I couldn’t resist the title for today’s post. Whenever Mick and I say the name ‘Bangor’ we both start to think about the song, by Fiddler’s Dram, that was popular in the late 70’s.

“Didn’t we have a lovely time…the day we went to Bangor.

This is the entry to Bangor Pier – stretching partly across the Menai Strait– looking on to Anglesey – the largest island in Wales. There was no big rush to enter the pier, in fact we were the only ones there, and Mick did comply with the request to pay 50p for each of us to enter.

It was very windy on the pier, but not raining at this stage of the day. There were several small shops lining the pier on both sides (all of them closed), and many benches dedicated to long lost loved ones.

After visiting the pier, Mick and I headed into the high street to find a place for a cuppa. While there, we spotted Bangor Cathedral – an Anglican Church, originally founded in the 6th Century.

Mick and I left Bangor and headed across the Menai Strait via the Britannia Bridge (originally built in 1850 and replaced in 1980). Unfortunately, we did not cross the strait via the more famous Menai Suspension Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford in 1826. But, we did see it!!

You need to wait for this train to go past to see where Mick and I stopped next.

How lucky were we to be there exactly at the time a train was coming through?

This Anglesey village is famous worldwide because of its name, which contains 58 characters. It has the longest name of any town or village in Europe.

 

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch – which translates into..

….. “the Church of Mary in the hollow of the White Hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the Church of Tysilio by the Red Cave”.

If you knew that before this post – well done!!

We didn’t stay too long though as we were keen to visit some ancient burial chambers nearby to the village. By this time, the weather was starting to deteriorate.

Bryn Celli Ddu is an ancient burial site that is special because it is one of few that has its opening accurately aligned to coincide with the rising of the sun on the longest day of the year, thus allowing the sun to penetrate right into the burial chamber.

All very interesting.

I found us a park in the empty carpark, and the photo on the right above shows the ‘model’ of what we were looking for. So we followed that walking path sign, through some slight rain and some very strong winds, but sadly the distance became too much, and the rain became heavier, so we had to turn around. I was very disappointed because this is what we would have found. This photo is courtesy of ..

Jensketch – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69530137

What a disappointment not to have seen it when we were so close!

Our next stop was on the smaller island of Holy Island, in fact its largest town called Holyhead.

This map shows where we went today, but you will be pleased to know we did not walk – it just shows it more clearly this way.

Holyhead is a very important port city, handling over 2 million passengers a year to the Republic of Ireland. By the time we arrived it was lunch time and we found a very popular local cafe, and chose a popular local dish.

We ate that washed down with a mug of strong hot black tea, while we listened into conversations of the others present inside. Before we left, a local man asked Mick where in Australia we came from – Mick’s accent had given him away. The elderly man had been a sailor, and during his working career had sailed to Australia and New Zealand. Mick congratulated him on not asking him where in NZ did he come from!

Our final destination for our day’s tour was South Stack Lighthouse. But as has happened a few times to us since we have been in Wales, we were thwarted by road closed signs.

And, this was as close as we got to…..

….a very angry Irish Sea.

It was so windy I was almost blown away!!

By the time we returned to our cottage in Caernarfon (that by the way, Mick now thinks is very nice – I knew I just had to wait awhile), the wind was howling, and we were happy to spend the late afternoon and evening inside nice and warm.

Today we are heading south to visit a recently-built, bespoke village and a slate mine – where we will descend 500 feet (but luckily not on foot!!).