This blog should be about our fantastic 5 day trip to Paris.
But... Home Office rung Richard one sunny afternoon to say they couldn't find his passport and would contact him when they did (very very weird phone call), when Richard rung back a week later they told him to call the complaints department because he'd been calling a lot (like any person who desperately wanted their passport back after 3 months of being told every week that he'd have it back in 5 working days), then after trying to ring the complaints department three times he gave up because he kept on getting a pre-recorded message that his phone call would not be answered because the lines were over loaded with callers.
So we hired a car, took our tent, and ended up going to North-West England and North Wales (trying not to think too much about our non-refundable or exchangeable Eurostar tickets).
We spent our first evening in Shrewsbury, a pretty medieval town with lots of old Tudor buildings on crazy leans and over hanging the roads with the river Severn winds it's way around the town creating a natural moat for the city. Shrewsbury is also the birthplace of Charles Darwin.
But... Home Office rung Richard one sunny afternoon to say they couldn't find his passport and would contact him when they did (very very weird phone call), when Richard rung back a week later they told him to call the complaints department because he'd been calling a lot (like any person who desperately wanted their passport back after 3 months of being told every week that he'd have it back in 5 working days), then after trying to ring the complaints department three times he gave up because he kept on getting a pre-recorded message that his phone call would not be answered because the lines were over loaded with callers.
So we hired a car, took our tent, and ended up going to North-West England and North Wales (trying not to think too much about our non-refundable or exchangeable Eurostar tickets).
We spent our first evening in Shrewsbury, a pretty medieval town with lots of old Tudor buildings on crazy leans and over hanging the roads with the river Severn winds it's way around the town creating a natural moat for the city. Shrewsbury is also the birthplace of Charles Darwin.
Shrewsbury's Tudor buildings
The river Severn and one of two entrances to the old city centre (I believe this one is the Welsh Bridge - the other being the English Bridge)
Prior to heading to Wales we went to visit Ironbridge and it's Ironbridge. The first Ironbridge in the world and the birthplace of the industrial revolution and in turn Britian's domination of the world (so in a round about kind of way this bridge lead to the British colonisation of NZ). But all of this was possible due to COKE! The coke derived from coal - not Coca-Cola.
Ironbridge, Ironbridge, UK
After Ironbridge we headed through to Wales, It's not hard to know when you're in Wales - the road spells it out for you:
ARAF, ARAF, ARAF
Welsh Flag
Our campsite in North Wales, there are fantastic hills in North Wales unfortunately the weather wasn't so fantastic and this is one of the better shots we got
Lucky opposite our remote campsite there was a pub that kept Alice warm, dry and occupied:
2 sips later...
Richard hiding in the morning (the result of a little more than 2 sips at the pub?)
Richard sparing you the sight of his morning hair
After packing up camp we went off to Caernarfon, a fanstatic town built inside and around the old castle walls on the North West shores of Wales.
Caernarfon Harbour
Caernarfon Castle
Richard checking out Caernarfon from the castle walls
We followed a ring of ruined castles, originally built or restored by one of the King Edwards, back to England. All and all a pretty good weekend.
Criccieth Castle (well what's left of it)
Harlech Castle
