Monday, November 13, 2006

Harlech Castle

Harlech is one of the castles in the chain built by Edward I in the 13th Century, in order to help subdue the Welsh. It is in northwest Wales. See www.harlech.com. There is a splendid inland route through the mountains to the northern coast areas from Cardiff. There is a full list of castles at this website. You could start anywhere and see a castle sign. Good resource: www.castlewales.com/harlech.

"Men of Harlech" is a poem, a hymn of sorts, commemorating the valor of a small regiment fighting for the Crown in South Africa. See www.data-wales.co.uk/harlech.

To get here, go through the town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllantysiliogogogoch, northwest Wales. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllantysiliogogogoch.

That is the longest town name I can find. As a fourth grade teacher years ago, I used a train ticket from here dating from 1961, for spelling contests. Should have stayed teaching? Not with the regimentation required now. Another topic entirely - how to foster creativity in a time of universal smother-testing. I would rather have kids figure out how to handle a task, even learning Llanfair.... than just have them memorize for a test that says there is only one right answer.

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