Hillforts & Castles & Forts, oh, my!

Our first full day in Wales was a rigorous one. I was advised to wear trousers, which, for me, is a great imposition. But our first stop was Tre'r Ceiri hillfort, which was a steep climb, and very windy, and I concede that trousers were probably wise.

One of our stops was to view the round Iron Age houses.

Standing by the Iron Age huts/ houses.

Looking down on the circular Iron Age houses.

An entrance to the fort.

 After wandering around the hillfort, our next stop was Caernarfon Castle. My mother and my sister Heather had visited this castle years ago and were very excited that I was going to see it on this trip.

Approaching the castle from the car park.

I loved the brightly painted shops near the castle.

A view of the river (and our coach) from the castle.

The grey slab on the grass is used for crowning the Prince of Wales. It's thought that it may have been an ancient inauguration hill and that when Edward built the castle he purposefully built it around this hill (which was destroyed by the Victorians).

Nothing beats a floating fireplace!

A handy model of the castle and city wall. 

Sitting in a window-seat. I think I like them even more than spiral staircases!

We had a wee wander around Caernarfon & passed this building with Welsh writing on it. 

This place was also very interesting, and had this sign in front of it:

Our next stop of the day was Segontium Roman fort & museum. I'm not particularly thrilled by Roman forts, but it was still an interesting place. Oddly enough the signs in the ruins had all been taken down.  As they've refurbished the museum, perhaps they're working on new signs.

Part of the Roman fort.

I really liked the trees along the outer wall.

Two jolly fellows dressing up as Roman soldiers. I was afraid that I wouldn't know any of the 3rd year students when I was told I'd be going on this trip last year. But a lot of them were at SERF last summer and so I was in familiar & very good company.

This was an extra treat that wasn't on our itinerary. It was a beautiful medieval church which had once been on a pilgrimage route. It had a lot of very early woodwork in it still, which just thrilled my medieval church loving heart!

Misericord!

Actually sitting in the wooden seats. I was SO thrilled!

Medieval sundial. 

Our last stop was Bachwen portal dolmen. A portal dolmen is a prehistoric stone structure where a large slab is balanced neatly on three upright stones. In Ireland they're huge. This one was very modest, but still lovely.