Beautiful Wales

Today we set out early, and headed for Swansea, in search of internet, and walking maps! We found the internet, and after a quick check of the email, and phone call home, we headed to the end of the Gower Peninsula for the first of the walks of the day. It really is a beautiful place, high steep cliffs, with open sea. Apparently a great place for surfing!

Soon, though, we were off to Aberdulais Falls, which still runs a hydro electric power station. The site started as a Copper factory, before being transformed into a flour mill, and finally, in the 1800’s, an Tin Plating factory. Looks like hard work! The water wheel used in the tin plating factory is still there, and is used in the hydro plant. They generate enough power to feed back into the grid and raise money for the restoration of the area.

Next, we went to Caerphilly Castle, which was pretty impressive – it is huge, 2nd or 3rd biggest castle in Britain. Like a lot of these castles, it is a ruin, so it was a pity it rained for most of the time we were there! They have restored the Great Hall, and it would have been very impressive when the castle was habited.

Finally, we found our way to Newport and the Caerleon Roman Ruins. They are the only above ground roman barracks in all of Europe, and only 4 of the 60 barracks remain (the rest are under the surrounding fields and school). After this, it was getting pretty late, so we headed back to Monmouth and wandered around the town to find something to eat. Monmouth is a very pretty little town, only a few miles from Margaret & Ted’s, so very handy.