GWYNEDD

Portmeirion is a tourist village in Gwynedd, North Wales. It was designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 in the style of an Italian village, and is now owned by a charitable trust. The village is located in the community of Penrhyndeudraeth, on the estuary of the River Dwyryd, 2 miles (3.2 km) south east of Porthmadog. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmeirion PORTMEIRION North Wales. THE PRISIONER: The Village - Filming location If you are sharp eyed it's possible to see this wall in the above video.

On the same day as our visit to Portmeirion we incorporated a detour to the Mach Loop (also known as the Machynlleth Loop) which is a series of valleys in the United Kingdom in west-central Wales, notable for their use as low-level training areas for fast jet aircraft and propeller-driven aircraft. Adrian is a keen plane spotter, but unfortunately we only saw a couple of trainers probably flying from Anglesey. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Valley . Here is what Adrian had hoped to see on the day: Low-level Flying Mach-Loop with some rare aircraft

Conwy Castle is a magnificent 13th century stronghold constructed by Edward I, that today makes up one of four castles in Wales named as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Constructed under the orders of King Edward I and built between 1283 and 1289, Conwy Castle was one of an ‘iron ring’ of strongholds commissioned to establish the king’s dominance over Wales. During the English Civil War, Conwy was initially a royal stronghold before falling to Parliament in 1646. Following this, the castle was slighted, or purposefully damaged to put it beyond military use, and eventually fell to complete ruin in the late 17th century. Today, Conwy Castle is managed by Cadw, which is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group, and is open to the public. With its imposing towers and turrets and a striking position high over the Conwy estuary, the castle remains an atmospheric and picturesque site..

The oystercatchers are a group of waders forming the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, Haematopus. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia. The Eurasian oystercatchers are considered near threatened and there has been conflict with commercial shellfish farmers, but studies have found that the impact of oystercatchers is much smaller than that of shore crabs.

Dusty Springfield ~ Wishin' and hopin'