British Isles Cruise 2012, N. Wales Pt.1.

First port of call was Guernsey which was a tender port. The sea was rough so we had to miss it and instead carried on towards Holyhead on Anglesey.
We took a tour from Anglesey to Carnaervon and Conwy castles, Snowdonia and some of the towns.

Approaching Anglesey 16th May.


Carnaervon Castle.



Statue of Lloyd George in Carnaervon.


Snowdonia National Park.






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.

Littlecote House.

Littlecote House is an old Elizabethan house and part is open to the public as well as being a hotel.

The smaller dining room.

These keys to the original doors are about 24 inches long.

On guard in the hallway.

One of the lounges.

Anyone for chess?

The Roman mosaic in the grounds.

Remains of some of the ancient Roman buildings

Littlecote House Hotel March 2012

The Hotel.

The Gardens.

Beautiful warm Spring weather brought the flowers into bloom.


A deer made from moss.

"The Stumpery". A walk through a wooded part of the grounds. The moss deer can be seen in the background.

Sun through the Mist.

It had been low level mist most of the day but when the mist occasionally parted, it showed a completely cloud free sky above it. The sun appeared as a dull red glow which contrasted with the grey of the misty landscape.

Fort Lauderdale by Boat

After we had done the coach tour around Fort Lauderdale we got on the Carrie B and saw the beautiful houses on the intra coastal waterway. We were told which houses belonged to who, but there were so many that it was impossible to remember.



This yellow house and the following three photos of it belongs to an ex owner of the Miami Dolphins.

The handrail of the pagoda is painted with gold leaf. There is a hot tub on the middle floor.

There is a statue of dolphins immediately on the left of the bushes to show his connection with the Miami Dolphins.




This yacht belongs to Paul Allen who founded Microsoft with Bill Gates. He also owns Octopus which is the worlds largest privately owned yacht.





With all these huge and immensely expensive houses, we never saw a single person on the properties apart from gardeners. What a waste! I would love to enjoy sitting out in the good weather and enjoying my surroundings.

Fort Lauderdale.

After we got off the ship we took a tour around Fort Lauderdale by coach and then by boat.




Fort Lauderdale is celebrating it's 100th anniversary this year.

The coach took us past some of the multi million dollar houses in the area.


Then we stopped and saw some of the original houses in Old Fort Lauderdale.




On our way to the boat that was to take us around the intra coastal waterways, I was very surprised to see that the rail track came right down beside the road.


The Carrie B arriving to take us on our tour around Millionaire's Row and the port area. (to be shown in the next post.)