Tuesday 15th May – Caernarfon

It rained yesterday evening and over night and it didn't look very encouraging as we left the campsite this morning. We were heading for the Roman Fort at Segontium just ten minutes walk away. When we arrived we found the site open with the grass being mowed but it was obvious that the museum was permanently closed. There were no attendants but a man who had been on his mobile phone came over and talked to us. It turned out that he was the chairman over a local archaeological society, knew everything that was known about the site and had help in some of the recent excavations. He was expecting to attend a Roman lamp-making class that morning on the site and had been checking with CADW (the Welsh equivalent of English Heritage). We found out later that he had got the date wrong and the class had happened last week. He offered to take us on a quick guided tour of the site and it was brilliant. The information on the site is very poor with only a small information board at the entrance but our guide was able to tell us much more. He also told us more about Anglesey and the Druids. It is known that Druids from all over Europe came to Anglesey as a centre of learning. His society believe that they have located the Druid school near to the lake of Llyn Cerrig Bach where a huge deposit of Iron Age swords and armour was found in 1943. It is thought that these metals were brought as payment by the students. He also told us of a site that has identified on the shoreline of Anglesey opposite Segontium and they have proof of Roman occupation from the early Roman invasion right through to the end of the Roman period. It is thought that there may have been a crossing point of the Menai Strait here in Roman times when the sea level was some 4 metres lower. Fascinating.

We said goodbye to our guide and crossed over the road to another part of the site that he had told us about. Here were the remains of the Roman governor’s bathhouse and a section of Roman wall. Whilst we were admiring the wall, a lady from CADW came up to us and introduced herself. Adele had been told that someone was at Segontium expecting a guided tour and she had driven from the other side of Bangor to get here. We explained that we weren't expecting a tour but guessed that it must have been a misunderstanding of the phone call that our previous guide had made. Adele was extremely helpful, gave us a brochure on the site and more information about the fort and the Romans in North Wales. We discussed the lack of information on the site and the demise of the museum, whose finds are now in Cardiff. They would really like to get them back to Segontium and there are plans to re-open the museum as a multi-functional building that would make it more viable. All they need now is the funding! Adele also told us that there is a Roman cookery demonstration at Segontium on May 23^rd and we have noted in in our diary in case we are back in the area at that time. Apparently CADW run a number of events on the Segontium site although there were no notices at the site nor did we notice anything when we were at the castle yesterday. Perhaps the marketing needs some more work! We thanks Adele very much for her help and walked down into the town centre.

We got very wet on the way when we were hit by a heavy shower but that stopped as we got to the terminus of the Welsh Highland Railway at the port side. Here we saw the train and a South African steam locomotive that had just arrived from Porthmadog and was due to return in the early afternoon. It was fun to watch the water tanks being refuelled and the engine taken to the other end of the train. The carriages were varied and interesting although the very smart 1^st class observation car seemed much more preferable than the open sided carriage in this weather.

We had an excellent lunch in Cafi Maes whilst it rained and then dodged the raindrops to do the rest of the Town Heritage Walk and a little shopping. By the time that we got back to the campsite, the sun was out and it became a much more pleasant afternoon.

Photos: Looking N.W. over Segontium from the granary – they had to store enough grain for 1,000 soldiers and the walls of the granary were buttressed to stop the weight of grain pushing the walls out; Raking out the ash tray of the Welsh Highland Railway loco; The loco pulling off after taking on water – not a good place to stand?