Thursday, June 14, 2007

UK trip - Part II

As I said yesterday... a few photos each day will tell all about our trip.
(top to bottom; remember, you can click on each one to see it larger... and use the back arrow to revert to the blog)

1. The cottage of Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare's wife) was getting a re-thatching job on the rooftop. It was quite interesting to see that in progress as well as to tour the house.

2. Slowly, yet ever so slowly, I climbed a 700+ ft. mountain. It had a ruins of an ancient Welsh fort, Dinas Bran, at the top and overlooked an entire valley below. You can see some of our hiking group still working their way toward the summit in the photo. You zigged and zagged your way stopping to soak up the scenery and catch your breath. We stayed in the tiny town below of Llangollen, Wales... at a 400+ yr. old coaching inn. Very cool!

3. This is us at the top of Dinas Bran in Wales.

4. Me on the ramparts of Beaumaris Castle in Northwest Wales. We caught the ferry from Holyhead just a few minutes from this castle to get over to Ireland. Beaumaris is huge and quite interesting. However, once you see it, you never fantasize about living in Medieval times again! The rooms were dank and small and the floors were an uneven stone mess! You could imagine those poor medieval ladies busting their hips from falls at every turn! I also can't imagine trying to lay siege to this place and hoping to win!

5. Yes, another castle... this one is Ross Castle not too far from present day Killarney, Ireland. It sits on an island in the middle of a lake. It was the last castle the Oliver Cromwell destroyed near the tail end of his 'reign of terror'. It seemed so desolate and yet so beautiful all at the same time... this is one of my favorite shots from the trip.

More tomorrow!

1 comment:

Katrina said...

I love these photos! Especially the last one! I bet it would look cool in black and white too!
Great job! :)