Slán le hÉirinn, shw mae Cymru fach!

14th November: After leaving Belfast, we stopped overnight at the rear of a service station outside Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. It turns out that service stations are great places to stop for a night – safety in numbers, good facilities usually available for drivers (fresh water, bathrooms) and coffee available in the morning!   Once we were up and running, we booked our ferry from Dublin to Holyhead and headed for the port.

While on the ferry, we looked to see where we might stop for the night along the north Wales coast. We were in the process of learning that doing your research is important… very few places were open. We managed to book ourselves a spot in a parking area at the back of a second hand car garage in Conwy, along the A55. At 5am the following morning, we realised that there was a downside: we were underneath both a dual carriageway and Llandudno Junction railway line! For Morgan, however, this was a major plus 😍 and it gave us a headstart on one of our research pointers for our travels: railway stations!

WALES

15th November: Here we are at Llandudno Junction railway station the following day, looking suitably knackered:

Conwy Castle was built in the late 13th century for King Edward I during his conquest of Wales. It is an example of the “concentric castle” design where the inner wall is higher than the outer wall.

Then, it was back into the van for a trip over the border, next stop Worcester.