Day 8: Wales – Ruthin
We loved our stay in Crickhowell, such a happy Welsh town. After breakfast we set off on a 3 hour journey to Ruthin.
We drove through the typical beautiful Welsh, green countryside, stopping along the way to take in beautiful views like Lake Llyn Clywedog. We passed through quaint villages with names like Lleswyn, Llawryglyn and Llanelwed. As we headed north into Snowdonia, the terrain became more mountainous.
We stopped off for lunch at a delightful restaurant and organic shop for lunch, famous for recently having been visited by Charles and Camilla.
We arrived at Ruthin Castle, a 13th century medieval castle fortification and our home for the next four nights. It was constructed by Dafydd ap Gruffydd on a red sandstone ridge overlooking the valley below. Parts of the ancient walls still remain forming part of the hotel, we have nicknamed Faulty Towers.
The castle is situated in the old part of town, in the Vale of Clwyd. After settling in we wandered around the old village, the style of architecture is more Tudor inspired than the Victorian buildings of the south.
The town has 8 pubs and it was the kids mission to visit all 8. By the end of the night they had managed 3.
Pandas in Africa 