June 10--Conwy to Keswick Travel Day

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful--sunny and warm. Today it's raining and the wind has returned. We decided that if we changed plans based on a little rain we'd end up seeing very little. That's one thing I've noticed about the UKers--they don't let rain stop them.  They've got good raingear for people, babies, and dogs.  So we headed to our next castle--Caernarfon.  This is another Edward I castle and this is the Big One.  The story goes that Edward I, the King of England, built a series of six castles to subdue the Welsh (Conwy castle was also one of the six).  While the castles and the might of the English army slowed down the Welsh it never completely conquered them. To buy time Edward told the Welsh that in the future a prince would be born in Wales who spoke not a work of English and that prince would rule Wales.  Edward then got busy and impregnated the queen.  Shortly before she was to deliver he sent her to Caernarfon and thereafter a prince was born in Wales who spoke not a word of English.  Hence we have the Prince of Wales. 
In addition to the castle we found an onsite museum dedicated to The Royal Welsh Fusaliers, an army unit, that was quite interesting.
After touring Caernarfon we hit the road to the Lake District and our next B&B.

June 9--Conwy, Wales

After our long drive yesterday we decided to take it easy today and just stroll through town.  After another great breakfast we left the B&B about 8:30AM.  We walked the walls that surround the town,  walked through part of the town and found ourselves at the quay so we took a boat ride around the harbor,  while in the area we stopped and looked at the smallest house in the UK, then off to Conwy Castle, then lunch, then a tour of Plus Mawr which is a preserved Elizabethan merchants house.  While going from one point to another if we saw a charity or thrift shop or antique store we'd stop in for a look see.  Arrived back at the B&B about 4:30PM totally exhausted.

June 8--Travel Day Bath to Conwy

Leaving the Bath area, but before we do we're making a very short side trip to Wells which is only about 6 miles from the B&B.  To be called a city in the UK there must be a cathedral.  Wells has only 12000 people but it has a cathedral and therefore is the smallest city in England.  While the city may be small, the cathedral is not.  Both of us were very impressed with the beauty and grandness of both the exterior and interior, especially the stone carving elements.  In addition to the cathedral we also took a quick look at the Bishops Palace which was almost next door.  The palace had a mote which was a first for us.  After a couple hours we headed north to out next stop--Conwy, Wales

June 7--Cotswold area

One of Betsy's must do items was Hidcote Manor Garden which was the first garden to have "rooms".  The garden is made up of separate rooms with different themes in each room.  The rooms are divided from each other by walls, hedges, trees, etc.  I must admit it was a beautiful garden, but just a too few many people.
Once again we found that our travel times were much longer than anticipated so we had to cut the day short in order to get home at a reasonable time.  We did stop in at Stow-On-The-Wold for a walkabout and afternoon tea.  Both were pleasing.
We decided that rather than drive through Bristol again as we had in the AM we'd go back through Bath.  After a couple of missed turns I'm not sure we saved any time or stress.

June 6--Bath visit

Bath is a large enough city to have bus park and ride service and we took full advantage of it as it's so much easier than driving into the city and then attempting to find parking.  Still raining, but lightly and winds had laid down.  Found Bath Abbey, walked along the banks of the Avon River, toured the shops on Pulteney Bridge, found Guildhall Market.  But the best part of the day was touring the Roman Baths, which date back to the 75 AD's!!

June 5--Manor Farm B&B

We found our next B&B which was outside Bath, but it wasn't easy.  What we're finding is that these rural addresses don't give the GPS enough info to pinpoint the exact location.  Plus it was still raining, windy, and we were tired from driving for 4+ hours.  I was looking forward to staying at this B&B due to it's age--14th century!!!

June 5--Travel Day to Bath area

Our schedule called for going from Penzance to the Bath area via the north coast of Cornwall but the weather was awful.  Heavy rain and high winds.  Consequently we skipped Newquay, Port Issac.  However we did make it to Tintagel Castle, the legendary home of King Arthur.  The rain had let up some, but the wind was still strong.  The castle is a ruins, and they'd closed it due to the high winds since they were afraid the remaining wall might collapse. Oh well, on to Bath.