Day 22: Bangor to Caernarfon
Playing hooky = the right way
That’s how it is. We skipped a day. I guess I’m not a purist after all. Who knew?
We had our reasons. We were/are tired after 12 straight days of walking around Anglesey. Today’s scheduled route from Bangor to Caernarfon included lots of tarmac, city streets and industrial areas. We had already walked the other side of the Menai Strait, which made this walk seem redundant.
I could probably come up with other justifications, but basically we needed a break. Do your own hike.
Skipping today’s 12.5 miles also gives us a double zero in the castle town of Caernarfon, which is Welsh for «You won’t be able to pronounce this one either, Yankee.» Tomorrow is our scheduled day zero.
Big plans
We have big plans for our double zero. First of all, we don’t expect to have any solid plans.
We will probably do the castle tour. Our B&B is located within the fortified old town of Caernarfon and just a few hundred meters away is the huge and well-preserved castle.
Laundry is a definite necessity. Probably. I saw a place called Pete’s Launderette in the driveway. Pete can do it for us, which makes it much more likely that we will do it.
Eating, sure. Google Maps tells me there is wood-fired pizza in the neighborhood, plus many other options. Including one called «Black Boy» which both David and the B&B host recommended, partly because it used to be a brothel when the castle was still under construction. The connotations of that name were… looking for the right word… let’s go with problematic. So we Googled it.
While some sources point towards the possible story of a brothel (or, interestingly, a convent) or a young African boy brought to the castle, the most reliable sources point out that there are many inns in the United Kingdom with that name because it was a nickname given to King Charles II by his mother (he had dark eyes and skin… for an Englishman). And if you want to read about some royal scandal, read about Charles II and his associates. Oh.
If I get really ambitious, I crave a spiced chai tea latte, but it may take a little searching. The small towns we have been frequenting didn’t offer as much food. Caernarfon could do it. We saw a Starbucks about three miles north of town. I won’t walk that far, but it gives me a glimmer of hope that there is a similar menu nearby.
Beaumaris in the fog
This morning I woke up early, saw that it was foggy and went out for a short walk along the Beaumaris seafront. The castle and pier shrouded in mist were as beautiful as under sunlight. Maybe prettier.
I also discovered on my morning walk that the Welsh are not early risers. I already knew that, since none of our hosts offered breakfast before 8:00 am, 8:30 on weekends. But I hadn’t realized that that extended outside of the B&B world as well. None of the cafes in Beaumaris opened before 8:00. Positively un-American.
Update: The people who drive the Welsh street sweepers are definitely early risers. Coincidentally, they start working around the same time I wake up.
The Caernarfon Castle Tour
Yeah, that didn’t happen today. I passed by it on my way back from Pete’s laundromat. It looked impressive (the castle, not the laundry, although it was in a totally different way), but I wasn’t ambitious enough to take a tour today.
I mustered up enough courage to pull off a brilliant nap.
With enough common sense for another tomorrow.
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