May 14: Caernarfon Castle

After Conwy Castle, next stop was Caernarfon Castle. I walked 15min back to Llandudno Junction before catching the 12:54pm train to Bangor. It had started spotting rain a little so I whipped out my jacket. It didn't last long though. 

Arriva are the train company in Wales and I've noticed that the wi-fi on their trains is always reliable and all of their trains have a catering trolley. 

At Bangor I took the 5C bus from the train station to Caernarfon as the train doesn't go there. There was some beautiful scenery on the way, some of which I managed to capture on the way back.

I arrived at Caernarfon at 1:15pm. It was only a few minute's walk to the castle but I stopped for some lunch on the way.

The castle looks small from this angle but this is the view at one end.

Like Conwy, the castle is largely ruin with a large open area in the middle.  And once again, you could access most areas and towers.

However, compared with Conwy Castle, there were a larger number of enclosed rooms and passage ways which gave you a greater sense of what it might have been like to live in one of these places.

Both Caernarfon and Conwy castles had treacherous spiral staircases with very narrow steps and only rope to hold on to. They were definitely the most dangerous I've come across this trip.

Of course, I had to climb them though. 

I noticed numerous outcrops of wildflowers embeded in the barren castle rock. A testiment to resilience.

This gull seemed to think he was king of the castle. 

A number of the towers housed exhibitions. This one traced all of the Princes of Wales. 

I didn't realise, but the weekend coincided with Castell02, which was an art project consisting of exhibitions and installations around parts of the castle. It was a showcase of 16 artists and their work produced in response to Caernarfon, the castle, its stories and people. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get to see all of them.

This was part of an installation in the well tower. It consisted of a series of crocheted water buckets joined with crocheted water coming out of the well. The hands were cast from people currently associated with the castle - workers and artisans.  Unfortunately it was too dark to get a good shot of the entire installation and I think it's probably better close up. It was lovely talking to the artist - she was so excited about the exhibition.

Another involved a guy playing very dreamlike washes of electric guitar in one of the other towers. I'm sure the installation had more to it than just that, but I thought that ambient sound made a perfect soundtrack to wandering around the castle. I think it would be great to have it all the time and was a huge contrast from the constant "pomp and ceremony" soundtrack they played at Warwick Castle.

You can read more about the exhibition at  http://www.stamp.cymru/en/project/castell-en/.

After spending another 3 hours exploring the innards of the castle it was time to move on and I wanted to get a better picture of the outside. On the water side you could see the town wall.

Getting a good picture of the entire side of the castle proved more difficult than expected. I started by crossing over the river but then I figured my wide angled lens would have worked just as well on the castle side. I was wrong and the only pictures I could get included cars in the car park. By the time I realised that the other side of the river would have been the best option it was too late to go back. 

In order to get back to Llandudno at a reasonable time I had to make my way back to the bus. I caught the 5C bus at 4:42pm back to Bangor. This bus route was really cool because there was a screen and voice announcement for every bus stop which made it super easy to work out where I was and when to request a stop.

There I had a little wait before catching the 5:58pm train to Llandudno Junction. This time I managed to get some shots of the scenery on the way.

The land on the other side of the water is Anglesey, an island on the north west tip of Wales.

As I was framing some shots on the train the man in the seat in front spoke to me hazarding a guess at the shutter speed and ISO I was going to need. As it turned out I was managing slightly lower ISO but he was close. Turns out he was a professional landscape photographer and we had a nice chat about travel photography. It was a nice interruption. He have me some tips for photographing around Llandudno too. 

Finally I caught the 6:24pm bus back to Llandudno. 

The public transport went really well today. Everything worked easy and I felt confident and not too worried about missing a connection. I had helped that I'd done my homework thoroughly before heading out. 

May 14: Conwy Castle

I didn't really feel like rushing about to catch trains and buses today but the forecast was for really good weather so I felt I shouldn't waste it. After spending a bit of time researching, I found a way I could easily get to visit both Conwy and Caernarfon castles in the one day. I have a number of travel apps and planners for the UK but recently I've found that directions in Google Maps provides the best results. They have all the UK public transport information and provide really easy to follow plans. 

When I left the hotel the sky was perfect blue but the wind still had a bite to it. Having said that, it was the first day this trip I felt able to head out without my big coat. A jumper and spray jacket should suffice (and they did). 

Even though it was a Sunday morning, there were plenty of buses to chose from to get to my first destination. Conwy is very close to Llandudno Junction but too far to walk. I caught the number 13 bus at 9:55am which would take me to within 15min walking distance of the castle.  

The castle looked spectacular on approach. 

Beside it is the walled town of Conwy. 

The castle was pretty much a ruin with information placed at points of interest. Still, it was well preserved and you were able to walk just about anywhere, including nearly all of the towers. 

As you'd expect, the towers gave a great view of the surrounding area. 

There were some internal areas still enclosed.

You could tell where the floors would have been inside the cavernous towers. 

It was a great experience and certainly would have been an impressive structure in its heyday. Speaking of which, the castle was one of a series of castles built by Edward I to suppress the Welsh after England invaded.

I spent about 3 hours walking around the castle which was just enough. After that it was time to move on to the next one. 

May 5: Bodiam Castle

I took the train to Hastings. On the final approach to the station we passed hills of 3-4 story houses perched up high. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a photo. I need to get to Hastings in order to catch a bus to Bodiam where there is a ruined castle I wanted to visit. I think castles will be a major feature of this trip.

As I waited for the 349 bus I noticed that everyone getting on the other buses were using contactless cards. I didn't see anyone pay by cash. This made me a little concerned that I wouldn't be able to get a ticket so I asked someone and they confirmed that you can pay by cash. Phew! When the 349 bus arrived I purchased a return ticket to Bodiam.  The bus took about an hour with 1/2 of the trip travelling along narrow roads edged with hedgerows. 

When I arrived, the castle was peeking through the trees. After purchasing my ticket from an extremely friendly assistant I started to explore the grounds and the castle. 

Bodiam is quite distinctive in its compact design and intact moat. 

You can walk up the stairs inside the towers, though the steps were ridiculously high. The top gave a great view of the Kent countryside. 

They also gave a good view of the ruins inside the castle. Unlike Dover, there were hardly any intact spaces. 

I started to get a little fixated by photographing the outside world through the empty windows, gaping holes and doorways.

Walking back across the bridge to the castle, another visitor noticed the very unattractive fish in the moat. 

I had a while to wait before the bus back to Hastings, so wandered around the tiny town on Bodiam and the beautiful surrounding Kent countryside. 

I started to worry when the bus was over 10 min late. They don't run very frequently. Just as I was trying to figure out what I'd do if it didn't turn up, it arrived and took me back to Hastings before a final train trip back to Ashford station.  

The walk back to the hotel was grey and very cold. I even needed to get out my hat and gloves for the first time to keep me warm. But, once again, that's not really a complaint. I don't mind a bit of cold.

It was another fun day of adventure in beautiful countryside.

May 4: Dover Castle

I've been wanting to visit Dover Castle for a while but didn't get to it on previous trips. I can vaguely visiting the castle as a child and I've been curious to see if any of it is familiar. From the train station it was about 1/2 hour walk to the castle. As you can see, the castle is high up on a hill. 

It was quite a steep walk in places. 

After breathlessly purchasing my entry ticket I began to walk around the grounds. There are numerous towers and walls dotted around the site in various degrees of decay. 

Eventually I made it to the main castle walls and the square keep inside.

Build circa 1181-88 - that's what I call a historical building. 

Inside the keep you can walk up stairways to check out the various floors and make it to the roof. 

There are a surprising number of stairways, passages, nooks and halls. I suppose I'd expected it to be one hollow space. 

I don't remember what was inside, so I'm not sure how recent these furnishings are. But they certainly bring the space to life.  

Along with a blazing fire in one of the rooms, it was surprisingly warm and cosy inside. 

One small room was the King's chapel. The stained glass created an incredibly vibrant pattern on the floor. 

The view from the top was spectacular. In particular, there is a saxon church also on the site within the grounds that looked perfect perched on the hillside.

And it was a long way down. 

When I reached the Constable's Gate I had my first real sense of recognition. I don't know if it was from a personal memory or from reading the souvenir guide mum and dad used to have, but I definitely remembered this part of the castle. 

Along the outer wall of the castle was the moat, now inhabited by grazing sheep. 

Inside, there were more walls. 

After wandering around the castle and stopping for some cake and coffee I headed to the edge of the site with a great view of the English Channel. Unfortunately, it was too hazy to see France. 

On the edge of the site was my last stop - the tunnels. Under and around the castle there are miles of tunnels on 3 levels. They were first built at the time of the Napoleonic wars and then used extensively in WWII. Finally, they were prepared for use as a nuclear fallout shelter which was thankfully never required.

The tunnels are now used to house a multimedia exhibition on the evacuation from Dunkirk. It was tremendously well done and took us deep into the tunnels, going more than 26 metres deep at one stage. 

The tour finished at 5:17 and the train back to Ashford left Dover Priory station at 5:58. I wasn't exactly how long it had taken me to walk to the castle but I didn't want to miss the train so I power walked back down the hill. Fortunately, I made it in plenty of time. 

By the time I made it back to the hotel my feet and legs were killing me. So I had a quiet dinner while working on my blog and resting those legs. 

And as expected, the weather had greatly improved from the grey overcast morning. In the middle of the day it had been sunny, though still fresh.