My brother and his fiance have come up from the South of England to visit me at university this weekend. This, being their first time in the area, I took upon myself the role of tour guide and strove to show them some of the best places in North Wales….well…at least all the best places within half an hours drive of Bangor.
Our first stop was Penrhyn Castle, an old country home belong to Penrhyn Family, the house was built-in the 1800s and was designed to resemble a Norman castle. As all of us were National Trust members, which meant we could get into the castle for free, which always a good incentive for visiting. Unfortunately, no flash photography is allowed inside which meant most of my photos came out terrible, however the castle does offer some extensive views of the Menai Straits and Snowdonia.
Next we headed across the Menai Bridge to Anglesey
Beaumaris Castle was the last of Edward I’s great castles built-in Wales and would have been the grandest of them all, if only the construction hadn’t run out of money. As a result Beaumaris has always been left in rather uncompleted state, but it still impresses the eyes. We had a great time exploring the halls and examining the history of Beaumaris castle, although there were a few more dead pigeons littering the staircases than I remember.
Next we drove across to the other side of Anglesey to visit my favourite beach in the world
I love Newbrough Beach and that’s saying a lot because I don’t really like sandy beaches in general, however Newbrough just has so much in close proximity that its impossible to be bored there. Of course today wasn’t a day for sunbathing so we instead tried our luck at skimming stones, followed by a brief walk along the beach before turning around and heading back through the coastal forest. If you would like to see more sunnier photos of Newbrough see here
Finally it was back to Bangor, narrowly missing a rare red squirrel which decided to say hello to the car, for our last stop of the day.
Bangor Pier is situated at the mouth of the Menai and from it you have a good view of either end of the straits and of the mountains of Snowdonia. Little kiosks along the pier self a variety of tacky touristy stuff, plus a really tasty seafood chowder. The pier does require a 50p entrance fee and dogs are not allowed, however the view at the end is simply amazing.
Thus concludes my tale, if you enjoyed this story feel free to write in the comments, or leave a like and thanks for reading.
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Piers need more attention in my view. We live close to one in Southwold and I have very happy memories of another at Herne Bay as a child – sadly now mostly got to fire in the 1980s. Thanks for introducing us to Bangor Pier, a fine example though what’s with the no dog rubbish? Pah!
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Agreed back home, I’m situated near Brighton where the pier is very much the focal point of the city, thankfully Bangor Pier is pretty well looked after, especially considering when nearby piers like the one in Colwyn Bay are seriously struggling
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Very pretty!
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Thanks for taking me on this lovely tour. My honeymoon was spent chasing castles in Wales but we didn’t get as far north as this. Love the pier too.
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Your welcome, Wales has some brilliant and well preserved castles in the north and south, hopefully I be able to make it to the south one day to visit some of them
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I spent a week in Wales riding around on the back of a Honda Goldwing. It was fabulous. We stayed in Conway , right beside the castle.
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Sounds like quite an adventure
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A gorgeous tour, thank you for showing me this beautiful location and sharing the history. Lovely.
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Two things:
1) I dream of going to Wales one day, the music, the sea, the names! The names; I thought Snowdonia was a totally fictional trope. Why would I think that? It snows a lot here in West Michigan but not as much as it does at the engineering school, Northern Michigan University. We’ll get 72 maybe 84 inches of snow in a winter down here where I live but up there it snows a lot more, around 125 on average. I seriously thought you were going to be an engineering student who had renamed Marquette Michigan as Snowdonia. Well..I log in to learn how others live. Today I learned Snowdonia is real and it’s in Wales and the average snowfall is quite negligible.
2) You don’t like sand beaches?? I’m having a moment of cognitive dissonance. I’ll recover.
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Well Snowdonia National Park gets it name from the highest peak Snowdon. which derives from the old English for Snow Hill. Snowfall here is probably much lower than in Michigan but for an Anglo Saxon one thousand years ago and for me now there’s a lot more snowfall than I’ve ever seen. But the Welsh have their own language and call Snowdonia Eryri which basically means the highlands. I’m glad to have brought it to your attention it really is one of the most beautiful parts of Wales and if you like the names than you’ll have to make a stop at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch if your ever in Wales. You get a good view of Snowdonia for there too. Now I want to visit Michigan , but does Michigan have sandy beaches?
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Very beautiful,now I feel like I’ve had a relaxing day sight-seeing. Thank you!
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