Today was our last day in Beddgelert, Wales, we will miss it. It’s a beautiful and friendly place to be and the Tanronnen is the perfect place to stay.

We went north and west today to visit Caernarfon Castle, and South Stack Lighthouse on Anglesey.

Traffic was only slightly heavy, we are used to California traffic after all. The funny thing about driving in UK is that the roads are very narrow yet people are allowed to park on the side of the road. This means that you have to drive past parked cars that are taking up your entire lane. If there is on coming traffic who ever has an open space on their side dives in and you pass each other. Sometimes this can be pretty exciting such as when coming around a blind corner. For some reason it all seems to work out.

We drove to Caernarfon Castle first. It was really cold today in Caernarfon with quite a lot of wind so we didn’t explore as much as we might have if it had been a bit more pleasant.

It’s a huge castle built for Edward I beginning in 1283. It had already been in existence as a Roman fort and earlier a Norman motte and bailey castle.

Read the linked web site for some very interesting history surrounding this castle.

After our visit to the castle we were cold and hungry and looking for lunch before heading to Anglesey and the South Stack Lighthouse.

We found a hotel in Rhostrehwfa called Tafarn y Rhos that had a pub restaurant so we stopped in there. We had a couple of Guinness’s and grilled chicken salads, just what we were looking for. The food was quite good and the service what very friendly. It’s one of those places where you go up to the bar and order then they bring it to you when it’s ready.

The area around the South Stack Lighthouse has crows that are so rare they are only found there. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any. We saw some photos of them though, they are really distinctive with their red beaks, legs and feet. They have also been known to have Puffins but there weren’t any there today.

We did see a beautiful white lighthouse, surrounding cliffs, ocean colored a glorious turquoise and plenty of wildflowers and other types of birds.

On the return trip to Beddgelert we accidentally found our way onto the Menai Suspension Bridge built in 1826 by Thomas Telford. Very impressive.

After that we made a beeline for Beddgelert. It was getting late and with it being a bank holiday we wanted to make sure we would be able to get dinner and drinks. Beddgelert is pretty tiny and it fills up pretty fast.

Tomorrow we’re off to the town of Narberth in Pembrokeshire where we will be staying at the Plas Hyfryd Hotel.

On the way we plan to visit the Osprey observatory and who knows what else.