So, yesterday morning, I climbed Y Garn to a total altitude of 3,100 feet. It was the most physically challenging thing I have ever done; there was one point I think I was literally crying from pain and exhaustion (I couldn't distinguish between tears and sweat....it was a hot one yesterday) and didn't think I would be able to physically be able to make it to the top. So, you can imagine, I literally felt on top of the world when I finally made it (2.5 solid hours of climbing up the side of a mountain!). We had a beautiful day; it (supposedly) always rains in Wales, and we got a sunny, clear day! Climbing down was easier on the cardio end, but equally as hard on the muscles, surprisingly! We climbed down Devil's Kitchen, a very steep section of the mountain comprised mainly of boulders. It was fun to try to find paths down the rocks, and sometimes they were big enough to use as slides :)
Here's some pictures from the morning:
Base of the trail. The rocky section in the very middle is Devil's Kitchen.
Beginning our ascent....
Still climbing....
You could see the whole valley from up there!
My view as I ate my lunch
I made it to the very top!
The summit of Snowdon, the tallest mountain in Snowdonia National Park. It was only a couple hundred feet higher than Y Garn!
The beginning of Devil's Kitchen
Here's another shot of Devil's Kitchen.
After we were finally down from the mountain, our professors drove us to see another castle! This one (called Caernarfon) was even bigger than the last one (Conwy)! It was especially cool because the towers weren't circular, but hexagonal!
I climbed to the top of the highest tower and took in the views of the ocean.
Today, I woke up super early (6 am) and spent all morning and early afternoon traveling by car and train to Bath, back in England. On the way, we stopped in Berkeley (pronounced Bark-ley, as I learned today) to see the Edward Jenner Museum. Edward Jenner was the inventor of the modern vaccination and is credited with essentially eradicating the world of smallpox. I LOVED this museum and learning all about this wonderful man.
Jenner's house; the site of the museum. I'm loving these English estates! I want one!
We were the only group on the property today, so we got a special tour, lecture, and afternoon tea! The wonderful curators even had lawn games set up for us to play, like croquet!
After tea, our guide showed us the "Vaccination Temple," which was built for Jenner by his friends and colleagues and used by him to give vaccinations to the poor free of charge.
It was such a cool building! We even got to touch the thatched roof.
Next up was nearby St. Mary's church, built by the Normans in the 13th century. There has been a church on the site since the time of the Anglo-Saxons though, around 1050 AD! It has the largest amount of these table tombstones in all of Britain. Some of these tombs are from the Middle Ages, which blew me away; I was standing amongst centuries and centuries of history.
This is the tomb of the last jester employed in Britain. He was employed by the Berkeley family, who lived in the nearby castle.
The tomb of Edward Jenner.
The organ; it's actually quite modern. The church has gone through many different organs over the years.
The Great War Memorial. The panels list the names of every member of the parish who was killed in the First World War.
Finally, we peeked inside the gates of the Berkeley Castle. The Berkeleys are an old, old family; the 23rd generation is currently living here (yes, they still live in the castle!!)
When we returned to the museum, our guide gave us a tour of the attic of the Jenner house. The exhibit was called "Ghosts in the Attic" because this represents how the diseases eradicated by vaccines (like smallpox) are merely ghosts in our history. However, this exhibit also warned us about the possibility of these diseases coming back to haunt us if we aren't careful. Only two strands of the virus exist in the world today, and are obviously under very high security.
After finishing at the museum, we caught a train into Bath, where we checked in to our hotel and ate some dinner (Italian!). Tomorrow's docket includes touring the Roman Baths and the Herschel Museum!
