Hiking in Wales

Since Harriet had a bit of a break from classes this week, I took the opportunity to go hiking. I took the night train and a couple of connecting trains but because one of the trains was late I missed my last connection to arrive early Wednesday morning in Snowdonia National Park in the north-west of Wales ... meaning a 2 hr wait for the next train. I was amazed when the conductor offered to arrange for a taxi at the train company's expense for a thirty minute drive to my final destination (I think Air Canada and travel companies in Canada could learn a thing or two about customer service and how seriously the ones here take being on time). Anyways I arrived in a small town called Dolwyddelan (pronounced Doll-wa-delan) just before 9:00am. With morning frost still on the ground I walked a couple of kilometers through fields, past grazing sheep and cows, and arrived at Dolwyddelan Castle built in the 1200's by the last prince of Wales when it was an independent country (Llywelyn the Great). The castle was really cool and since it was early morning I was the only person there ... and the door was open! It was cool exploring through there and it was easy to imagine what it would have been like several hundred years ago. I pulled breakfast out of my backpack and enjoyed some home-made granola high atop of the castle with a great view out to the countryside. Later in the day I hiked another 15 kilometres or so through the Lledr Valley ... super lucky with a great day of weather and fall colours among the forests. There are miles and miles of walls made entirely out of stone and slate and houses similarly made entirely out of rock (local building material) that would be a fortune in Calgary (I think about how much I paid for a simple concrete retaining wall earlier this year in our backyard). That night I slept in a modest hotel / bunkhouse in a nearby small town called Betws y Coed (pronounced Betty-z-coy) which is like a small version of Canmore or Banff. The next morning I caught some trains from Wales back to Calgary in time to teach yoga later that Thursday evening.