May 3, 2018    Dyffryn Burial Chamber and Barmouth


Today was a short drive south along the Welsh coast to the town of Barmouth.  It's where the River Mawddach empties into the Irish Sea.  Barmouth grew up around the shipbuilding industry and is now a seaside resort town.

Along the way to Barmouth, we stopped to see the Dyffryn burial chamber that is 6,000 years old.  This site gained my deepest respect because of it's lasting quality, and at the same time, greatly amused me.  Of all the great art and architecture we have seen on this trip, and as you have witnessed, it is considerable, it's a great big pile of rocks that accomplishes the longest legacy!

Dyffryn Burial Chamber

The larger cap stone.  It made us brainstorm how they got the big rock on top.  What do you think?

The smaller tomb.

The landscape looks like a Bob Ross painting!

Later, we walked to the church on the left.

Low tide at Barmouth.

A tiny tide pool.

I loved the colors of the seaweed.

There is a little crab in this tide pool.

Our outdoor classroom!

Grace walking among the rocks.

Looking back at the river's mouth.

Rod's rock tower.  I think he was inspired by the burial tomb!

From the beach, we could see a large garage door open on the RNLI station.  "The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the UK, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man as well as on some inland waterways."  We went into their gift shop and asked the nice lady if anyone was available to teach us something about the station.  She called the mechanic, Darryl, and he was happy to accommodate us.  The people in Wales are the nicest people!!

This tank-like vehicle pulls the boat across the beach and launches it into the water.  They are due to get a new model next year that's much faster.

You can see the boat in the back.

Darryl spent at least 30 minutes with us.

This raft is sent out on the smaller rescues.

After our field trip with Darryl, we walked up the hill to the church we saw from the beach.  Not sure what building this is, but the dinosaur cracked me up.

St. John the Evangelist Church was built between 1889-95 with the bulk of the expense paid for by the Perrins family of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce.