The Dolbadarn Castle is one big tower in partial ruins dating back to the 1200s, give or take. Very picturesque. I didn't take many pictures today but I saw Inga and Dio taking lots of them...which means they liked it! Even the walk to the castle was so beautiful--moss and ferns and trees, and rocks covered with moss. Vivid shades of green on top of the purple-gray shale.
Next stop was the National Slate Museum, which was very fun. Until this family reunion, I knew nothing about the history of slate mining in Wales. Llanberis is the site of the Dinorwig quarry, which was open until 1969 and was the 2nd largest slate quarry in the world. It's an open quarry on the side of the mountain. Very impressive.
The slate museum is situated in the former workshop/foundry/forge and it was amazing to see all of the various industries taking place in one site. The entire thing was powered by an enormous waterwheel, one of the largest in the world. It's still turning today. (There's a much smaller, more efficient water wheel that was installed in the 1920s that is now powering everything, but the old one is still going!) I loved seeing how all of the machines were connected to the central drive shaft.
We had a picnic lunch, enjoying the weather that became progressively sunnier, and then took a short hike around Vivian quarry, one of the quarries that makes up the larger Dinorwig quarry site.
We drove through some very narrow roads--Zari was stressing out--down through the Welsh mountains and towards the sea. We were hoping to make a quick stop at Beddgelert, site of the grave of the dog that was (infamously) murdered by its owner, who thought it had killed its baby, only to discover after killing the dog that the dog had killed a wolf that was trying to get to the baby. (Who knows how much of this is folklore. But it makes for a good story.) But...the village was so crowded that there was nowhere to park!
So we continued on to Harlech to see the castle. Again, nothing really preserved, just the shell and the exterior walls. It's a shame that all of the interior parts are gone. I would love to have seen the original living quarters.
Ivy got a treasure hunt and enjoyed finding all of the clues, which spelled out "water gate." At the bottom of the fortified hill, there used to be an inlet from the sea. It has since silted over and is now roads and houses and sports complexes. But previously, the castle could get supplies directly from the sea, allowing it to outlast sieges.
We also went to the world's steepest street, or at least tired to because we walked down what was supposed to be the steepest street but I think we were on the wrong part of it. It wasn't that steep at all. We shrugged and got back in the car. Oh well.
Our next destination is the farm that we are all staying at, only we had to make a grocery stop on the way. 130 pounds later, we came out of the store with food for the rest of our stay. We bought Magnum bars for the kids, who were waiting in the car. I opened the door and exclaimed, "We have an ice cream emergency!" This startled Zari, who had just fallen asleep against the car door.
And then finally...we arrived at the farm. There's a big farmhouse and many small outbuilings made into cottages. We're in 3 units among all of us (20 or so in total, I think). There's an indoor pool, a game room, lots of very quiet, beautiful outdoor spaces. There's a lake further down the road and about a mile away on foot, the ocean.
Zari, Eric, and I took a long walk right before dinner to find the lake and the path to the ocean. Our legs are sore from yesterday!
We made dinner (tortellini with mushrooms, cream, & parmesan cheese, plus Caesar salad). The kids minus Zari took a walk to the beach with the cousins and some of adults. We stayed back and relaxed, since we had already gone there. Eric looked up clams and other seafood that we may be able to catch. Razor clams look like so much fun to catch! I hope we can find some.
Anyway it's late over here and we have a busy day tomorrow. Bonne nuit!
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