Chirk castle which is a national trust property sits on the land next to the campsite we are on now. Built in 1295 by Roger Mortimer De Chirk. A real Medieval castle. The castle itself is closed in the winter but I wanted to get some phots of the outside.

We walked from the campsite up the hill through the woods and across fields. As we walked my imagination was running wild thinking of all the invaders marching across these very fields towards the castle to invade it. Now it was just us and a few sheep looking on.

It really is a fantastic building. We will come back another day to look inside. The whole walk from the site, up around the castle and back to site was about three miles.

At the entrance to the grounds is a magnificent set of gates, all painted white with a red hand at the top. We have seen this red hand a lot around Chirk so we had to find out what it was all about. The story goes that the owner of the castle had twin boys, one was a little goodie two shoes and the other one was a bit of a rogue. The father could not decide who would inherit the castle and land so he organised a race. The first to cross the line would inherit the castle and grounds. The race started and the goody two shoes boy was winning which is what the crowd wanted, but as they neared the finish line the bad boy pulled out his sword and chopped of his hand and threw it over the line. We don’t know if he did inherit the castle but it makes a good story.

We drove out to our campsite where we will be working this year. It’s a fifty mile drive each way. We passed a lot of swollen rivers and flooded fields. It was a overcast day and some of the welsh mountains were shrouded in low cloud. I love Wales and the scenery is fantastic and will be even better on a nice sunny day. We passed a couple of big lakes and not a lot of traffic which was nice. The site was loverly with great views. We are both really looking forward to working there for the season and getting out and about in the area.

Last night we decided to treat ourselves to a beer and wine at a pub in the town. We decided to go to the Hand hotel after looking at the website. The hotel sits proudly in the town and as you enter you are almost thrown back in time, the decor pictures etc. The staff were so friendly and the prices very good considering we were in a hotel. A good late afternoon and early evening was had. This welsh dragon guards the bar area.

It was dark by the time we left the bar for our walk home. We crossed the railway bridge over the station and with the big factory in the background with steam belching out from it’s chimneys looked great against the dark sky. Another photo opportunity for my phone on night setting. Really pleased with the result.