Quite difficult this week. In order to get the answer to question one, you need to know that there is a poem about rustproofing the structure using wine and could easily mistake the Antelope Inn for the edifice in question, as it is right next to it. Near as I can figure it, the most likely answers are:
Q1. The Menai Suspension Bridge
Q2. William Hughes
(NB for question one, this is sometimes referred to as 'the Menai bridge' but there are two bridges over the Menai strait, the second being the Britannia bridge a kilometer or so to the south west of the suspension bridge. Google maps call it the 'Menai Suspension Bridge' )
The initial clues place us in the town of Bangor, Wales, at Garth pier (1500ft long and opened 1896). The structure with the literary reference to bibulousness is likely to be the Menai suspension bridge, it is around two miles south west of Bangor and there is some verse by Lewis Carrol about boiling it in wine.
White Knight to Alice:
"I heard him then, for I had just
completed my design,
To keep the Menai bridge from rust
By boiling it in wine."
—"Haddocks' Eyes", Through the Looking-Glass, Lewis Carroll
Skirting the northern periphery of the Snowdonia national park and travelling around fourteen miles,
takes us to the Conwy estuary.A likely candidate for the remains of a castle built by a king whose father was John, is Deganwy castle, which was reconstructed by Henry III (son of king John). The castle was destroyed after a long seige but I have so far not found any texts on how long this siege lasted.
Crossing the Conwy estuary takes us to the town of Llandudno, where the seventh Australian prime
minister, William Hughes (little digger) lived for a time. A lexicographer called Henry Liddell who
specialized in Greek and English lexicon had a holiday home in Llandudno. Some references claim that Lewis Carrol visited Llandudno in 1862 and he was an acquaintance of Liddel.
Llandudno pier is 2295 ft long and was opened in 1877. The great Orme is a 679 foot high
limestone headland near Llandudno and there is a funicular railway (opened 1902 with
track gauge of 3ft 6inches) there that takes you to just below the summit. There is
prehistoric copper mine on the great orme.
I know I'll be cheating by using this, but I just have to register my admiration for your detective skills and perseverance in finding answers to questions that don't actually pertain to entering the competition.
ReplyDeleteThe author of this puzzle can be a bit crafty sometimes, so it's generally a good idea to check all the clues to confirm that you are not barking up the wrong tree ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe bibulous reference to the Menai Suspension Bridge might be in its Welsh name - Pont Grog y Borth - Grog, geddit?
ReplyDeleteGeoff
Good point, I hadn't considered the Welsh language aspect of it but he does state that it is a literarily induced bibulous thought, which kind of implies that someone has written something about the structure....and the "what a waste of chablis" comment, matches up nicely with the Lewis Carrol verse about boiling it in wine ;-).
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