Plan…Travel…Repeat

Today we fly home. Our flight is at 2 and I have scheduled us an uber for 10. It should take us about 1:30 to get to the airport so we won’t be that early.

We got all packed last night so we headed out this morning to get a pastry at Gail’s. We had passed one on our way to the subway the other day but then couldn’t find it this morning. It was in the retail tunnel between the train and tube stations. We incorrectly went to the tube station and didn’t find it and then went around the back still looking for it before I remembered what we had done. Once there it was an easy trek back to the hotel. The pastries were as good as they had been out in Hampstead so if you are in London and you pass a Gail’s you should stop in for a bite.

The uber was right on time and it took us 45 minutes to get across London to the E&A museum. I had thought our cab to the Tower hotel last trip and been really long due to a protest that was going on but now I realize it is just a long way across town with no good way to go. So although I like this hotel I won’t be staying there again. I will definitely stay on the west side of town or close to the train that goes right out to the airport.

We made it to the airport with no problems and I decided to check all my bags. Good thing I did because Val ended up with too much and I had to carry one of her bags on the plane. Flying business is so much nicer than economy. I don’t know if I am going to be able to go back. I don’t even ever lay the seat flat but it is so nice to have your legs raised up and have your own little cocoon area. I tried to sleep and probably did a little bit mostly just laid there. I didn’t get my earbuds out so I could listen to my own music and stuff which was disappointing but I survived. I certainly wasn’t going to buy a second pair on this trip.

The flight was pretty uneventful. The Chicago airport is a dump and our connecting flight was delayed so we spent more time there than intended. We finally made it back to Austin around 1 in the morning. It was a full day and I was super tired but glad to be home.

I had a great time on the trip. I had been planning it for a few years and planned my retirement to come right before we left. I thought it would be good to not only have something to think about other than the retirement and also would give me a transition before I had to come up with how I am going to spend my days going forward. Turns out it was pretty hectic.

Some of you know but I didn’t really say much about it, but my mom passed the Sunday before I retired. She had a rough spring, did a little better at the start of the summer then started declining pretty fast. We put her on hospice care in June but she was doing okay until she fell in early August. She never really recovered from that.

My mom loved to travel. She loved to go anywhere it didn’t matter where it was or what we were doing she just liked to go. She was the easiest travel companion I ever had. I could plan anything and it would be the best thing ever. I took her all over. Our first big trip together was to England. We did it the spring of 2002. She was worried and invited a friend from her college days to come with us. I was so mad at her for that. Turned out it was okay the friend was really fussy and made my mom look so good in comparison.

We had a great time. I rented a car and she was the navigator. She wasn’t very good at it but we made it from London to Scotland and back. She was notorious for sleeping in the car, even when she was driving, but she stayed awake the whole trip taking pictures out the window.

After that trip we did a trip up Oregon, Washington and Vancouver. She loved the ocean and that drive up the Oregon coast was amazing. From there we did the east coast Boston, Vermont and Maine. Nobody loved clam chowder more than mom and she ate it every place we went.

That was our last big trip with just the two of us. My sisters started coming along. We took mom to the Derby (twice), Philadelphia, the Grand Canyon, Charleston, Savannah, Memphis (she loved barbecue ribs), Nashville, Newport, Glacier, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Alaska, Vegas (she loved the penny slots) and countless times to Boston to paint Santa’s. She would have traveled every day if she could. I am a lot like her. I love to go … I got that from her.

We have one more day before we fly out in the morning. We have a late lunch planned at a spot unknown to me celebrate my retirement but the morning is free to wander. We decide to go to the Elizabeth and Albert Museum which is my favorite. We intend to only buzz through and see what is in the shop but decide to do the Schiaparelli exhibit. I had no idea how fashion forward she was. She started designing in the 1920s and went on through the 70s. I have been following the new line for a few years now. Schiaparelli is led by Danial Roseberry a Texas boy whose sister creates earrings here in Austin. I bought some of her earrings (and if you haven’t checked them out you should lizfoxrosberry) and following her led me to her brother and Schiaparelli couture. I thought his designs were a little out there but now I see he is just following her lead. She had some beautiful things as does he but then there was some crazy stuff. She was friends with Dahli and they worked on some things together. It was a fun exhibit to see and I am glad we did it.

After the exhibit we stopped for a pastry for breakfast. Since I am a member we went up to the member dining room however I think the general cafe is in a nicer room and wish we had just done that.

We bought a few things in the gift shop. The E&A has a great gift shop. Then headed off to Harrod’s. It is just a few blocks down from the E&A. We mainly shopped the Christmas and souvenir sections. You walk through all the high end jewelry on the main floor but even if I had not already bought to much there wasn’t anything to tempt me. They should have you walk through more moderately priced things. I could have been persuaded to buy a new purse or another scarf but I couldn’t even considered the diamonds. Waste of opportunity in my opinion. I guess they want to still look super fancy. Not sure why since most of what I see is people buying the Harrods bags. I did buy a few of those.

We made it back to Fortnum & Mason and I got the bag I had been looking at. I was ever hopeful that it would go on sale. It seems like a pretty summer bag to me so I thought they might need to move them out to bring in more fall and winter things but no such luck. I wanted it so I paid full price. For those of you thinking I bought a purse at a tea shop, Fortnum’s is so much more. It is 5 floors with only the ground floor sealing tea, cookies, jams and stuff like that. The basement has food and I definitely recommend their bagels. Floors 1- 3 have Christmas, dishes, women’s accessories, jewelry and random other things. So there is some good shopping to be done.

We dropped off our purchases and headed back out for our lunch. Val had picked a place over in SoHo called Flute so we knew how to get there and it was an easy tube ride. It is a very cute bar. It is in the theater district with both light snacks and full meals. It is a little hard to find. It is in the seventh floor so on the street all you have is a glossy pink door which opens to the reception of a boutique hotel. They take you to a special elevator that goes up to the bar. Pretty much everything is pink and glitzy. So of course I loved it. I even had a pink drink so that I fit in.

We shared several of the small plates and had delicious lobster rolls and fries. we also had dessert. Sadly I didn’t take any photos to show how pretty the dessert was. It was a great place to celebrate my retirement and a great place to end our stay in London.

We had a lot of packing to do so we headed back to the hotel. Neither of us were feeling the best so we didn’t get back out that evening and just snacked on the cookies and things we had in the room.

I can’t believe we head home tomorrow.

Today we are heading out to one of the “London Villages”, Hampstead. It shows up on Instagram quite a bit and thought it would be nice to be out of the crowds.

It was quite a long tube ride but it went out from one of our two close stations so not a long walk. The first stop was Gail’s Pastry shop. We both had flavored croissants. I had ham and cheese, Val had almond. They were both delicious. I will say that the cheese is more cheese sauce not just melted cheese but still good. I highly recommend checking out Gail’s if you are in London, there are several locations.

Hampstead was quaint and there was some nice shopping but not as great as I was hoping. I think it would be a good place to stay although the tube into city attractions would take a bit of time the pace in the morning and evening would be nice. Hampstead has a lot of bakeries and cafes which makes it good for lazy days if that is what you are looking for.

It did make for a nice day although I don’t know that I would go back.

We got back to the hotel had the other half of our bagel and headed back out to see Oliver. I had intended to dress up but since we were using the tube I had to wear my tennis shoes. We had passed the theater while wandering the other day so we knew where we were going so it went fine getting there. It was one of the smaller theaters and off the beaten path over in SoHo so not a long trip. It did take us through the Chinatown.

The show was good but the theater was too hot. We only made it to the intermission. We had great seats but we were in the middle and there was just no air so we decided to cut out before the end.

We stopped at Shake Shack to get an ice tea. I am going to have to support them once I am home. They are the only place that sold ice tea. I had been hunting ice tea from day one and had no luck in Wales but hopeful that I would have more luck in London. I thought all the fast food places might cater to the Americans with an ice tea but that was wrong. Only shake shack came through.

I was afraid I couldn’t take my large cup on the tube so I hid in my purse. I hadn’t seen anyone else carrying cups other than something that had a screw on lid so I thought I shouldn’t risk it. I didn’t want to have to give up my treasure so I awkwardly walked through the station with one hand in my purse holding the cup upright. Sitting in the train with one hand in my purse my mind went crazy thinking that people probably thought I was hiding a gun or something so then I was trying to balance the cup so I could show both hands. My imagination was running wild all so I could have an ice tea. Of course no one was looking at me but I still kept it hidden all the way out of station.

Sadly I didn’t take any pictures in Hampstead and only the one at the theater so not much for today’s post.

Nothing planned for the day until dinner so we were just going to wander around and shop. One of the ladies on the trip recommended shopping for jewelry at Grays, so that was our first stop. It is in the Mayfair area so a good starting point. Grays is like an antique mall for jewelry. Multiple floors full of beautiful things. Way more high end than I was looking for but fun to look at. I did get a nice silver necklace and a Tower of London charm but I had to pass on the turquoise earrings that I liked (way out of my price range).

From here we went to Liberty an old staple in London. I went with the intention of buying a Liberty scarf and I bought two. Last year we didn’t have much time and they didn’t have the one I saw online so I didn’t buy one. This time I tried them all on and got the one I love that is colorful and trendy and the one that looked the best with my coloring.

The Christmas store was open so the top floor was all decorated. It is always fun to see the new stuff but none of it was really my style so sadly I didn’t buy anything.

I did find some fabric that I want to craft with so I did buy a few pieces. They had some fabric for the Bayeux Tapestry so I bought that. I didn’t get to see it but I will either try to go back this year or see it in France so I went ahead and got some. I want to use it to make some kind of sweatshirt.

By now it is afternoon hot and very crowded in London. We walked over to Fortnum and Mason but it was way too crowded we were hot and hungry so we decided to just grab the bagels and head back to the hotel for a break. We decided to cab back instead of walking to the tube station. This might have been a mistake. It took us about an hour to go across town about 4 miles and cost us £60 but we were out of the crowd sitting down in an air conditioned car so maybe it was a great move.

Once back at the hotel we ate half our bagels since it was a bit later than we thought and we had dinner reservations and saved the rest for later. We cooled off and regrouped for our evening.

We had dinner reservations at the Old Bank Of England which is over by the Temple Church where the “Greatest knight who ever lived”, William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke – one of the castles we visited on our tour, is buried. It is also connected to the Knight Templar. We walked through the area but did not go in the church on this trip.

Dinner was delicious. The restaurant is in an old bank building so it is quite elaborate. There was a wedding party in the downstair bar area so it was quite crowded and hot. It was a good evening regardless of the heat.

Today we have a full day in the city. First stop is King’s Gallery Buckingham Palace to see the Queen Elizabeth dress collection.

We found our way there fairly easily. There are two tube stops close to our hotel on different lines so we have a couple of options for wherever we are going. However the one we chose this morning was closed so we had to walk on up to another and make a change we would not have had to make but it worked out in the end.

The exhibit was fabulous. They started with her christening gown and went up through the years. Her wedding and coronation gowns were both on display as well as the blue dress she wore to her sister’s wedding. I had no idea the details on these gowns. Pictures do not do them justice. There was also a lot of her just every day dresses and hats on display. If you are in London before the exhibit leaves I highly recommend it.

From the exhibit we wandered in the area and headed to our Sunday roast at Buckingham Arms. It was delicious but there was no air conditioning and it was rather hot so we didn’t linger.

Sites we saw around London waiting on our lunch.

We were close to Whitehall so we stopped in to see the Banquet House with the Rubens paintings on the ceiling. It was a very nice stop. Hardly any other visitors so we were basically by ourselves. The ceilings are amazing and I felt like I was back in Italy. They provided magnifying mirrors which made it so easy to view the details without straining your neck. A nice detail I wish the Sistine chapel provided. There was a small display area in the under croft (basement) but they didn’t have much to see but did have a layout of the original castle. It now makes sense where things like the mews and horse guards are. They were placed around this castle not Buckingham.

We got back to the hotel to get ready to go see our Shakespeare play at the Globe. It was not far from our hotel. Just over the bridge then down about half a mile so we just walked. The theater is open air so it was hot and muggy. I had bought us seats with cushions so at least we didn’t get wet. We saw Love’s Labor’s Lost. There was a lot of flamenco dancing and comedy so it was really good. can’t say it was comfortable even with the cushions but I am glad we did it. I would suggest only doing this in cooler weather. Not sure how people make it in the summer.

We walked by the original location of the Globe Theater on our way back to the hotel and another day in London was over.

Our first day in London and we are off on the train to go out to Hever Castle. They are having an exhibit of paintings attributed to Anne Boleyn and a craft fair so I think it will be a great day. The train out is right by our hotel which is right by the Tower and Tower Bridge. So we stopped for a few photos on our way to the train.

Hever is just 30 miles outside of London so only a 45 minute train ride. Once you arrive you follow the signs or the people that got off the train before you about a mile through the fields to Hever.

Hever was the Boleyn family home and it was built around 1462. Anne grew up here and was courted by Henry while she was living in the castle.

If it looks familiar it was my first stop on an Alison Weir Tour back in 2017. The Astor’s bought in 1903 and added a Tudor village style hotel back behind the castle and we stayed there on that first trip. This time was just a short visit.

We did the castle and exhibit first. The exhibit was a collection of paintings attributed to Anne but either done after her lifetime or originally thought to be someone else. The portraits have never all been together to compare. The only portrait known to been during her lifetime is the Hoppi Medal and it has degraded through the years so I don’t think it is a good representation of her. At least I hope not that nose is quite large.

Other portraits were done during Elizabeth’s reign to try and rehabilitate her mother. These are all quite good but no one has found what they were basing the likeness on. They say that painting patterns were distributed to encourage painters to paint Anne so they all closely resemble one another but that could be because they are based on the same pattern and not a contemporary painting of Anne.

There is some that say Henry and Jane removed all references to Anne once they were married but others that say that was just how it always went. The new came in and everything was replaced and reused. So it might not have been out of spite or hate as we have been led to believe for years.

Anyway here are the paintings and you can decide which is best and which one you think represents Anne the best. actually I think I missed a few but here are the ones I liked.

The rest of Hever is also amazing so if you are in London it is an easy day trip.

There are also some other Anne items on display.

There were some other paintings of note pinging the great hall.

From the castle we went down through the craft fair. I found some nice things. Nothing I needed but I am glad I bought them. I got a great silver poppie ring and some Henry and wives paper dolls. I also bought a summer linen hat just like the rain one I have been wearing on the trip. I think it will work for my next vacation.

We stopped to have a break. I had a scone and beer, Val had a Coke and short bread. Revitalized we walked through the gardens before heading back to the train station.

The train was a little late but otherwise uneventful. We spoke to some young girls on holiday and another over for the weekend from Ireland. She got tickets to the tapestry and not Elizabeth’s dresses and I was the other way around. Each jealous of what the other was seeing.

We made it back to the hotel and had fish and chips on the lawn out front. It was a lovely night and I thoroughly enjoyed the view.

Today is the last day of the tour. We pack up and leave the hotel for Chester where we have our last lunch and say goodbye. We do have a few sights along the way so it isn’t over yet.

First stop is to the National Shrine of St Winifrede. Winifrede was a Welsh martyr from the 7th century. As the story goes her intended chopped off her head when she told him she decided to become a nun instead of marrying him. Her already sainted uncle, St Bueno was at the scene. A healing spring sprung up from beneath her head and it rejoined her body with the help of St Bueno and her intended died on the spot.

Supposedly water from the well heals all manner of things and people still come daily to swim in the small pool.

Most of our story was on the fact that Lord Stanley, Margaret Beaufort’s husband built the shrine and whether he did it for himself or she was behind the whole thing. There was quite a debate among the historians on it. Some firmly that is was all Margaret’s doing others thought Stanley dissappointed for not being elevated to a higher status after the battle of Bosworth did in hopes of gaining additional approval.

It was a pretty sight and I did try the water but I don’t believe it worked for me. I guess you have to believe it. They had a lot of old canes on display of people who walked away healed. I guess I should have gotten in the pool. Maybe another trip. there was also a lot of early graffiti on the shrine dating to 1600-1800. So some true believers.

From the shrine it was just a short drive to Chester. Getting through the crazy traffic in Chester to the hotel was another story. The bus went round and round until we found the right road to miss the pedestrian areas. I felt like I was in the European vacation moving. We kept passing the same things over and over. It tools us about 30 minutes but we finally pulled up at the hotel and headed to the church.

The Chester Cathedral was amazing. We did not get guides so we just wandered around on our own. It has some lovely mosaic work on the walls. Not gold nd bright like Venice’s St Marks but still very pretty.

There was also some nice regimental flags which I love to see.

And a Lego display of the church.

We had a bit of time before lunch so we walked around town a bit. Chester is a nice place that hopefully I will get back to some time.

We did stop in an art gallery and saw work by Boy George, Johnny Depp, Richard Connolly and James McQueen, who is an unknown actor

Lunch was quite long but good. It is always sad to end the tours. We have already signed up for next year so not so sad this time.

I could have titled this the never ending bus ride but since it was free that felt wrong. Normally we would have had to find our own way back to London but the tour provided the bus and most of us chose to ride it. The trip started off well with us singing along to the radio but it went down hill fast. I thought I would sleep some but no such luck. we stopped about half way for bathroom and food which was good but then we still had quite a bit to go. We thought we would arrive around 8 but it took us about an hour to get to the stop in London. So the last few miles were excruciating. We finally made it and ever ran to get Ubers or taxis so it was not the goodbyes we usually have. The bus ride was long but a car would have been as well and would have cost us about $400 so I really can’t complain.

We have about a week in London before we head home so a lot more left to see and do.

Today started out with another castle, Penrhyn Castle. Penrhyn is was rebuilt between 1822 and 1837 and has been updated through the years to a more modern home. This one was quite imposing from the outside but cold and sparse inside. They got a little carried away with all the plaster work and every wall is adorned with something. Lord Penrhyn was elevated to the peerage in 1783. The house is all about showing off the architect, Thomas Hopper and not the Penrhyn family who owned the slate mines and were part of the slave trade. The National trust now owns the house so at least our visiting did not enhance the family. I will say they didn’t try to hide the connection but I think they could have said more.

The rooms in the manor house were done probably in the 1920. I did love the Japanese wallpaper in the ladies bedroom.

There were some nice gardens.

We didn’t stay to long and we were off again to see another crazy more modern attraction, Portmeirion. It is an Italian style tourist village. It was built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis in 1925 but took years to complete. It was kind of like Italian Disney land. They do make a type of pottery there and there was some good shopping but it was an odd stop. Didn’t hep that it rained like crazy.

We raced to to get to one of the restaurants but they were all full so we shopped a bit in the rain before the cafe cleared out and we got a table. It was a nice Italian spot so lunch was delicious but again just weird. Had it not been raining I am sure it would have been a lovely afternoon. The grounds were beautiful and there was a beach which would have been nice to walk on but the rain pretty much killed the vibe. I did find a cute small suitcase to help carry back all my new purchases so at least that was good.

Form here we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our gala dinner. It was out in the middle of nowhere and although nice not near is spectacular as some of the other places we have had for our dinners. It was at Palé Hall which was a manor house and is now a small boutique hotel. It was cute and the food was really good but again it was no Glamis or Howard Castle. However it had the most over the top bathroom I have ever been in.

We had to pack up and get our luggage out early so it was off to bed as soon as we returned.

Today started out at Beaumaris. Another set of castle ruins set right on the Irish Sea and also part of the Ring of Iron. This was one of the last Edward built and it was never finished. It is a concentric castle which basically means two sets of walls, the outer barbican and the inner bailey. Beaumaris did have a curtained wall both on the inner bailey and the outer barbican. Some of both were still accessible so we walked what we could. Beaumaris had a partial moat which allowed vessels to come in from the sea right up to the castle dock.

We walked around the town for a while and found a crazy vintage store and of course we found something to buy. Sadly we didn’t find anything to eat. We ended up with basically some mozzarella cheese and a slice of cheap ham on toasted plain white bread. Not our best.

We had to hurry because we wanted to go up to the church to see the sarcophagus of Joan, Lady of Wales and the illegitimate daughter of King John. She was married to the Prince of north wales, Llywelyn ap lorwerth. She helped him with his dealings with the English and her father. She had been buried in it but at some point after the dissolution of the monastery the body was lost and the coffin was used as a horse trough. It was discovered and moved to St Mary’s in Anglesey.

Both Beaumaris and Plas Newydd our next stop are on Anglesey island. This was where William and Kate lived when they first married. So there was a lot about them at various spots in the larger towns. A few places were pointed out as we drove by.

Our next castle/manor home, Plas Newydd (new house) is the home of the Marques of Anglesey. The Marquess was upgraded from an Earl after the battle of Waterloo where he lost a leg. A new style of prosthetic leg was made for him which was used for years and called the Anglesey leg. So a lot of people walked on his leg.

The house was on the water and had lovely gardens and was surrounded by trees. It was the prettiest setting we have seen on the trip. They had set up a small museum of the Marquesses military career as you first entered the house. I think mainly so they would have a reason to show off the leg but it had some nice items.

The house was set up as it would have been in the 1800 so different than most we have seen. It was pretty sparse. It did have a large mural by Rex Whistler who died in WWII. He is quite popular in England and did several murals including one in the cafe at what is now the Tate museum, before joining the military to serve in the war and switching to portraits. He has a large collection of war time portraits that are in various museums and homes. At the time he did the mural he was in love with the marquess’ daughter but sadly she did not return his feelings.

The fifth Marquess was a flamboyant man who enjoyed dressing up and putting on plays and large parties. He basically ran through all the money and fled to the continent to avoid bankruptcy. He died shortly after leaving Wales. There is a recent movie about him called Mad Fabulous staring Rupert Everett.

Before becoming the Marquess the Pagent family were earls and they displayed letters they received from Elizabeth I, Edward VI and Mary. They also had a land patent with the seal.

The gardens were lovely and there was a grove up cypress tress that were quite impressive. We had a pretty day so we had an ice cream as we wandered the grounds.

From Plass Newydd we headed back to the hotel. It was relatively early so I thought I would set at the bar and work on my blog. I did have a couple of drinks but ended up just chatting with some other guests and didn’t catch up like I intended. We ate at the hotel which was not a great meal but we didn’t have to walk to get it so it was fine. They tried to be all fancy but it was nothing special. We ate with our friends so the company made up for the food.

We had a short drive across the river to Conwy. In fact we could see the castle from our hotel. Conwy Castle is again another of Edward I’s Ring of Iron. It is now a unesco site and considered one of the finest examples of 13th century military architecture. It has 8 large towers and two barbicans. We climbed 4 of the towers and they were way up there. It was super windy but lovely day so the views were worth it.

The best photo to show how high two of the towers are. We climbed both of them.

The town of Conwy has a medieval town wall that connected to the castle and enclosed the original town.

From the castle we headed to Plas Mawr, which means great hall in Welsh. It was built in stages by Robert Wynn, member of the local gentry. He started it in 1576 and added onto as the surrounding plats became available. He was part of the 16th century McMansion problem. The building is still pretty much in the form Wynn left it in. Seems his will was so complicated it was tied up in court for years. It does become tenant dwellings in the 18th and 19th centuries before being handed over to the Welsh Heritage Society in 1993.

Plas Mawr is considered to be on of the best Elizabethan town homes left in England. The plaster work is quite crazy in some of the rooms and in others it is typical coats of arms. It seems Wynn wanted to claim lineage to Welsh royalty and had the coats of arms of all the major families on his walls. The historians said that native women were all the rage and were in other Elizabethan houses but I haven’t seen it before. Looks kind of cartoonish to me.

We had tour guides from the house but good thing Nathan was around because they had a hard time answering questions about the crests and why they had them. The one with the three severed head belongs to the Ednyfed Fychan who Wynn’s wife Dorothy had a connection. Seems he was fighting under Llywelyn the great and brought him 3 English severed heads after a battle Llyweyn changed his coat of arms for the deed. The colors are a little brash but the historians all claim that the Elizabethans loved color and would have had everything brightly painted.

We finished the house and went in to town for lunch and to shop around. We considered sitting down for lunch but decided to just grab something and walk around. I took a recommendation from the welsh man in front of me in line for the traditional pork pie. It looked delicious a small pastry filled cup. Sadly it was not. It might have been really good if it had been warm and at least edible if it had been room temperature but ice cold it was completely unappetizing. It was cold ground pork not really sausage flavor just tasted like congealed fat. The pastry might have been okay but again cold it was just cold. We did shop for a bit but didn’t find much which is good since my suitcase is already full.

There was a church in town that had been built around the time of Henry VII and had a lot of carvings to honor the marriage of his son Arthur and Catherine of Aragon. Mike was very excited to find all the different heraldic symbols.

This hand crocheted/tatted lace was made by ladies of the church in 1787.

After a bit we met up with Julian to do the wall walk. It no longer completely encloses the town but it does go down along the back. It surprisingly was not one height. I don’t know why I thought it would be. I guess I thought instead of the wall being taller at lower ground places it pretty much stayed the same height and just went down and up depending on the rolling hills of the ground. So basically there were some stairs between portions and it had some steep inclines. Julian pointed out the features and how they would have been used and the problem with having so much wall. Edward put up so many castles he didn’t have enough men to cover them all so at times there were just 40 soldiers at Conwy and they could not man all the walls all the time.

One feature Julian pointed out were the 12 garderobes along the wall just past the castle. The medieval equivalent to a Buc-ee’s bathroom stop. The protrusions are each a garderobe.

After the walk we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. It was at a Welsh farm to table place and probably the best meal I have had on the trip so far. I had the lamb and it was delicious. Sarah Gristwood joined the tour and we sat at her table and she did the after dinner talk.

It was a great day. We packed a lot into the day Conwy.