Hollyhead,Wales

Hollyhead, Wales.

Discovering Wales ,an in depth journey today with a rail tour included. Varied scenery as we passed over the Island of Anglesey.
Hollyhead is the ferry Port for a lot of the Irish ferries ,closest place with direct links to London.
The countryside very dry, as we are used to seeing in these parts. Our guide Dee was very good, our driver excellent.
We learnt there is one of the largest cheese factories in Europe, in these realms. BUT, the cheese, Mozzarella which is exported to Italy ,and comes back on Pizzas, is made from the milk from huge “Cow Farm’s “,animals kept indoors ,in large numbers ,automatically fed.. Mortified.. So the nice fields are mainly taken up with sheep only ,just a few farmers trying to keep normal Dairy Farming going, but they cannot compete apparently with the huge conglomerates.. There are 12 million sheep and 3 million people.
Next we crossed the Menai Straits, high bridges over turbulent waters between the Is of Anglesey and the mainland, where the tides rush through a narrow opening below. Impressive sight, with lovely homes along the waters edges.
Then on the mainland ,the vegetation changes, with the large deciduous trees, and the typical UK landscape ,mountains visible ahead, narrow valley’s ,rolling hills ,bracken and ferns, fields of sheep, stone walls of huge proportions coming down from great heights. Pretty steams and rivers, though depleted by the lack of rain ,rocky and lovely. The old coach roads and Inns, and later the Slate mountains, where the mining, that is no more, took place at its height in the 1800’s,but continuing on through many decades, now only a very few remain in limited production It was dangerous of course as it an unstable rock ,and so much that is extracted is not usable, so huge deposits remain, making there own small mountains, but the beautiful landscape and light, softens the look ,and it is not unsightly really. Small villages and larger ones ,dotted along the valley’s are now tourist attractions, that seem to be very busy. The houses are small ,of Welsh stone, with the slate roof. The villages so pretty with hanging baskets, of many things, begonias here, geraniums ,lobelia..The roads so narrow with the stone walls on each side, not mean feat for the driver, old stone farm houses ,still evident in many places, such a picture.
The coastal village of Porthmadog was our destination, very pretty harbour, and bridge ,where we joined the train ,Ffestiniog Railway on the edge of Snowdonia National Park. This very small engine ,pulled 10 cars to great heights, it seemed with ease, steep grades, with views to the valleys far below, a Castle in the distance ,lakes, little stations along the way, and Hydro schemes, great feats of engineering, one inside the mountain ,fed from a Lake above ,needing more research. One lovely sight was nice grey, roan, cows escaping the heat ,standing up to their bellies in the river . [In NZ they would have incurred a great fine ,and much publicity, but what a peaceful scene it was…]
The bus retrieved us and on to lunch, which was at Betws-y-caed, low and behold ,it was where I had lunch 4 years ago, on my journey into Wales, coming a totally different way, from Liverpool. A good 3 course lunch with nice company. This was an old Resort Village, where the gentry came on the train, so all the Hotels are built facing away from the sun, [which is North is this hemisphere, ] as the ladies considered it common to have sun on their pale skins, only workers had that.!!
Onward through Snowdonia National Park up over a high pass, often closed by snow in winter, down into the glacial valley with impressive rocks and good views of Mt Snowden, which has a tiny train that runs to the top, pleased it wasn’t our train..! The scenery was so varied and interesting. Large castle like towers, Welsh built ,to look out for the English. Houses tucked away in very shaded areas, and that would be not great, as Wales has a lot of rain, but just like” A Place In The Country”.
As an extra we were driven through Canarvan , right around the Castle, grim but impressive, on the tidal estuary, but in fairness with the tide out was not at its best, and an untimely, yelled, outburst, from the fellow passengers, that it was TOO Hot, and Turn down your microphone, with out a please or thank you ,sort of spoiled the moment.!
However 8 hours of simply beautiful, varied scenery ,and so much we learnt , we were not deterred, and both loved our day in Wales .[Moving transport a lot of the day ,so photography difficult.]
We slept for 9 solid hours.! 2 very full days in a row..!Read more