The Pod Abroad: Sunday 24 June North Wales

Back in the late 1200s, Edward I of England had an ongoing problem with keeping the Welsh in line, particularly in the mountainous northern regions. After two rebellions he became tired of having to repeatedly address this issue, so he decided to build a series of castles, encircling Snowdonia, as a demonstration of his strength. Today these castles still stand, and the names evoke the history of these places - Caernarvon, Harlech, Beaumaris, Conwy . . .

We visited two of these magnificent monuments to the English Welsh conflicts, Conwy and Caernarvon. Both are still largely complete, and you can go inside them, climb all over them, scramble up the stairs and stand in the high towers. Caernarvon has a more recent history to it, as this is where the investiture ceremony for Prince Charles was held in 1969. When your idea of castles consists of Larnach’s castle, the length of history that these two embody is a revelation.

Later in the day, we drove across Snowdonia, the ‘mountain’ region of Wales. Yes, it was rugged, and yes, it was wild, but gosh was it tiny! It took us about 40 minutes to drive right across it from one side clear across to the other. How on earth do walkers manage to get lost in a wee neighbourhood like this?? It seems like you are never far away from a decent road and a pub serving hot food and real ale.

Spent the night at our second hostel of this trip, Lledr house near Pont-y-Pant. Beautiful, remote, and almost completely deserted - just us and two other inhabitants that we only saw once. Had a nice evening stroll down to the creek and amongst the sheep. Almost reminded me a little bit of Makarora in some ways. Maybe is was just the type of accommodation - bunk beds rule!!