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One of King Edward's English defenders
watching for unruly Welshmen |
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| Conwy Castle |
June is almost over as this blogpost is being written and Gym and his lovely bride have been home now for a few weeks. As always, the author failed to publish the last few articles related to a trip before that trip ended. Bear with him though because the last three stops on the epic Atlantic Odyssey cruise were all very noteworthy.
Wales
The MSVista crossed a calm Irish Sea on the morning of May 31, 2025, and tied up at the docks in Holyhead, Wales. Holyhead is a busy port. It is a key ferry terminal for people and commercial goods crossing between Wales and Ireland. There are ferries running every hour in both directions. Holyhead is home to about 13,000 people, with the port being the main employer in the town.
The port is located on Holy Island which is dominated by Holyhead Mountain. This 220-meter mountain is composed primarily of quartzite and limestone, which were quarried to construct the Holyhead Breakwater, between 1848 and 1873. This massive structure is the largest breakwater in the UK. At the seaward end of it, there is a square lighthouse.
Gym and Mrs. Gym planned a visit to Conwy Castle that day. This involved leaving Holyhead Island on the North Wales Expressway and crossing the bridge over the Cymyran Strait, then passing through the lush farmland of Anglesey. If you continue along on the expressway you eventually leave Wales and at about 160 kilometres from Holyhead, you would be in Liverpool. But when the expressway descends into a tunnel about halfway to Liverpool, you travel under the Conwy River and when you emerge on the other side, you can look back across the river at a spectacular site. In front of you is the stunning Conwy Castle and the adjacent city walls of Conwy.
After the second Welsh uprising in 1282-1283, King Edward I of England raised an army and conquered Wales. He then instigated a massive and very expensive castle-building spree in Wales, to keep the natives in line. Conwy Castle is one of the most outstanding examples of this massive crown-financed building binge and it and the quaint walled town are a UNESCO World Heritage site. In the few hours that our hero and his lovely sidekick had in Conwy, they climbed up and examined the defences of the castle and walked every street inside the old city walls. Gym loved it there.
It's definitely worth returning to North Wales. One could spend a week in this area to check out the other three Edwardian UNESCO sites nearby. It would also be cool to visit the old quarry on Holyhead Mountain and walk the length of the Holyhead Breakwater to the lighthouse.
Gym and Mrs. Gym had a fine dinner that night in Vista's Polo Grill. As the ship left the protection of the breakwater, it set a southwesterly course for their last landing of the trip, on the Emerald Isle. They were bound for County Cork.
Stay tuned!
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| Entrance point inside town walls |
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| Looking up at the defences from inside the castle |
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| Castle Gate |
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| Looking at the castle defences from atop a front tower |
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| looking across the River Conwy |
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| Castle chapel inside one of the towers |
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| St. Mary's inside the town walls |
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| Edward's Deli on High Street |
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| High Street |
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Smallest House in UK, just outside Conwy town
walls overlooking the river |
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| View of Welsh countryside from castle |
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| Cool bank building |
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Gym had to go see the Edward's meat pies.
He wasn't hungry at the time. |
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| Inside St. Mary's |
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| Vista's Polo Grill jellies |
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