After leaving Huish Champflower we headed north for a few hours, crossing the Severn River Bridge on the M4 motorway into Wales. The sun broke through the clouds and promised a good drive into Aberystwyth, our next destination. Getting onto A449 we came across two castles, one at Raglan which unfortunately was closed due to filming, the other just past Abergavenny called Tretower Court and Castle or in Welsh, Llys a Chastell Tre-twr, an 11th century Norman castle built by the family Picard. We looked about for half and hour, climbing into the tower, sat in the great hall set for what it wood have looked like in 1470, and took pictures before continuing on. We took a shortcut through the Cambrian mountains on a very narrow and precipitous road sometimes just wide as the car that wasn't marked on our map. The scenery was breathtaking, the drive hair raising, the memories forever - the drive of my life I will never forget. At last Aberystwyth and the grey water of St Georges Channel came into view beyond the green hills of countless sheep and we descended into the town.
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| view from Tretower Castle |
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| shortcut to Aberystwyth |
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| Aberystwyth |
Aerystwyth, meaning the mouth of the river Ystwyth, and commonly known simply as Aber sits smack bang in the middle of the rugged Ceredigion coastline, the biggest town in Mid Wales and home to the University of Aberystwyth. Marie and I walked along the mile long Victorian promenade with the oldest pier in Wales, built in 1864. The wind had picked up now and blew in strong and chilly from the water, the waves now crashing loudly on the sandy shoreline. Ireland lay off invisible in the distance. We climbed up Pen Dinas Hill to see the old Iron Age hillfort and got a closer look at the 1850s monument erected as a memorial to the first Duke of Wellington. Before returning to the AirBnB we shopped at the big Tesco supermarket for our supper, a short walk over the cycling bridge crossing the Afon Rheidol flowing quickly below and then home. Our host Lee greeted us warmly on our return and made us feel completely welcome, letting us have the apartment to ourselves for the night. It was a fine end to a wonderful day and a wonderful introduction to our first day in beautiful Wales. GWS
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| Glanrafon Terrace, Aberystwyth |
