At Harlech

 We arrived early at Harlech castle as we wanted to have breakfast in their café.  I loved the post box topping just outside the entrance.

It was a cold and damp morning so different from the day before at Llanbedrog.  After coffee and scrambled eggs on toast we set out along the bridge into the castle.  I've taken you here a couple of times in previous posts.  This time we didn't go up onto the battlements as it was far too windy.

We walked around the outside wall first and nearly got blown away.  There are some lovely views across the town and down to the coast from there.

The Railway Station

Towards the sea

Roof tops and chimneys

Distant hills and mountains

I didn't take too many photos inside the castle.  Just of things that caught my eye.

The castle is one of a number of castles built for Edward I during his invasion of Wales between 1282 and 1289.

Below is a statue of Branwen daughter of Llyr.  She is one of the main characters of the Welsh folk tale know as The Second Branch of Mabinogi.  The story is that she trained a starling to take a message to her brother at Harlech castle to bring a force of his men to Ireland to save her from a cruel husband who had banished her to the kitchens to work as a maid where she was beaten daily.  The story goes that she returned to Harlech but died of a broken heart because of the devastation of the war caused by these actions. 

 

The statue stood out against the grey stone. Here is a -link- to the full folklore tale of Branwen.

Below is another  statue relating to the story of Branwen, who left the castle at Harlech to marry the king of Ireland.  Their son the young king Gwern was killed in the war that followed.  The statue shows Bendigeidfran, brother of Branwen, carrying the body of his nephew Gwern.  The sculptor shows the futility of war and the ensuing grief of loss.

After a walk around the little town.  It was time for another coffee, well tea for me as they didn't have de-caff coffee and I'd already had one coffee that morning.  I try to only have two a day.

Over the next few days we are changing our internet provider.  I'm not sure how smoothly that will go, I'm sure there will be some problems. I don't know when I will be back.  Some time in October I hope.