The West Lancashire Grand Stewards Mess on Tour - Part 2. Around the Castle |
A Weekend in Caernarvon and a Gala Dinner, 13/15th Sept 2019 |
| As I mentioned on the last report got up early, had a hearty breakfast and set off to explore, first thing we came across was a large wall mural, I think it had started to fade but it may have been that colour in the first place, down some great narrow cobbled streets we then came to the street of umbrellas, now that was different. Coming out at the top end we came into a large square complete with several statues, market stalls, cafe’s, a couple of pubs an ice cream cart and best of all a Donut Stand. A really busy area full of happy voices and laughter but we had to move on down towards the sea alongside the castle ramparts, lots of great views on the waterfront where we sat for a while. |
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Wall Painting |
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| Poss the Masons met here at one time |
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General Views
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Umbrella Street
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| Real Bakers |
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Market
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| Castle Ramparts |
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| Next it was on to the Castle, paid up went inside to be confronted by the Tyler and Inner Guard, seemed like nice boys, it was as spectacular inside as it was outside, walked up to the disc of Welsh Slate which was the site of the Investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1969, very impressive. There was a display of Archery which you could take part in, and a blacksmith and his assistant both big men, which I guessed you would need to be looking at the size of the hammers they were using. Spent a couple of hours having a good look round, the entrance is known as the Kings Gate which originally had a drawbridge, in the North East Tower at ground level the whole story of the Castle could be seen in light and sound, very interesting. |
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A TX coming in |
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| David Lloyd George |
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Yachts
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| Who Is This |
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Could I book a Ferry Trip
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| More Yachts |
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Enjoying a Chat in the Sun
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| Just leave me here for a while |
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Ready for shopping
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| Near to the Chamberlain Tower the only one with a surviving chimney, can be found the Royal Fusiliers Museum, here you can discover the history of Wales’s oldest infantry regiment and up above is the Queens Tower, now if you think you’ve seen medal displays before this area will blow your mind.!! Lots to see but I was now too tired to climb anymore spiral staircases I’m afraid so we decided it was time to leave, the sun was shining, in fact it was a glorious day so off we went mooching, can you guess what was pulling me in a certain direction.. yes Donuts.. |
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Big Lock on Door |
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| Let’s try this way |
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Town Wall Sign
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| Old County Hall |
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Lady on the Top
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| The Entrance |
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IG and Tyler
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| General View inside |
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| On the way back to the square we sauntered (that was a good word) along the street of umbrellas and there it was a local bakery complete with sausage rolls and cakes just had to buy a couple and half a sponge cake after all I am on a diet. The square was a hive of activity but we headed straight across it to where Mr Donuts was, one coffee, one tea and a bag of fresh ring Donuts, delicious.. |
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Blacksmiths |
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| View from the Ramparts |
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The Investiture Circle
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| Battle Flag |
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Medals
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| Stairwells |
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Welsh Fusiliers
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| Canon |
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Canon sign
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| Set off for the hotel, checked out a tin man on the way, had a nosy in a couple of shops and got some peanuts for the squirrels, near to the hotel was a large church and like Peter Connolly I am always interested in looking around and inside, well I got a shock, we crept inside to find it was full of toys, books, swings and such like, a studious type man appeared and said oh no it’s not a church any longer it’s a “Fun Centre” the whole building well what can you say!! Time now to get back and have a rest before tonight’s Gala Dinner, just one more donut, a coffee and forty winks. |
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Investiture Chairs |
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Wall Signs
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| Steam Power. |
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Church Spire
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| Unhappy Gargoyles |
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Defunct Church Sign
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| Now we know who the Mystery Person was. |
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It’s John Waring
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| Early on Sunday morning packed, loaded up the car and went for yet another hearty breakfast, said our goodbyes to the great company and set off for home hoping not to encounter any more major traffic jams, put the Archers on the radio and cruised along, we seemed to get back to Urmston in no time, made a nice brew and had a piece of the sponge cake we had purchased Caernarvon before we settled back to relax with some nice memories of the past couple of days, here’s to the next one. |
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| Can I Help You with that painting |
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Yummy Sausage Barm Cake
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| Thanks Again Tegwyn and Eric, more power to your elbow. |
| Mark Well |
| Austin N Fletcher. PGStwd. |
| Flixton Shepherd Eastwood Mark. No.1173 |
