Often when we write about an area, we curse and moan re the lack of space available here to highlight all the lovely things about it. And so it is re camping in Caernarfon. So we’ll quickly label its location as perfect – on the edge of Snowdonia National Park, on the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey and eight miles from Bangor – before hastily suggesting three things that Surely Must Be Done in Gwynedd’s royal town.
Thing the first from a Caernarfon campsite: Caernarfon Castle. Built near Segontium Roman fort by Edward I after a tussle with the Welsh in the late thirteenth century, the castle is now looked after by Cadw and includes the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum (see how we sneaked in two extra attractions there?). Thing the second: the Welsh Highland Railway. Take this from Caernarfon for the 25-mile trip to Portmadog and from there, should you wish, get the Ffestiniog Railway on to Blaenau Ffestiniog (another cracking attraction, and see how we sneaked it in?).
And thing the third? Have a go at crabbing from Caernarfon’s harbour walls, before supping a pint at the town’s oldest and supposedly haunted pub the Black Boy Inn. Eek, looks like we’ve sneaked another attraction in there too.
