Isle of Anglesey, Wales Remaining Days: Mt. Snowdon, Beaumaris Castle, and Caernarfon Castle

    Not letting rain isolate me to my hostel room, I continued to venture out day after day. Two days of cycling around the isle, and a big couple of days of making my way from Holyhead to Beaumaris and Caernarfon then finally to Llanberis to climb Mt.Snowdon.
    In a day consisting of six buses I managed to visist Beaumaris and Caernarfon Castle. Beaumaris Castle is considered one of the finest examples of a castle ever, built at a time when castle making was at its peak. Though never finished it remained a fine place to explore. Moving to Caernarfon, the castle was built by Edward the I (as was Beaumaris) and makes up part of his Iron Ring of Castles. Built mainly to prevent future uprisings in Wales, the Castle was of huge proportions and accompanied with torrential rains was quite a foreboding site.
   Moving on to the highlight of my trip: Mt.Snowdon. In order to climb this mountain, the highest in Wales and Britain, I ventured to the little mountain village of Llanberis...
    Crawling out of my bunk and donning layer after layer of clothing, I took my first steps out of the hostel into the fresh mountain air. Following the Llanberis trail, I scrambled through the windswept landscape, the fields illuminated a bright gold by the rising sun. As the path weaved into the mountain pass, the landscape began its gradual transformation. Each step taking me higher and higher, the ground turned from rock to snow and the visibility turned from good to bad. Trekking through a two feet of snow and unable to see more than a couple of meters in front of me, I could only hope the summit was close. By the time I reached the summit, I was rewarded with a breathtaking view: a panorama of white. Feeling no less accomplished, (okay, maybe a little) I began my descent down the snowy pass. Eventually emerging from the clouds, my sight was regained and was afforded views of the valley and glacial lake. Troughting into town, I plopped myself into the nearest cafe and had myself a well deserved breakfast of eggs, bacon, fried toast, hashbrowns, and tea. (and cake...) Feeling accomplished I burnt up the rest of the day by nestling myself in the shadow of Dolbadarn Castle with my book, serenaded by the quite lapping of the mounatain streams and a silence afforded only in nature.

Dolbadarn Castle, Llanberis

A Mountain Morning: Llanberis Trail

Mountain Ascension

The Start of the Snow

The Thick of the Snow

My Lovely Mountain View

Glacial Lake After Descent

Some Mountains

Glacial Lake

Lake...

Fields!

A View

My Post-Climb Breakfast (all for 3 pounds!)

Isle of Anglesey, Wales: Trip and Day 1

    After hours of studying and test taking the completion of finals finally came around. With that, NUIM granted all of us students a week and a half break before the start of the second semester. Taking advantage of that, with many thanks to my Grandma Ruth, I set off from Dublin Port on a ferry to Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey. The Isle of Anglesey is an island off the north west coast of Wales and the largest Island in the Irish Sea. Arriving in Holyhead I made my way to my spacious hostel of Anglessey Outdoors and settled in for the night in preparation for the following day...

    Stepping out of my hostel in the early morning, the sun rising up from the windswept hills, I took in the fresh, crisp sea air and made my way up the road to the trail head; my day would consist of a 12-mile hike on a trail going in a circle around holyhead. Reaching the trailhead, (a wood ladder over a stonewall into a farmers field) I took my first steps onto the saturated, mucky, more water than grass trail which would define the first couple miles of my hike. Crosing field after field, running into horses, sheep, and cows, my trek began to take a vertical change. Ascending up Holyhead Mountain was when the real journey began. Gone was the sun, replaced with a sky of gravel grey. Not wanting to be caught at the top of the cliffs when the rain started, I quickened my pace. Alas, it was not meant to be. The sky opened up and rain showered down upon me for two hours, stopping for just my last bit of hiking. Turning the last corner of the trail, the sun broke through the clouds and I was glad to bear witness to the beautiful bay which marked the location of my hostel. Returning to my hostel I treated myself to a well deserved hot shower, ate a dinner of packed peanut butter sandwhiches and a welsh cake (really just a fancy scone), graciously given to me by the lady running the hostel. I write all this thinking my bed has never looked more appealing....

The Starting Point of My Long Hike: A wooden ladder into a farmers horse field

Porth Dafarch Bay

Holyhead Ferry Port

Stairs Descending to South Stack Lighthouse

South Stack Lighthouse