The Smallest and the Biggest house!

I built this town!
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3:35 am, it's time to go! My bag is packed since last night... It's another great day in Nottingham, rain, rain! And I'm going to Wales, all my welsh friends told me that it's always raining in Wales, expecially in the northern part! Ah who cares, I love rain! When it's not to strong! I love walking to the station at this time because there's always a couple lads coming back from the pub, some grumpy old doing I don't know what,  anyway the strangest persons of Nottingham are there!

I've catch the 4:35 train to Conwy via Chester and Bangor.

The roof of Conwy from the Fortified Walls
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Arrived in Conwy at 9:45.

Croesco I'r Dref Gaerog a very cheerful sign welcomes me to Conwy! To get out of the station you need to climb three fences, step over the track, walk on thin edge for finally see the real exit! I was doing the escape route for the non-payer! But anyway, it's a monday morning and I'm the only one in town!

The first person I saw was Edward I, not the real one but a statue! In fact the whole town was built by him...not really, but by is subject to protect the English territories from the Welsh. Conwy's castle was an important part of King Edward I's plan of surrounding Wales in "an iron ring of castles" to subdue the rebellious population.

Conwy's Castle
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The only purpose of my trip was to be able to see the iron ring of castles. So I'm walking to the visitors' center of the Conwy. A nice lady welcomes me and tells me that the entry to the castle is closed because of high wind! I wonder to myself if she didn't drink to much for NYE! But nevertheless  I can't see the first castle of the iron ring! So I decided to do the second thing on my list which is to walk the fortified walls of Conwy! This is probably worth more than the castle in my own mind is to walk around the town to see how the cities were lay out in that time! The only thing I didn't think was that I've still have my backpack on my shoulder and I start to loose some energy. But the tour of the walls is worth it!

The smallest house in the UK
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As I turn to Conwy Bay, I suddenly see another thing that is in the "to do" the smallest house in the UK. A funny sign says in 5 languages that the house is closed for the winter! Too bad anyway, there was no chance for me to in that shack on the beach!

Second time is the lucky one! The nice lady is happy to let me go in the castle. I did study every corners how it! Like a real tourist!

"Anyone looking at Conwy Castle for the first time will be impressed first and foremost by the unity and compactness of so great a mass of building, with its eight almost identical towers, four on the north and four on the south, pinning it to the rock on which it stands. Especially striking is the long northern front, where the tower's equidistant spacing divides the wall surface into three exactly similar sections, each pierced by a similar pair of arrowloops, and each rising to a common battlement line."

I couldn't say it better myself!

Sorry but I like history and castles! So I sat there in the middle of the courtyard and wonder how they build it and imagined all the defense system that the castle has to offer! It was great until it start raining.

Took the train at 15:45 to go to Bangor when I was staying for the next couple days exploring the Northern Wales.