johnsunter.com >> adventures - uk >> anglesey 1
A short weekend in Anglesey, with loads of interesting things to see, and some great coastal walking (1/2).
A lot of people have returned to holidaying in the UK due to the stresses of airports and flying.
My brother and his wife Leigh decided to rent a cottage in Anglesey for a week, and asked me if I would like to pop down for the weekend.
Sounded like a brilliant idea do me, so off I went.
Trearddur bay was our destination.
We came here about 10 years ago with my mum for a family holiday.
We were delighted to find that a new Motorway had been built and it was a lot quicker to get across the Island.
We had originally stayed at a Hotel called Plas Darien, which offered all sorts of activities like tennis and golf and things like that.
The place was a little run down to be honest, but as my brother pointed out, it was a superb base for a few days away.
The area around Trearddur Bay, was just my kind of place.
There were no nightclubs or any of that rubbish, just loads of peaceful sandy beaches friendly shops and cafes and other stuff like that.
This famous house overlooking the sea, was featured in the film Wuthering Heights.
Id like to tell you that I did loads of great things on my first evening, but in reality, the pace of life catches up with you, once you stop racing, and I actually fell asleep before 8pm.
A storm had hammered the bay during the night. I just slept through it.
12 hours of obviously needed sleep later, I awake to enjoy bacon "butty's" with my brother and Leigh.
We head out towards Beaumaris, to see the famous Gaol there, now a museum.
There were some amazing things to see.
This bathroom doesn't exactly look like its from the Burj al Arab, but in Victorian times, prison reformers had revolutionised prisons.
Before that, they had just been dungeons, with straw beds and you had to buy food from your Gaol'er
Religion was considered important in order to help a person to rebuild his or her character.
David joked, that since I spend most of my time preaching that I should pose at the front of the Church.
For the record, I try to inspire people to seek adventure. I never tell people what they should do.
We head to the upstairs and the "modern" wing of the prison.
I just loved this staircase, it was about as Victorian as you could get.
At the top of the stairs, we wander around the corridors.
This was a standard cell, for an inmate.
I was surprised to see, that instead of hard beds, they featured hammock style canvas beds.
The doors were solidly built, I couldn't see anyone breaking out of there.
For the 2nd time that morning, I indulge my brother, and agree to be photographed next to the Drunkard Cell.
Some of the cells had this device in them.
It was filled with Sand and Grit, and it required a great deal of effort to turn it.
There was a counter on the box, and an inmate had to do 3000 rotations, in order to get breakfast. No work - No food.
The thing I found astounding, was that the box served no practical purpose, and the hard labour put into it, achieved nothing in reality.
A whipping frame, where people had their shirts removed and were fastened to it, before receiving punishment.
Disturbingly, devices like these are being used in places like Thailand and Singapore right at this moment.
I was saddened to see that the Museum of childhood memories had closed down.
Overall, Beaumaris seemed to have degraded a bit, since I was there last.
Several new hotels were under construction and I was sure that the next time I visit, everything will be back to normal.
We wandered along the peer and had a look at the boats.
There was a sailing race taking place, and they actually had 2 small canon to start and stop the race.
For the 2nd time, I got to see Beaumaris Castle.
I saw a program with Fred Dibnah. In it, he said if completed, it would have the been most perfect castle ever built.
Work on Beaumaris castle, begun in 1295, it was the last and largest castle built by Edward the 1st.
This is undoubtedly the ultimate "concentric" castle, built with an almost geometric symmetry.
Conceived as an integral whole, a high inner ring of defences is surrounded by a lower outer circuit of walls, combining an almost unprecedented level of strength and firepower.
Ironically, should an attacker compromise the outer wall (no mean feat in itself) they would then be caught in a crossfire of arrows from both the outer and inner walls, with no available cover.
This side of the castle was completed.
This side wasn't.
We wander around and explore inside the battlements.
The archers would have been emplaced in positions like this, and you can see just how good a position they would have been in, to "pick off" the opposing forces
