What I Saw in North Wales

North Wales is so beautiful it’s hard to believe it’s real! I went there because my Myrick roots came from there (it seems so anyway. We are talking 16th century at the dawn of the use of surnames.)

We arrived at our bed and breakfast the afternoon after our flight arrived in Manchester. We found our accommodations friendly and spacious with very nice guests from England. The breakfast was so wonderful!

There was a downside. There is a church directly across the residential street from our room with a bell tower that chimes on the hour. Very quaint, I thought. We’ve learned that what helps with jet lag (we didn’t sleep on the plane much) is to stay up until at least 8:30-9pm local time. I peacefully drifted off at 9pm. And then, the church chimes. Every hour on the hour all night long. Seems a couple of years ago there was a petition to silence them that failed. But that was the only downside.

Wales faces the ocean, which provides some beautiful beach views.

I did a little beach combing. Wish I had done more. Well, next time. Here’s what I found.

The next day was my birthday and we started by visiting this waterfall. It was a bit of a hike. There was a spot where you could park and shorten the hike but the spaces fill up quickly and we were up to a longer hike. Glad we did because we walked through a gorgeous woodland.

The next day we visited Caernarfon Castle, a medieval fortress in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. The oldest parts date to the 11th century! We climbed up towers and wandered all over. It was just amazing as were the views!

The town around the castle is very nice with some great shops. We got some advice for places to hike from a local shopkeeper. Actually, he said he was English, which in this case made him much easier to understand. Tip: follow the advice of locals!

After the castle we visited Bodorgan, which is where my Myrick family lived way back in the 16th century. There is a family estate there but we didn’t visit because 1. it’s a private residence and not open to the public and 2. it dates later than when my ancestors lived there. But I wanted to visit the area and we were advised to visit a church there. We got to the church, tiny, down a small lane, and there was a wedding going on! So we backed out and ended up visiting this sweet little cafe where we chatted with the owners and another couple eating there. We were even given a blessing on our journey in Welsh! Below are two photos I took in the cafe. See the shed out there? It holds a seating area for when people want to get outside but avoid the rain.

I just noticed the hummingbird sun catcher. There were also hummingbirds on the curtains at our BnB. It’s my understanding that hummingbirds are only found in North and South America. Hmm.

Then we went back to the church, St Cadwaladr’s Church, Llangadwaladr. According to Wikipedia, the church was first established on those grounds in the 7th century. The church standing today was built over several centuries, starting in the 12th century. You can see the additions in some of the photos. The north Chapel (Meyrick) was built c. 1640 and there are memorials to the family inside, which I didn’t see, not to mention the stained glass window pictured below.

It was during the Tudor period that the church was given stained glass windows as a gift from the Meyrick family (Welsh: Meurig) of Bodorgan as thankfulness for the return of their son Owain Ap Meurig after fighting with Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth (1485). The window is dated to 1490, and the painting includes a portrait of St. Cadwaladr and also depictions of Saint Mary and St. John, the glass window was restored in 1850. The stained glass window from the 15th century was hidden in a vault during the Protestant reformation in 1661. The window of 1485 in the chancel east window also shows a Meyrick family member, Owen ap Meuric praying with his wife Ellen. (from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Cadwaladr%27s_Church) you might want to visit that site as the photo of the window is a little blurry here, sorry.

I wish I had the words to describe Wales. All I can say is it was like a fairytale, and we only went to the north. We definitely want to see the rest! Here are some pictures from the hike the English shopkeeper suggested we take.