Criccieth castle was built at the beginning of the 13th century by Llywelyn the Great and sits atop a rocky promontory that dominates Criccieth itself and the waters of Tremadog Bay. Over the years its defences have been extended and improved as ownership swapped between the Welsh and Edward I. As a result, there is some dispute regarding which parts of the castle were built by whom.
The site for the Ynysymaengwyn Caravan Park was once a country house built around 1758 and the house’s ruins still remain. The house was bequeathed to the town council in 1948, following it’s use by the army at the end of WWII, as the current owners were unable maintain it’s upkeep. Unfortunately, neither was the council. The house quickly fell into disrepair and ended it’s days as a practice site for the fire brigade.
If you head off towards Aberdyfi on the coastal path you will come across a collection of painted pebbles just after you’ve passed the last caravan on the Glan-y-Don Holiday Home Park. Some of these pebbles act as memorials to friends and family; others, mark a visit to Tywyn and the surrounding area.
In its Victorian heyday, Barmouth’s Panorama Walk was a must do to the extent that there was a tea room and an admission charge. Those days are long gone and your average visitor is unlikely to be aware that there is a walk never mind be able to summon up the reserves of energy required to attempt the climb. However, with the advent of modern technology, i.e. the car, you can whittle the walk down to manageable proportions by cutting out the trudge of the road walk.
Craig yr Aderyn (Bird Rock) is a rocky outcrop given its name by the nesting cormorants and choughs that make it their home. Typically, cormorants nest near the sea and not 6-miles’ from it! The answer to this riddle is that the Irish Sea, 400-500 years ago, inundated the valley and lapped at the foot of Craig yr Aderyn before it started its inexorable retreat back to Cardigan Bay. The cormorants, being creatures of habit, mortgaged to the hilt, and hit by the late medieval property slump, saw no reason to relocate.
The Torrent Walk is probably one of the most popular low-level circular walks in Snowdonia and takes you through the striking gorge formed by the river Clywedog. The path was commissioned by Baron Richards of the mansion Plas Caerynwch and built by Thomas Payne and his son. The path is now maintained by the Snowdonia National Park. Being 2-3 Km you can rush the walk in an hour or take your time, as we did, and spend most of the morning.
If you’re like me and need a daily Tywyn-fix, then take a peek at Tywyn’s very own webcam!
The Swallow Falls is one of Snowdonia’s premier attractions receiving a hundred thousand visitors every year. The Falls are the highest continuous waterfall in Wales and are conveniently located just off the A5..
Dolwyddelan Castle, like Castell y Bere, is unusual in a land dominated by fortresses in that rather than built by the English, it was built by a Welsh prince, Llywelyn ap Iorweth (latterly known as Llywelyn the Great) between 1210 and 1240. Llywelyn dominated North Wales, and large parts of the rest of Wales, for a period of 40 years and declared himself the first Prince of Wales, a title formally recognised by Henry III in 1267 in the Treaty of Montgomery.
This is a story about a young girl that walked 26 miles to buy a book. She wasn’t being sponsored. She didn’t have a TV crew in tow. She wasn’t travelling in a group. She was on her own. She travelled 26 miles along paths she had never walked; through villages and settlements that she had never visited. She didn’t have a map: just a rough set of directions. There is precious little that would persuade me to make a similar effort. And she walked all that way for a book.
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