Day 7 - Wales, Penrhyn Castle

Day 7 Friday April 26th

Today we explored the castles of the north shore of Wales. There are more than 600 castles in Wales. We will only check out a few today.

The first castle we toured was Penrhyn Castle. It was a summer home for a family that made a fortune in slate mining. It was like asking on the set of Downton Abby. This family was the richest family in all of Wales. While it is not old, it was very impressive. All the rooms are staged to look like it would have when it was built. Each room had a bell line that when pulled would ring a bell in the servants quarters. The servants would then go to the room from which the bell was rung. The kitchen area was amazing. There were separate rooms for desserts, vegetables and meats. Since there was no refrigeration, the meat room was designed to stay cool with thick walls and no windows.

Queen Victoria once stayed there in 1859 when she visited North Wales. The owner commissioned a one ton slate bed to be made for the queen. Queen Victoria refused to sleep in it, saying it reminded her of a tomb.

Aberlleiniog Castle was next on our list. This castle is much older (1080) and is mostly in ruin now. It was a muddy hike, but well worth it.

We did not have time to drive to another castle as they all close at 5:00pm, so we drove to Lynas Lighthouse. It was built on a hillside, so it does not need a tower. It is also a functional lighthouse, but is automated, so it is a private house and holiday accomodations.

The back roads to get to these places are so narrow and usually only have one lane even though it is a two lane road. Several times we had to backup to a place where both cars could pass.