Let's Have A Day Out - To Conwy

Photo by Jeffrey L. Thomas

 

Crossing the Pont-y-Pair bridge in Betws-y-Coed, the road takes you through the village of Trefriw along the western slopes of the Conwy valley into the town of Conwy itself. On the way you pass Surf Snowdonia in Dolgarrog, a world-first must-experience, a surf lagoon that uses technology to create various wave profiles so beginners and advanced surfers can take to the waves together. They offer classes for all ages and abilities with other fun activities on site for all the family.
In 1833 the old Roman mineral water caves in Trefriw were excavated in an attempt to attract people to them. In 1863 Lord Willoughby de Eresby built a small bath-house and large numbers of people came, no doubt aided by national advertising, and the declaration by Dr. Hayward, a fashionable medical specialist from Liverpool, that this was "Probably the best spa in the United Kingdom". The village was at its heyday in the early part of the 20th century as visitors arrived by both train and steamer to visit the spa. Alternatively you can walk the coastal path from Llandudno's West shore, through Deganwy into Conwy.
Deganwy's most notable feature is the castle ruins situated 110 m above the town, which, in the 6th century was fortified as the stronghold of Maelgwn Gwynedd, the king of Gwynedd. Deganwy appears to have been the capital of Gwynedd at this time, but this was later moved to Aberffraw on Anglesey. The hill on which the castle was built was fortified many times over the centuries and was the site of a Norman castle built around 1082 and occupied by Robert of Rhuddlan and later by Llewelyn the Great before being demolished in 1263. It also has a sand and stone beach and, its prized feature, a sleek, modern marina from where passengers can book a Conwy River Taxi to take them between Conwy and Deganwy and vice versa.

Whichever route you take the first thing you will see is the magnificent fortress towering over the town. Conwy was founded by the English king King Edward I in 1283 as one of a chain of fortified towns in the then newly invaded North Wales. A Cistercian monastery already occupied the site, but Edward removed the monastery upstream to Maenan, leaving St Mary's All Saints church as the borough's parish church which still retains some parts of the original abbey church in the east and west walls. With his architect, Master James of St George, they built both castle and walls in a barely believable four years between 1283 and 1287. Local limestone and grey sandstone were used in the main, most of which came from a quarry right next to the town, greatly saving on costs as the transport of heavy materials was by far the most expensive part of building such a castle. With other materials such as lead, steel, iron, tin, and glass transported across the kingdom the castle cost some £15,000 (over £30 million today) to complete. Perched above the estuary of the River Conwy on a high rock on the east side and the Gyffin stream on the south side, the castle is roughly rectangular, with eight round towers, each 12 metres in diameter, along its sides and the town walls are fortified with 21 towers and have 3 gateways. The walls, among the finest and most complete in Europe, are 1400 yards in length forming almost a complete circuit around the town and command excellent views of the town, quayside estuary and Snowdonia. An interesting feature are twelve individual latrines projecting over the town wall next to the Mill Gate. This remarkable row of communal toilets (or 'outside rooms' as they were known) are unique to Conwy. They cost £15 to build, that's about £45,000 in today's money. Though the castle was partially dismantled in 1665, the town walls have remained virtually complete, making Conwy one of Europe's finest surviving examples of a medieval bastide (a town laid out according to a definite geometric plan). Sixteenth-century buildings in the town include the mansion Aberconwy (c. 1500), Plâs Mawr (the 'Great House', built in 1577–80 and occupied by wealthy merchant Robert Wynn, which now houses the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art), and the Black Lion (1582; a coaching inn). 

 

The deep estuary of the River Conwy had long been an obstacle to travelers along the coast of northern Wales until the Scottish engineer Thomas Telford designed the first bridge across the estuary to replace the ferry, with the roadway of his innovative Conwy Suspension Bridge (1822–26) suspended from huge wrought-iron chains. To carry a rail line across the estuary, the English engineer Robert Stephenson also completed a tubular iron-and-steel bridge here in 1848. A modern road bridge was completed alongside these two bridges more than a century later in 1958, but proving insufficient to accommodate the growing automotive traffic along North Wales's coastal highway, in 1990 Britain's first immersed tube tunnel was completed for traffic to bypass the town. 

Known as the Quay House, Britain’s smallest house is a red painted, one up one down, measuring only 3.05m x 1.83m (10 x 6ft) and was last lived in by Robert Jones who was 1.905m (6ft 3 inches) tall. Only a 10 minute walk from the quayside Conwy Marina provides 450 berths and is the gateway to every type of sailing, being the only 5 Gold Anchor marina in North Wales and one of only two in the whole of Wales. From the Marina, with a sailing boat or motor boat, you can cruise locally around the Estuary and Conwy Bay or a little further afield to Puffin Island, Anglesey and the Menai Straits. With a good selection of artisan shops and eateries together with plenty of seating to watch the world go by on the front, it makes for a fine place to spend the day.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/06/lets-have-day-out-to-lytham-st-annes.html