Beaumaris

We both slept quite well in our ancient Smithy. If there ever was a place you reckon ghosts might visit you in your sleep, a 16th century smithy in a eight hundred year old Welsh Village may be the on the top of the list, but we heard had nary a boo.

Entry to the pathway leading across the Golf Course about forty yards from the Smithy

Public pathway to Beaumaris across the golf course. NEVER in America would they actually have a metal sign directing you to walk across a private golf course. Gotta love the Welsh!

We had a quick breakfast and decided to spend the day exploring Beaumaris and visiting the local castle. (I love saying that, I wish every town in America had a local castle...) It seemed pretty nice outside by Welsh standards so we bundled up and headed out retracing our route from the night before. It's lambing season and the lush Welsh rolling hillsides seem like just about the nicest place on earth for a herd of sheep to reside.

We've only been here a couple of days but you can't help but fall in love with the beauty of this place. When we visited Switzerland one of the things that struck us about it was that it was exactly what you imagined Switzerland to look like in your minds eye. Big Swiss cows with large bells clinging to gorgeous snow-capped mountainsides with chalets and "ricola" echos in the background! Well that's how Wales seems, just like you'd picture it. Verdant green hills running in every direction bordered by century old stone fences with crumbling castles, looking out over a rugged mountainous landscape as far as the eye can see. It just seemed "so Wales"!

After making our way across the golf course we walked down the little lane which led into town. On Google Maps it says that this is a half mile trek but we're here to tell you that Google LIES!!! We think it might be a little closer to nine miles, but that may just be because we were a little tired.

Beaumaris lies on the eastern entrance to the Menai Strait, the tidal waterway separating Anglesey from the coast of Northern Wales.
The village was was originally a Viking settlement known as Porth y Wygyr "Port of the Vikings", but the town itself began its development in 1295 when Edward I of England, having conquered Wales, commissioned the building of Beaumaris Castle as part of a chain of fortifications around the North Wales coast to protect against Welsh uprisings.

Today Beaumaris is a sleepy little coastal town (sleepy in March anyway, this place must be overrun by tourists come June and July), with pastel painted buildings, small shops and restaurants catering to the locals and visitors alike and a pretty little waterfront promenade with a nice little pier.

We poked around the city, looking down little back alleys and dead ends and finally came out at the port. We walked along the quay towards the pier. It was fairly cool out with a stiff little breeze but you could see that the weather was about to clear and the sun was starting to peek out from between the clouds.

We walked out onto the pier and you could see why this area must have had such a strategic value to Edward I. You can see for miles up and down the strait and far off into the hills that run off into the distance. From this vantage point you could have kept a watchful eye on any ship movements or potential uprisings.

We crossed the street next to one of the oldest houses in Britain, the small black and white Tudor style half timbered building. Sometimes it just takes you aback how OLD everything is over here and how run of the mill a four or five hundred year old structure is. This house was built around 1400. Wrap your head around that. And here's a real kick in the teeth, it's now a Real Estate Office. Sheesh!

We walked across the street to the oldest pub in Beaumaris for a couple of pints of Welsh Ale and some sandwiches. The Ye Olde Bull's Head pub is four hundred years old and was boiling hot from the coal fire that the barmaid kept stoking and just a little bit uncomfortable being that there was like an eighty year old Welsh woman glaring at us the whole time, but we tried to ignore her withering glare and finished up our lunch and headed back out into what now was a lovely bright and sunny spring day!

There was a cute little antique shop we had noticed from the night before so after finishing our ale and sandwiches we strolled down the street and went inside. The proprietor had some amazing stuff and we'd have been in trouble if we had access to a car, van or shipping container. In the end we decided on a local round turn of the century bread board made of sycamore. It's SO cool!

It's great fun to be able to look at "REAL" antiques from the areas you visit and this shop did not disappoint. Part of what's so special about purchasing antiques during your travels is that they will always hold a special place in your heart and you never forget where you found each and every item.(The words of a true hoarder! :))

Gates into Beaumaris Castle. 

OK, by now it has to be PAINFULLY obvious that I am completely and hopelessly smitten with castles. I don't know what it is, but I know enough to realize that it's something of an obsession. Well damn mental health, we are in CASTLE COUNTRY and I'm going to see some castles!!!

The inner coutyard

Beaumaris castle was one of the last of the mighty castles that was built to establish a ring of defense against the Welsh by King Edward I of England. It is said to be one of the most perfectly proportioned castles ever constructed and was suppose to be the antithesis of Edwards formidable building campaign. Unfortunately Edward ran out of funds for the project and it was never finished. 

It was a gorgeous spring day, sunny with blue skies and we were almost completely alone exploring the castles nooks and crannies. AHHHhhhhhhhhhhhh castle lovers bliss!!!!!!!

One of things that really shows the difference between how the U.S. and Europe look at things is to go out and visit a historical site. In the U.S. an old fort or monument is roped off, with plexiglass and fencing covering any hole or crawl space and a very stringent tour route mapped out that visitors must adhere to without any sort of deviation. Everything has to be spelled out for the visitor, nothing left to chance. I guess we're that dumb.

Now visit the same sort of site in Europe and the UK and there will be open 200 ft. cisterns with nary a rope in sight, jagged rusty metal protruding from open catwalks you are allowed to crawl along eight stories above a stone courtyard and slick moss covered stone spiral steps without handholds leading to a light-less dungeon. The onus in Europe is on the visitor and it's freeing. They allow you to ACTUALLY see and feel things the way they were. The difference in the mind set is that it makes you feel like you're truly walking through a castle and not on a homogenized Disney ride.

The other wonderful thing about these types of sites in Europe is that if you plan your visit for an off day, say a Monday or Tuesday, and not during peak tourist season (that's part of the reason we plan our trips for early spring, not summer, you can usually have the place almost entirely to yourself.

We spent a good hour exploring all of the little warrens and passageways and finally climbed a central tower to the highest point in the castle and came out on a walkway that gave us outstanding views of the Welsh countryside and the strait.

It's pretty awesome to stand on the very battlement used six hundred years ago to watch for Welsh uprisings and to look out over the same landscape and envision what it must have been like centuries ago to walk these very walls. Yes, I am that much of a nerd...

We walked around the upper wall and more people had started to enter the castle so we knew it was time for us to leave. We don't share well. So we made our way towards one of the front towers and took one of the before mentioned slick stone spiral staircases down.

We walked down to the bus stop in the middle of Beaumaris and caught a bus back to the Smithy. Our feet needed a rest after all of that cobblestone. 

Once home we decided to have a look around our little village and visit the church which is only about fifty yards away from our vacation rental.

It's pretty cool to have a medieval church that people drive long distances to see basically in your backyard. It's quite convenient. 

We went inside the church and looked around and then visited the graveyard with stones dating from the fifteenth century.

It was a beautiful evening and the sun was starting to set so not wanting to stand around in an ancient medieval graveyard in the dark (not that we are superstitious or anything...) we decided to head back to the Smithy for dinner and to rest our weary bones.