Too Many British Isles Castles to Visit in a Lifetime

Days 36-39, 2025 European Odyssey

Sunday to Wednesday, Aug. 3-6, 2025; Wales and Inverness, Scotland,

I am beginning to see why tourists might quip “ABC!”

Another Bloody Castle!

Estimates for the number of castles in the British Isles vary, but it’s in the thousands, depending on your definition. Generally, castles in this area of the world are defined as fortified structures with defensive features and imposing appearances.

I am not seeking to check off a list of castles, but I’m stumbling across them. This “Wild British Isles” cruise seems to offer one in every port, with the granddaddy being later this week in Edinburgh.

Liverpool alone reportedly has at least five castles. Yet today I overcame my aversion to all-day tours and ventured into Wales – a land of dragons and castles. Its flag features a red dragon, and there are more than 600 castles in this country.

We crossed the Mersey River and drove to north Wales, into the Clwydian Range passing small farms hugging the hillsides and narrow ravines with small rivers that attract fishermen. Buildings of local sandstone and limestone crowded the narrow road as our large bus threaded its way through villages.

Our destination was Conwy, a well-preserved medieval walled town with – yes – a castle. King Edward I of England built it in the late 1200s during his conquest of Wales. It sits on the River Conwy, which offered it a strategic advantage during sieges.

Our guide took us through the castle, with its outer walls intact and some inner walls still standing. It took imagination to picture a banquet hall, the king’s chamber and even the stockade. It took a sharp eye for me to avoid tripping as I wandered through the inner ruins.

When our guide raved about the Vanilla Cake with cream layers at one of the local Conwy bakeries, many of our group indulged during our free time. Instead, I bought a casual dress in Mountain Warehouse, similar to one I bought two years ago at the outlet in Oban, Scotland. (Maybe I need a check-off list of favorite dress shops on each continent.)

We stopped for lunch at an inn in Betws-y-Coed (don’t ask me to say it), a quaint village in an alpine valley, before the two-hour drive back to Liverpool. Before setting sail, Capt. Timmers advised us that he was watching the approach of Storm Floris, an unusually strong summer storm.

On Monday the Nieuw Statendam sailed slowly in the lee of Ireland to avoid the swells. It was no surprise that the captain canceled our Tuesday port call in Portree on the Isle of Skye. Personally, I liked having an extra sea day, but of course most passengers were disappointed. We heard that a performance of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo had been canceled due to weather for the first time in 75 years.

Wednesday dawned clear and breezy as we sailed into Invergordon in north Scotland. At least a half dozen ocean drilling platforms were anchored in the bay, undergoing repair or decommissioning – a reminder that we are just off the North Sea. I headed for the larger city of Inverness, home of another castle.

The Inverness Castle only dates back to 1836, when its most recent iteration was built on the site of previous castles on a cliff overlooking the River Ness. (Yes, that Ness, which flows out of nearby Loch Ness. I did that tour previously.)

I enjoyed a relaxing hour seated at an outdoor table sketching the castle. I had brought my paints, but the restaurant was about to open so I left that for another day. The castle isn’t open for touring due to renovations, but my interest wasn’t so much in another castle tour.

Below the castle, it was easy to explore Inverness’s downtown area on foot. I stopped into Leakey’s Bookshop, which fills two floors of an old Gaelic church. It reminds many of Hogwart’s Library in the Harry Potter books, suggesting that author JK Rowling might have been inspired by it as our guide suggested.

I was running out of time to find lunch, so instead I ducked into Marks & Spencer for a needed new pair of jeans.