Wild Wales tour 2

Full English breakfast for me today. Trouble is when it arrived I couldn't eat it! How can anyone eat the 'full English'!

Weather forecast today is awful. Rain, strong winds, maybe will reach 6 degrees! Our Wild wales tour may live up to its name.

First we travel to Llandeilo to see some castles. Carreg Cennen castle was first. It is perched on steep cliffs and attackers scaling the steep cliffs might as well have signed their own death warrants. Carreg Cennen’s defences exploited the natural environment to great effect, glued to the sheer cliff-face on all sides. The stronghold led a chequered life however, falling into Welsh and English hands during the troubled medieval period. The first masonry castle on this site was probably the work of the Lord Rhys in the late 12th century, but it is more than likely John Giffard, handed the fortress by Edward I in 1283, that we should thank for the castle we see today. The end came in 1462 during the War of the Roses when the castle was vandalized by 500 Yorkist men brandishing not swords but picks and crowbars. It had been a Lancastrian hideout.

Hard to get a good overall picture except by air so I 'borrowed' one from the net.

We spent ages climbing around castle and you could get a real feel for what is would have been like. The oven was still in fairly good condition.

The 360 degree views were magnificent.

There was a cave under the castle you could climb down into....spooky!

We weren't going to go to Dinefwr Castle as we had spent too much time at the last one but we couldn't resist. There was quite a bit of the castle remaining and you could walk almost right around the top.

The bluebells were just coming out in the meadows.

Again the views were spectacular as the castle was situated in the curve of the river. It took over an hour to walk up and back so it was just an apple lunch and onto the next stop.

We had to explore around to find the railway viaduct at Cynghordy. We ended up using Google Earth and Geoff's inbuilt GPS system. It was worth the effort as it was just huge in height and it curved. It looked like it would have taken some engineering.

Next stop was Builth Wells. This was founded by the Normans when Phillip de Braose constructed a timber Motte and Bailey Castle at a commanding point overlooking the ancient crossing of the Wye. Edward 1 rebuilt the early Norman fortress as a stone castle in 1277 however today no traces apart from the castle mound remain. It was beneath the shadow of that castle that the town developed. A new bridge on the present site was constructed in 1779.

We wandered around in the rain for a while. Came across this interesting old church. Geoff deducted that it was an old Norman tower whose attached church had been removed and a new one built at a much later date. Well he was half right. Apparently the church was Norman and was listed in a taxatio of Pope Nicholas I in 1291. The tower dates from the 14th century. The present nave, south aisle and chancel were built in 1875.

After Builth Wells we noticed a changing of the landscape from gently folded hills and patch worked fields to a much more rugged scene. The sides of the hills were very steep and covered in different coloured heathland and scrub. The travelled to Élan Village to see another perspective. This village was built as a "model village" for the workers

As the new dams and reservoirs were being built in such a remote location, it was necessary to construct a temporary "navvies village" to house the large number of workmen employed on the project and, in many cases, their wives and children as well. A Birmingham Corporation official remarked that "the settlement designed by the Committee may be regarded as a model village, and should serve as an example to other public bodies."

After Elan Village we had some hot chips at Rahayder and made our way home for tea.