Raglan Castle

On our last full day in Wales, I just knew we had to get in one last castle before heading out to London. So we set out for Raglan Castle, a trip that would take a 15 minute train ride to Newport, a 7 minute hike to the bus station downtown, a 40 minute bus ride to St. Cadoc’s Church in Raglan, and a final 15 minute hike from the bus stop to the castle. The train ride from the Great Western Railroad Station in Cardiff took us to Caerphilly the previous day, so we were familiar with the drill. The train to Newport would take us farther. But we initially couldn’t figure out our way to the bus station. And when we arrived, we had missed the bus to Raglan by a couple of minutes. So we went and had lunch at Bistrot Pierre at Friars Walk Shopping Centre.

The bus ride took us out into the country, lots of green fields and quaint little towns. When we got off in front of St. Cadoc’s Church, I thought we might catch a glimpse of the castle off on the horizon, and just walk toward it. Not so easy.

The church was under repair. So we skipped it, and started our trek to the castle.

At the highest point of the castle, I took a couple of panoramic pics.

And before leaving, one last shot from the ground level.

The people on the right looked like they were setting up for some event on the castle grounds, complete with capes, crowns, armor, shields, and swords. Could have been a child’s birthday party.

We made it to the bus stop by St. Cadoc’s Church early enough hoping to catch a bus back on the hour. But there was none until the next hour. So we sat and talked about lots of things … and took one last shot with St. Cadoc’s behind us.