Wordless Wednesday (with words)

 Another stop on our British Isles cruise was Anglesey in North Wales. A group of us booked a minibus and went to Snowdonia.

The "Ugly House" at Capel Curig.

During the 15th and 16th century Snowdonia was wild, lawless and sparsely populated. The crude houses with turf roofs and earthen floors provided little more than basic shelter for the inhabitants. According to legend "Ty Hyll", the "Ugly House", was built in 1475 by two outlaw brothers. It was a "Ty Un Nos" or "House of the Night". It was said that he who could build a rough house overnight and have smoke coming from the chimney by dawn could claim the land freehold. The boundary of his little estate could be further extended by the distance that he could throw his axe from the four corners of his new dwelling. A lonely secluded spot would be chosen, all materials assembled, friends summoned to help and at sunset the work commenced. It is suspected that some poetic licence was allowed and it was sufficient if the walls were roughly built and smoke was coming out of a hastily improvised chimney.

I am joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the blog hop.

Wordless Wednesday - Dublin Ireland.

 More from our cruise in 2012. This week it is Dublin.

Trinity College Dublin.

Trinity College.
Dublin City Hall.

A typical Dublin pub.

Statue of 2 shoppers taking a rest, locally known as "The Hags with the Bags."

Statue of Molly Malone.

2025 update:

The Molly Malone statue on Dublin’s Suffolk Street is to be put under protective watch to deter tourists from rubbing the figure’s bronze breasts, Dublin City Council has confirmed.

The statue, which depicts a fishmonger immortalised in a mid-19th century music hall song, has over the last decade become subject to a dubious “tradition” where tourists rub its breasts for luck.

The practice has resulted in discolouration and wearing of the bronze surface and has also caused concerns about disrespect for the artwork, which was completed in the late 1980s by the sculptor Jeanne Rynhart, who died in 2020.

The council has decided to use stewards from next month to patrol the area in front of the statue to deter people from rubbing the surface and to ask tour guides not to encourage their groups to indulge in the practice.

This was first announced on April 1st but specifically stated it was not an April Fool. They haven't convinced me but we will find out in May!

I am joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the blog hop.

Wordless Wednesday, Orkney Islands.

More from Orkney, Skara Brae. 

The houses were built sunken into the ground.

It felt strange to be walking where people were known to have lived thousands of years ago.

This is one of the passageways into the houses that has been reconstructed using the original stonework.

I am joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the blog hop.

Wordless Wednesday - Orkney Islands.

As I have been unable to go on holiday for some time I decided to go back to some of my early posts on this blog and post them. This was a British Isles cruise in 2012.

Our first stop on Orkney was Maes Howe which is an ancient chamber tomb dating back to 2700BC. It was very low to get in and unfortunately as I get claustrophobic, after the first two or three feet, I had to reverse back out and let Ivor go in on his own.

He said once you had gone through the low and narrow passage it opened into a large chamber with some natural light. I took his word for that and waited outside.

Next were the four Standing Stones of Stenness thought to date from 3100BC and the oldest standing stones in Britain. You can read more about them here.

Now I have decided to post parts of old posts there will be more of them until we resume travelling  later this year.

I am joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the blog hop