6 - Between the mountains and the sea: Wales and up the country (UK version)

“I have to say that I thought search-and-rescue duties over Snowdonia were physically and mentally demanding, but looking after a 3-week-old baby is up there!” — Prince William

I am writing these words only a few days after the wane of the frenzy surrounding the (royal) wedding between the Hollywood actress, feminist and humanitarian militant Meghan Markle and an obscure ‘Prince Harry’.
It will soon be the time for me to pack my meagre possessions and head back to France. Yet, I only wrote on about 1/100th of what I experienced here.

Keswich and Whitby are settled at the opposite extremities of a cross-country line that would cut Great Britain in half slightly above Leeds.

I was able to hike in the natural parks of Snowdonia in Wales, and the Lake District, on the west coast, each time for a day.

I also idled in the pittoresque villages of Conwy, Keswick et Whitby, all near the water. On a map, the two latter appear as polar opposites. Conwy is situated north of Snowdonia, and Keswick in the middle of the Lake District.

That was for the geography lesson.

Wales

Conwy

Conwy fortress allows for the strange experience of smelling sea air and let oneself lulled by the calls of the seagulls while admiring both at the Ireland sea and Snowdonia’s mountains, AND being sited on top of one of its 13th century towers. I walked along its ramparts with Eva, a German friend of mine, during a tour organised by CityLife last March.

Conwy Castle, classed as World Heritage site by the Unesco.

1.-4. View from the castle. 5. ‘The smallest house in Great Britain’ VS the tallest chick in France.

Snowdonia National Park

Snowdonia park is itself, with Scotland, the most enchanting place I was lucky enough to visit this year. Its highest peak, the mount Snowdon, is also the highest mountain in Wales. We climbed up the Miner’s Track, which was bordered with abandoned industrial buildings. It looked like a Roman path however, paved as it was with monumental blocs of rock.

And then, behind a mountain, the sudden vision of the first glacial lake makes us speechless. The Llyn Teyrn, Llyn Llydaw then Glaslyn unfold their impassive silver waters. The scenery is… out of this world.

Snowdonia or Prometheus?

Higher, some waterfalls.

Then it’s the first waterfall, the first islet, the first snows in view. Following the stone path crossing the Llyn Llydaw Lake is a bit of a Christlike experience; it’s almost like walking on water itself.

An almost Scottish landscape, and such a particular atmosphere…

The Lake District

Keswick

Half-bathing in the Derwentwater Lake waters, the tiny town of Keswick is ‘‘remarkable’’ for 3 things: its location at the hearth of the Lake District Park, its cromlêh (a barbaric word referring to a megalithic altar-tomb, shaped in a circle of rough stones), and… its pencil factory, the first one ever opened in the world. It is now commemorated by the ‘Pencil Museum’— whose very existence I find so peculiar that I wished I visited it.

Keswick was part of my last daytrip with CityLife, accompanied with a joyful gang of international people. On this picture only, we are 8 people from 8+ different countries: Italy, USA/Brasil, Pakistan, Taiwan, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, and of course, France!

1. Keswick. 2.3.4. The Lake District countryside, its sheeps and… its weird hikers.

The Lake District National Park

Once you go past the meadows studded with sheeps, step over the streams and climb up a pretty significant slope, the view is worth it.

The Lake District mountains follow one another, and the panorama at the summit of each one always rivals the previous one in beauty…Well, I say that even though I only climbed the first mountain and a half.

Whitby

The icing on the cake: the ‘Bark Endeavour’, a replica of Captain Cook’s sailing ship, sailed in Whitby port. On the heights, the Church of Saint Mary.

With Paco, we decide to take a look at the English east coast for a day, after eliminating the possibility of the south coast, Brighton being far too far. We chose Whitby, with its little touristic harbour nested in a sea sound, its church and its abbey in ruins, which reminds of Kirkstall Abbey (except it’s not free, and we therefore stayed away), and its Gothic cemetery perched on the cliff.

1. The ‘199 steps’ go up to the cemetery. 2. The stand of the fortune teller of the harbour (‘Spiritualist and clairvoyant’), Lee Ester Alita Lee. 3. An old photograph of Keswick. 4. A detail on the facade of the ‘Dracula Experience’. 5. Restaurant on the docks with bae.

In addition to being the harbour where the explorer James Cook trained himself, it’s in Whitby that Bram Stocker’s novel places the shipwreck of the Demeter, where Dracula was when he arrived in England.

The very kitsch attraction ‘the Dracula Experience’ uses that reputation. The visitors comments on Google being surely funnier than the actual visit, we rather had a drink in the harbour in front of the shop of a fortune teller, instead of buying some (not even costly) tickets…

The comments on ‘The Dracula Experience’ are a whole experience themselves.

The legend goes that the cemetery perched on the heights holds what is said to be Dracula’s tomb. We found it in the end. However a ‘disclaimer’ on the door of the Church of Saint Mary contradicts this story.

The view from Whitby cemetery is stunning and reminds of English novels about vampires, pirates, or impossible love stories.

1. The tomb suspected of being Dracula’s; more probably the one of a local pirate. 2. The Church of Saint Mary and its cemetary. 3. View on the ‘Bark Endeavour’ from the cemetery. 4. In the background, Whitby Abbey.

It’s soaked in this magical atmosphere that we took the bus back to Leeds. We drove across moors that were preserved because part of vast military lands, and villages where sheeps had all the rights to wander around in complete freedom.

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But that was not the end of my own wanderings! My next piece will be about my recent trip to Ireland, my previous travels to Jerusalem (last February), or more probably on my (really shortly) upcoming departure!

FR version: https://medium.com/@lucielquier/6-entre-monts-et-mar%C3%A9es-escapades-galloises-et-nordiques-5c08bf6a4ff7