We were corrected by our hotel host that we have NOT been seeing Welsh castles, merely the English ones. The Welsh castles are typically older and in ruins, the English castles were built to dominate, enslave, and prevent the Welsh from rising against them.
Unfortunately our plan for the day was so see more English castles. We started at Castle Conwy, built in the 1280s, one of 17 called that Edward the first built or rebuilt during his reign.
The conquered Welsh had to work to build and pay for the castle and the thick walls that surrounded the town through heavy taxes, yet we're not allowed to live within. Instead Edward I filled the medival city with loyal subjects he brought over from England.
Despite the disgruntled attitude that the Welsh still hold towards the English, the castles are lovely and very much worth visiting. As we work our way back down south we'll try and even out the sites.
Next up, the Bodnant Gardens, 80 acres of stunning gardens and woodlands.
Least stop of the day too us to the Great Orme, once a bronze age mining area, now it's a nature preserve way up at the top of a tiny pennisula.
The wind is pretty strong and the pennisula was bare of any
trees but full of birds, sheep, and views back towards the main cost of Wales and the mountains beyond.
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