Thursday May 8th 2025

Today we left our accommodation in Pentir to drive south to St David’s. There’s a few ways we could drive but I wanted to take one last drive through Eryri (Snowdonia). We headed towards Llanberis for our first quick stop at Dolbadarn Castle. This castle was built in the early 13th Century by Llywelyn the Great and remained an important seat of power for the Welsh Princes. It protects the Llanberis Pass and has magnificant views up and down the valley. The round keep still stands but the other towers and walls are only remnants. The castle is just a short walk from the road, where there is a small space to pull off and park, that had no cars there when we arrived.

After checking out the castle we continued up through Pen-y-Pass and down towards Beddgelart. As we drove to the south of Mt Snowdon on the A498 there was a place to park and enjoy the view.

Harlech Castle was the last of Edward I’s Castles that we visited. The castle is pretty impressive, although it is no longer situated right on the ocean as it has receded a fair way out. When it was built it could withstand a siege as it was able to be provisioned from boats below, by way of stairs in the rocky cliffs. It was the site of the last major Welsh rebellion in 1404. It was also held under siege from 1644-1647 by royalist forces. The bridge leading in today provides a fittingly impressive entrance. We used our Explorer Pass for entry.

Back on the road we headed south along the coast. Pulling in at a town to grab some lunch and then continuing on our way to charming Afon Mel Honey Farm and Meadery. They have honey and mead to try, plus an exhibition upstairs on bees, which was actually fascinating. Geoff had some honey icecream and I had a Mead tasting because I was curious. It tastes alcoholic, sweet and floral as you would expect.

Then it was back on the road to St David’s, doing our best to avoid getting sent down tiny one lane back roads by the GPS which was a constant danger in this part of Wales. We arrived in St David’s and picked up our key for our room at Penrhiw Priory. This was a bit of a step up in accommodation, as we knew we could get away with no laundry facility for the four nights we were staying, and sometimes it’s nice to have a bit of luxury. Can I just say, how soft the towels were. There was also a communal lounge room that we used after dinner each night we stayed. For dinner we went to Grain which had fantastic pizzas. It was great, really casual and we just wandered home afterwards.