Driving Miss Karen

A blog about our travel

Hello Wales

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We’ve seen the major sites of Wales (big castles like Caernarfon castle and the Snowdon Cog Railway) but we always had some issue (car trouble, illness) that made it feel rushed. We finally enjoyed some long stretches in Wales and it has become my second favorite countryside; behind the Scottish highlands of course. We weren’t super active but really enjoyed Llanberis and the other villages we visited. The people are more open than the English and less Boisterous than the Scots. A pretty good mix.

Longest Place Name in UK at 53 letters. Most people call it Llanfair. I call those people lazy.
The train station in case you thought is was fake. The welsh language is interesting with the LL described as a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative sound. I still can’t do it but Karen is getting pretty good now. Most people in Llanberis spoke Welsh and English
Wales is known for a few things. Sheep like this beauty is one of them
For those interested here is the unofficial guide to pronouncing welsh place names https://cuhwc.org.uk/book/export/html/199
Wales is also known for Slate, Coal, and other mines like this one near LLanberis
Wales has 427 castles including tiny Dolbadarn Castle 5 minutes walk from our Airbnb
Like most of the UK the scenery is wonderful. This is right next to the mine pictured above it
The river Dee. One of 5 river Dees throughout the UK
This is Pontcysyllte aqueduct built in the late 1700s to cross the river Dee. The video is much more dramatic than this picture. Trust me!
This is not our picture but shows the aqueduct. Wales was in the forefront of the industrial revolution due to the mining and wool industries and the need to move goods quickly
We took a longboat across the aqueduct and through the LLangollen canal. There were a lot of boats coming and going and it took about 2 hours to go five miles. Slower than walking!

Jose

AKA Alfred

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