Day 1
Will we run out of LL places to stay ? – not yet, as we were on our way to Llandudno for the next two days. We woke to bright sunny skies – we have certainly been very lucky with our weather. We booked to catch the Heritage Steam Train to the summit of Mt Snowden and as I said yesterday the station was just down the hill from our hotel.
I remember many years ago my dad and mother, Enid, coming to Wales on their only overseas trip and mum was tickled when they came here and the steam engine they had that day was Engine number 2, called Enid. No more Enid the Engine unfortunately, today we had Engine 6, Padarn.
Mt Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales and England, south of the Scottish Highlands. The Snowdon Mountain Railway began in 1896. Most of the engines are diesels these days except during the summer months when a couple of heritage steam locomotives are also brought into play, and these are the most popular. It takes an hour to get to the top, with a 30 minute stay before another 1 hour trip down. After the first couple of trains of the day, the up and down trains pass one another at 3 little stations, the only spots were there is more than 1 track.
As I said, the weather today was just perfect and as we were about to borad the train to come back down, we were told that for 80% of trips the summit is under cloud ! “We don’t get many days like this, you are very lucky” she said !
After our train returned, weset off for the short drive to Caernarfon where we visited another of the Edward I castles – Caernarfon Castle. It is a much bigger castle than Harlech and is right in the centre of town. Back in 1969, the investiture of the then Prince of Wales – now King Charles, took place here. We watched a short movie of the castle’s history and took a walk through the old town before stopping for some lunch in a cafe.
One thing I am sure many do in Wales is visit the small town with the longest name …. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch ! We took photos of the names along the train station wall – pity the poor station announcer when each train passes by – The next train to leave ………………….!
We had a drive of about an hour from here to our accommodation, a B&B in Llandudno. We arrived about 4pm and were in for a shock ! We rang the doorbell and waited a bit before a lady in a paint stained shirt answered the door …………. “We are closed” she said.
After a long pause as what she said sunk in, we said “What, we have a booking for 2 nights !” ” We’ve been closed for a while, we are selling up” she said. After a bit of discussion I asked if she could recommend somewhere else. She was very apologetic and invited us in while we looked up some alternatives. As we looked on booking.com she asked if we needed breakfast and when we said we could make other arrangements for breakfast, after a brief pause she said “If you don’t need breakfast you can stay here, I just can’t give you breakfast”. So she took us to our room and here we are !
It turned out she has had other people contacting her to confirm bookings but must have felt sorry for us as we were the first to turn up ! Luckily they just seem to be doing a bit of renovation before selling and the rooms are generally set up ready for guests. We were very relieved and grateful !
After getting our bags upstairs two floors again, we walked down to the town which is on the harbour. Llandudno is a “manufactured” seaside town of the Victorian era. In 1848, an architect Owen Williams presented a local land owner, Lord Mostyn, with plans to develop the marshlands behind Llandudno Bay as a holiday resort. These were enthusiastically pursued and between 1857 and 1877 much of central Llandudno was developed to its current style. It includes a large amusement pier out into the bay.
On the way back we stopped at one of the pubs for a drink and dinner, fighting off the seagulls who seem to pounce on anyone with any food visible ! Back to the hotel – with the summer solstice the long sunny days can only get shorter !
Day 2
Our start today was a visit to nearby Bodnant Garden. With no breakfast available at our B&B we arrived early at the gardens to have a snack in the cafe before the gardens opened. These gardens were established in the 1870s and they became a National Trust property in 1949. There is a huge number of plants – over 22,000 – and a vast range of rhododendrons, originally around 300 varieties which now has been reduced to about 125. The rose gardens are also substantial – despite playing havoc with my hayfever !
The gardens surround an enormous mansion which is still privately owned however there is still access to a variety of terraces and spaces around the house and then beyond – with waterways, woodland and meandering paths. Being early, we seemed to have the place to ourselves for a while but the numbers soon swelled. It is a very beautiful garden and well worth the visit and we spent a large part of the morning wandering around.
Another day and another castle from Edward I to visit – Conwy castle in the nearby town of Conwy. We had actually driven past the castle yesterday as a roadwork diversion takes you across the river, past the castle, and back again – just to get you through the roundabout they were working on !
Like Caernarfon Castle, the surrounding town is encompassed in surrounding town walls and these were far more complete than others we have visited – supposedly the most complete medieaval town walls in Britain. It is very well preserved and spome sections even have some stained glass windows.
Adrienne had a walking tour which first took us along some of the castle walls, through some of the town and along the waterfront. On part of the waterfront is the smallest house in Great Britain at only 6 feet wide – you almost have to visit one at a time ! After our castle tour we had a snack lunch and coffee before driving back to Llandudno.
From here we drove around the “Great Orme”, a private “toll road” scenic drive which is a headland of limestone on the edge of the town. It is 3km long and 2 km wide, and rises over 200 metres at the summit – which is largely a huge sheep paddock ! It is mainly a one way road around the headland however there is a road up to the summit – which of course is narrow but with stone walls to contend with instead of hedges.
The summit has almost 360 degree views out over the coastline. Offshore you can see a vast “field” of wind turbines in the ocean. Yesterday was so still there ws no movement however today was pretty cold and chilly once we got to the top and they looked to be churning out some power today ! There is a small tram which runs across part of the summit and a cable car actually links the summit back down to the town near the pier.
It was now late in the afternoon so we headed back to drop the car at our B & B and shortly after setout to find some dinner – we settled on the Snowdon Pub which was pretty popular, not only with the football watching crowd but quite a few of the locals it seemed, some sitting by themselves with a pint and a good book. We have enjoyed this part of Wales – despite our initial shock yesterday – and head off back to England tomorrow.