Aberlleiniog Castle...

Now owned and maintained by Mentor Mon, this wonderful little castle, which is not the easiest of places to find, is well worth a visit. 2009 saw much restoration being carried out with new pathways and easy access to the top of the mound. It's located in the Penmon area of Anglesey but not that well signposted: OS Landranger map 114: SH616793

Castell Aberlleiniog is the site of a Motte and Bailey, built in the 11th century on behalf of Hugh d'Avranches, the 1st Earl of Chester. Originally it would have been a wooden structure, now long since disappeared, and replaced during the Civil War by a stone structure consisting of a surrounding wall, and archers towers. Even later, during the World War it was used by the Home Guard.

The site is named after the local river, the Lleiniog. Aber means River. Castell of course being the Welsh for Castle. Hence, Castell Aberlleiniog roughly translates into the Castle of the River Lleiniog.

Snow, Snow, Snow..

I was looking forward to a relaxing start to the New Year... then it snowed and all hell broke loose! Calls from Visit Wales and Cadw came hot on each others heels requesting a long list of location to be shot in the snow. There followed 3 days of early starts and late finishes with overnight stays, zig-zagging our way across North Wales. Getting caught in snowdrifts on the Llanberis Pass and slipping and sliding to out of the way places looking for decent shots of Castles and Abbeys covered in the white stuff. It was a struggle just to cope with the constant change in temperature as we jumped in and out of the car, trudging through heavy snow and freezing winds hoping that the light wouldn't let us down. By the time we got home we were completely exhausted only to discover that the mains water in the house had frozen. Thank goodness for our wood burning stove, at lest we had warmth. Within 24 hours the water came through and we got back to some sort of normality.
Quite an adventure and some pretty pictures to boot!