Wales Archives • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

May 23, 2026May 25, 2026

Close to Criccieth

Blaenau Ffestiniog

Wales is a very beautiful place and it takes some time to visit the Small villages and countryside areas so plan on a minimum of one week but better too budget two or more weeks to really get to enjoy the people in the sites and the history. I stayed in Criccieth since it seemed to be a hub to wander off by public bus to places Close to Criccieth

Hungry seagull Close to Criccieth — This seagull was really interested in the small sunflower seeds I bought to feed the birds. Most seagulls were looking for bigger things like fish and were turning their beaks up to what I was serving.

Bus stop Close to Criccieth — This is where I got off the train to catch a bus

Train station Close to Criccieth — This is the small train station

Slate town Bill Smale — When you get up to this little town you see that it was used for slate mining and that’s about it. But it’s a cute place to spend a couple hours and walk around and see the abandoned quarries

Hiking path Bill Smale — A hiking path through the old Quarry

Layered slate Bill Smale — This shows how layered the slate is and how easy it would be to separate the layers depending upon the usage need

Many purposes Bill Smale — This rock is used for so many different purposes

Quarryview Bill Smale — The view from the quarry

I like dogs Bill Smale — While I have sympathies in this direction it reminded me of a certain friend who does dog rescue in Thailand

Beddgelert

for me this cute little town is in the top three in Wales. Of course everybody has their own things they want to see but the hills, the nature and the little village here is just so picturesque and quiet even though there are quite a few tourists

Moss growing — Just on the side of the path

River crossing — There is a river running through the village which you can cross using one of the Bridges

Fresh — I’m not sure if people go swimming here but the water looks very nice and fresh

Beautiful scenery — Beautiful mountain scenery and clouds and open fields

gelert’s grave — The tone was named after this dog but there’s a story about this.

gelert’s grave. A loyal dog misunderstood

OK, so this is the story of the dog that gave his name to this town. About 15 years ago I heard a story from my brother who rescued greyhounds after they had retired from racing. His story was about a Lord in England who had a greyhound and blah blah blah. It’s exactly the same story. It turns out, sorry to ruin the story, that, according to the information desk in town after I explained my brother’s exact same story, there is another story. Hundreds of years ago a shop owner in a small little village without a name started to lose business due to the reduction of customers and decided to create an interesting story to bring people back. He had a dog named Gelert who had died (I think I remember it correctly) and he made up the story about Llewelen, the famous unifier of the land owners of Wales in the 1200s, and his dog. So this is a real story but it’s a story. It brought back customers to the store and now it is a very famous place partly because of the story. But it is one of the top three beautiful little towns I visited in Wales so it really is a must visit place.

Crying Street — The best translation I could get without talking with a Welsh person is “the crying Street”. But please don’t trust my translation.

Criccieth

this is a cute little town where you might want to spend the day. They have a couple very nice coffee shops and the castle is pretty significant historically so it’s worth a visit.

This repurposed old building is now an Indian restaurant

March 1, 2026April 4, 2026

More around Wales

Conwy

this is very interesting fishing port and one of the very beautiful little cities with a castle of renown.

Luxury Welsh ice cream More around Wales — It’s interesting to see excellent Welsh ice cream started by an Italian. Actually I had a good friend from Scotland who was also named Mario. The ice cream was chocolate on the bottom and on the top was strawberry.

Clairvoyant office More around Wales — I could have entered here to find my future. But it was closed so who knows what the future is

Conwy streets More around Wales — The streets of Conwy

Beautiful port More around Wales — On the other side of the port you enter the very popular city of Llandudno

Conwy castle

Just behind the pigeon on the rail the something that is white is actually a bird in flight

Cold snow on the hills Bill Smale — It was cold enough to snow in the hills but not quite at the port. This was looking out from the castle

The boat man Bill Smale — A cute boat man had an appealing call to the children every three or four minutes

Bank building Bill Smale — A very old bank building near the station

Town Square — A small but adequate town square

Train station — The train station is just this little place out of the rain. You better have already purchased your ticket somewhere else. And some people there told me that if the train is full they may not stop even though you’re on the schedule

Kurdish barbershop — It’s an interesting profession for the Kurds. I am sure they do a great job

The ancient walls — You can walk the walls of the city which go all the way around and are extremely well preserved

The Welsh dragon — Walking around the backstreet I saw this exclamation that the occupants are obviously Welsh. You can tell by the dragon. On the union Jack there are four crosses. The cross for whales is David who slew the dragon.

Famous fish and onion rings — This was very tasty efficient chips except I exchanged the chips for onion rings. This little restaurant, mostly take away, is very famous

Conwy Castle

The castle — Clicking on the title of the section you will get a link to the history of the castle. It’s just a shell now but the shell is very impressive

Inside the castle — Walking around inside

The birds took over the castle — The birds were very comfortable here with the tourists. They obviously have taken over the castle, both see pigeons and the seagulls

Train tracks — A view of the railroad tracks and a new tunnel entrance to the bridge which sort of matches the castle concept

Seagulls at home — The seagulls are at home here

Birds in flight — This black bird and his buddy I caught just in flight which it was kind of cool

Hay-on-Wye

Bookstore town — This cute little town is probably going to be a good highlight for you to walk around. It’s a very interesting town and you can look at all the bookstores which seemed to be the highlight and fame of Hay on Wye. The river this is on is the Wye river

General market building — I’m not sure what this old building in the back was used for but it looks like it might have been a general market

The Wye Castle — You can see the defense door at the entrance which is extremely old and has withstood many attacks

Old shoe store cash register — I bought a pair of shoes here and this is the old cash register from more than 100 years ago.

Famous shoe store — The fellow who sold me the shoes knew what he was doing. Actually he was retired but he decided to come in at work since his wife was working here also. She is the fourth generation of the owner of this shoe store. Now they have jackets and many other kinds of clothing. They are very proud of their profession. You might want to stop here and buy a pair of shoes.

Large shoe store — Here is the shoe store on the corner. Actually it looks like it’s been expanded to another building as well. It’s fairly large

Fish and chips and a bookstore — Fish and chips next to a bookstore. Why not!

Occupied house — A large occupied house near the river

Nice view of the bridge — I like this view

Llandudno

Resort hotel — Looking over at another hotel from the promenade. It’s obvious this was a resort area for many decades

Windmills — In the distance you can see the many windmills and it’s obvious you need to protect yourself against the wind. It was very strong when I was there

Beach promenade — He is looking down the promenade along the beach

Nice food at the goat — I was recommended this beer and I had this pasta which was extremely well done. And the beer was very tangy and delicious

Local beer — The beer was produced not far from here

Llandaff

The cathedral — I stopped here to see the cathedral

Interesting display in front of the altar

Old Norman construction — This is part of the original Norman construction so over 900 years old

King Arthur stain glass window — Some famous fellows and the first one is King Arthur

Balcony and ceiling — The arch and the balcony and ceiling were very impressively beautiful

February 27, 2026February 27, 2026

Around Wales

these are some interesting places around Wales. I have found this country to be extremely beautiful. If you are interested in beautiful countryside or beautiful villages in cities and beautiful hills then this is definitely a place to visit, anywhere around Wales.

Castle Coch

this was the second castle that John of Bute rebuilt for you and his wife too bring up their family. Of course he spent a lot of time in London and castle in Cardiff but also spent quite a bit of time here as well.

Three Greek gods around Wales — These are three Greek gods. Of course John was able to read an ancient Greek and Latin as well.

Restoration work around Wales — This is the castle from the front. They are doing some restoration work.

Stories on the walls around Wales — Various stories painted on the walls for edification.

The Lords of the area around Wales — Family tree of the Lords of this area

The sitting room — This is the sitting room. You will notice places to sit by the windows at different places in the room to catch the sun as it moves around

Decorated ceiling — A beautifully decorated ceiling

Middle courtyard — The courtyard in the middle

Beautiful ceiling and crest — Another beautiful ceiling with a wall which has a dual family crest of John and his wife

John’s bedroom Bill Smale — This is John’s bedroom

Dual crest Bill Smale — Another dual family crest which is different than the other one. I did not ask why they were different.

Beautiful ceiling Bill Smale — the bedroom’s beautiful ceiling

A display of food — This is just a display of what people were eating at the time at different parts of the day with some clothing from that era

Margaret’s bedroom — The bedroom of one of the children, Margaret

Old entertainment — The modern entertainment machine

Old telephone — This phone obviously was made for a left-handed person

Crickhowell

Countryside photos — Just some beautiful photos of the countryside

One of these smelting plants of the area

Tretower castle

this is actually two castles. One was built during the Norman times and the other one was built later. I was not able to walk over to the old Norman castle since it was raining and the mud was too much of an obstacle.

Castle Courtyard — The courtyard of the New York Castle

Tretower Castle

The Norman castle — This is the old castle built by Picard in the 11th century

Talking snakes on a virtual tour — They had these virtual displays here with talking snakes explaining the details of the people who lived there and some of the artifacts

Dining room — A long room probably for dining

Bill was sticks and mud — This shows how the Newcastle walls were constructed, with sticks and mud for the façade, outside walls.

February 22, 2026February 22, 2026

Cardiff is a must

when you’re going into Wales it’s a really good idea to start in the south visiting Cardiff 1st. It gives you a general history and sense of the country. It also hosts some of the very important monuments such as Cardiff castle. This town is very much a cross-section of England and Wales. It gives you a multiple perspective of the ancient attempts to occupy and subdue the people in Wales. That’s why I say “Cardiff is a must“.

Chinese fast food food Cardiff is a must — Just out and about finding a Chinese fast food restaurant which has good reviews on Google maps but obviously by touristS. It was a box take away restaurant with a lot of seating but you still just get the box.

Old style house houses Cardiff is a must — There are many of these old timber brick and plaster houses in Cardiff

Cardiff castle

Cardiff Castle was started by the Normans and has a very long and interesting history. The son of William the Conqueror imprisoned William here in order to lessen his power. From the end became a seat of power for much of Wales.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff_Castle

Court of Castle entrance Bill Smale — The entrance to the castle

The castle Cardiff is a must — The castle from a distance

Cardiff Castle Clocktower Bill Smale — This clock tower is very interesting

Cardiff Castlegate Bill Smale — This gate actually looks very welcoming

The sitting room Bill Smale — The elaborate rooms were created by the Marquess of Bute, a descendent of the royal Stuart family of Scotland and also of the Bruces

Beautiful inside Bill Smale — Unbelievably beautiful ornateness

Storytelling — All of the decorations were employed to tell stories

Fireplace — Each room had a fireplace to keep it warm. You will notice the family crest over the fireplace

The children’s playroom — The playroom for the children. The walls were decorated with an ancient tales to educate and entertain the children

A man behind the bird — Around the bird is an outline of a man. This was John who had this room decorated for his children

Very secure door — A very secure door to lock someone in

Musicians loft — The loft above was used for the musicians

Storytelling at Cardiff Castle — Again, storytelling within the design. Look at the castle above the fireplace. In the lower left you will see the face of a man behind bars. That was William the conqueror who was imprisoned here

John’s bedroom Cardiff castle — This was John’s bedroom. You notice in the right side of the room several corners where people could sit. The sun would shine at different places during the day so the people live here could change where they sit to get the sun.

Fountain and garden — There was always glass up above to bring in sunlight to this fountain and gardenroom with storytelling around the walls

Embedded gems — These are real gems embedded in the middle of these squares in the ceiling

Family shield over the fireplace — Over one fireplace was a family shield, actually two. One was John’s family on the left and on the right was his wife’s shield

World leaders at Cardiff Castle — World leaders gathered here after 2008

Obama attending Cardiff castle — President Obama attended

Cardiff cathedral

Street view of the cast — The castle from the street

Old burial plot within the cathedral — This burial site was so old it was difficult to even tell it was someone buried under here

Family crest — The family crest of one of the royalty. The Plantagenets loved to use lions

Castle of Cardiff owners’ crests — Here you can see the crestS of the different owners of the castle

These two windows were commissioned by Sophia, Marchioness of Bute in 1855. At this time Sopia was a widow, and her son (John, the third Marquis) was still a minor. No information is yet known on the designer or maker of these windows, though it seems safe to assume they were created by the same person given the similarity of design. The left hand window shows the paternal arms of the donor, and the other window shows the arms of the families to have possessed Cardiff Castle from 1091 to the mid 19″ century.

Guest house in Cardiff — This was my hotel, guest house which was completely adequate

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