary goodbyes and we were on the trail. I was a bit nervous driving in the middle of London but we made it to the motorway up to the M4 which is notorious for traffic jams which we got stuck for a couple of hours YAY! We took around 10 hours to arrive The next day we set up to visit Conwy Castle which wasn’t too far away. The setting is gorgeous as you will see by the photographs.
We wandered down to town by the sea and visited the smallest house in U K. Our phone was flat and our camera went flat just in time. Only two of us could fit at once and that was a squash.
A place to sit a wee table and a chair a teapot then a ladder up to bed. It was two storeys but one of the people who lived in it was 6 foot 3 inches I burst out laughing when she told us.
It is in the Guinness Book of Records as the smallest house in UK if you want to look.
Today we went to a place called Cemaes Bay on an Island called Anglesey . We just loved it, I said to my friend Anne we would go as her Mum was evacuated there during the war and always talked about it.
Gorgeous driving there the wee streets and the bay with the boats a lot of history there.
We are back to London tomorrow to prepare for a bus tour to Devon and Cornwell which we are so looking forward to a country where Stonehenge etc are.