CS Lewis

This past week Ben and I were driving past Oxford when I remembered that Oxford is where CS Lewis was buried. I had even starred the parish church on google maps the week before thinking that if I was ever near by I would want to go. Well we took a small detour and went. 

CS Lewis is one of my all time favorite writers and it was a neat experience to see where he attended church and was ultimately buried. The gravestone was simple and unassuming. CS Lewis shares a grave with his brother, who died 10 years after him, and there is a quote from King Lear which reads "Men must endure their going thence". 

Although not a stunning monument or display of grandeur it was lovely to see CS Lewis's grave stone and I am glad that we made the detour on our way home. 

North Wales

A lovely four and a half hour drive from London is north Wales. Full of castle ruins, stone walls, and sheep Wales is known for its beautiful scenery and friendly people. Ben and I took a three day trip to get a bit of a holiday in and also see one of our favorite bands, blur. Our first day we arrived in Dwgyfylchi, a beautiful coastal town. We stayed in a holiday caravan via airbnb and were surrounded by beautiful hills on one side and the ocean on the other. After the long drive I was eager to walk around and stretch my legs, so we headed to the nearest hill and found a walking trail. The trail was simply stunning. We passed handfuls of sheep and more excitingly this small pond surrounded by grazing ponies! 

Just past the pond where all the ponies were eating we walked to the top of a ridge and had this amazing view of the ocean. 

       

The next day we headed into Conwy, the walled city. The entire city is surrounded by this wall constructed in 1287.  It is in amazing condition and you can walk around almost the whole city on the wall. 

Conwy castle was built at the same time as the city wall, 1287. Both the wall and the castle took only four years to build.  The Castle was built onto stones in the natural landscape, with one side facing the ocean and the other facing the city. 

        

After exploring Conwy we were pretty hungry so we headed to Llandudno. We went to a little pub called The Cottage Loaf. We got a steak and ale pie (and salad). The portions were huge, and the food was delicious. Needless to say we were unable to finish the pie, even with our best efforts as this plate was the size of a serving platter. 

Llandudno is a resort town with a beautiful beach and a very long pier. It is surrounded by hills and there is beautiful scenery every way you look. 

After all our sightseeing we went to the blur concert which was epic. The following day we headed to Snowdonia which was utterly charming and beautiful. It was full of beautiful lakes and mountains. It had the quaintest little villages and is probably one of the most scenic places I have been in Europe. And that was our trip to north Wales. Our takeaway was that we would definitely go back to Snowdonia national park, but as for the other towns it is okay to just go once.