We left our hotel early on the morning of Sunday, September 6 and walked a few blocks past a deserted Russell Square to Euston Station to catch our train to Llandudno, in northern Wales. I'd already bought the tickets online a month or so earlier, so we retrieved the tickets from a vending machine and boarded our 2nd class coach to Crewe. As luck would have it, our train seats faced backwards, which made shooting pictures and videos a bit of a challenge.
We changed trains in Crewe, and headed west along the seashore into Wales. You can only tell you're in Wales because the signs are in Welsh first, and then in English, which makes reading them from the train - or a moving car - a bit of a challenge. More on that later.
We arrived in Llandudno at about noon or so, and walked 3/4 mile or so to our hotel. The weather was kinda cloudy, breezy, and several degrees cooler than London. Llandudno (pronounced clan-DUDE-no) is a Victorian seaside resort on the north coast of Wales, situated on a long sand/shingle beach with large hills ("the Great Orme" and "the Little Orme") at either end. I was told that "Orme" is an old Norse word meaning snake. The buildings on the waterfront (almost all of them resort hotels catering to elderly English guests) are all from 1850-1870.
We found our hotel (the Hen-dy, right on the waterfront) without any problem, and were warmly greeted by Louise, who runs it along with her husband David. Louise showed us to our room, a HUGE second-floor (they call it the first floor) room with a spectacular view of the bay and some of the town. I was worried at first that it might be very noisy, but that didn't turn out to be the case. Here's a picture of the view from our room:
We unpacked (unpacking was one of Carrie's trip requirements) and spent the rest of the afternoon walking around town. Our guidebook for Wales recommended a pub called "The King's Head", so we went there for a pint. When we walked in, something made me feel like home. I don't know what it was, but there was something special about the place. One nice thing - when I went to the bar to order drinks, the bartender told me not to drink what I'd ordered and recommended a different pint (Abbott Ale), which turned out to be very good. We saw a sign saying there was live traditional music that evening and liked what we saw on the dinner menu, and decided to return there for dinner.
When we returned, I ordered drinks (Abbot Ale and wine for Carrie) at the bar and dinner at the food bar, and we sat and watched all the people. It soon became apparent that almost all of them were locals (at least the ones that we could see and hear). our food came (good, but not great). When I went back to the bar, I fell into conversation with a couple of local guys, who came over and sat with us. We had a really great talk, listened to some good traditional music, and headed back to the hotel, tired, slightly drunk, and VERY happy.
One of my objectives on every trip abroad is to find a local pub and get to talk with local folks. This evening exceeded my expectations. For me it was, looking back from several weeks, probably the best evening of the entire trip.
The next day we took a cab to the Avis car rental place in nearby Llandudno Junction. I got a 4-door Pugeot 308. A nice car, with wipers that went on automatically when it started to rain, headlights that went on automatically when it got dark or we went into a tunnel, outside mirrors that retracted automatically when you turned off the engine, but a transmission that had to be shifted manually.
Our goal for the day was Harlech Castle, about 40 miles away, and Portmerion, a small village nearby.
Carrie got the map out, and we headed out. Once I overcame my tendency to shift from 1st to 4th, the car proved to be just fine, with one exception: although it would be considered a compact (or maybe mid-sized) car here in the US, in Wales it was freakin' HUGE. Or at least it seemed so. Maybe that was because the roads in Wales are tiny, even when compared to Scotland.
Three things about the differences between driving in Scotland (where we'd gone two years ago) and driving in Wales:
1. The road signs in Wales are in Welsh first and then in English. Ever try to train yourself to read the bottom of the sign first when approaching one at 40-50MPH? We missed several turns because of that.
2. In addition to being hard to read, the signs don't give you much warning in Wales. Instead of giving you 1/4 mile, the signs often happen right AT the intersection. So if you don't have REALLY fast reflexes, you're going to miss the turn. Which we did. Several times.
3. The roads in Wales vary greatly in width. You can be on a nice two-lane road which goes around a bend and suddenly becomes a one lane road. Without warning. We had several near-misses with oncoming vehicles. I was scared sh*tless several times, and actually hit something with the passenger mirror once.
So there were challenges driving. After a few missed turns and some shortened tempers, Carrie and I found our way to Harlech (pronounced HAR-leck), a village on the west coast of Wales, and the site of Harlech Castle, a 13th century fortress built by Edward the 1st to subdue the Welsh. We paid, went in, and wandered around for an hour or so. The castle sits on a bluff overlooking a long stretch of sandy beach. There are great views in three directions.
After lunching in the village (picturesque, but not much else to see), we drove (with a few more misadventures) to Portmerion (pronounced port-MARY-on). Portmerion is a small village that was owned by a Welsh architect, who made it over into an Italian village. It looks for all the world like the pictures I've seem of towns in the Cinquterra in Italy. Everywhere there were picturesque views and tableau's. Portmerion also has the distinction of being where that great British TV series, "The Prisoner" was filmed in the 1960s. What a fantastic place! There was something to marvel at everywhere you turned.
From Portmerion, we drove (with a few more missed turns and other misadventures) back to Llandudno. We ate dinner at a local restaurant called "Home Cookin'" - not memorable. I had a local beer from Great Orme brewing - pretty bad. Then we went back to the hotel, sat in their little residents' pub, and talked to the owners and some of the other guests. When we asked about the history of Llandudno, David and Louise loaned us some books to read. What a nice, hospitable couple!
The next day (Tuesday the 8th) brought breezier cloudier weather. After breakfast in the hotel (very good) and arranging to have dinner there as well, we decided to ride a narrow-gauge railway, so we headed to Bleaneau-Ffestiniog (pronounced BLY-nee Tfest-INI-og). Along the way, it started to rain (which is when I learned about the automatic wipers). We arrived in Bleaneau-Ffestiniog and rode the (absolutely packed) train down through some very scenic valleys and dales to Portmaddog (pronounced port-MAD-uck), on the coast, about two or three miles from Portmerion. By now, the rain was blowing sideways. We wandered through town, looking for a microbrewery I'd found online (the Purple Moose). We found it after a couple of false turns, bought some souvenirs, found out that the owner had just gotten back from a microbrew tour of the Pacific NW and that their beers were sold on the railway we'd ridden on, and headed back to the station. We lunched (a HUGE portion of mac 'n cheese) and then got on the train for the return trip. I bought one of the Purple Moose beers (Snowdonia Ale - VERY good!). We drove back to the hotel, where we discovered that it had only been raining there for about 45 minutes. Ate dinner in the hotel dining room (good home cooking), visited in the residents' pub (tried a Welsh single malt - it was very smooth and tasted slightly of almonds), and were in bed by ten.
Our last day in Wales dawned clear. David reversed our car out of the (very, very tight) parking area in the back of the hotel (I'd had a slight run-in with a wall when backing out the previous day), and we were off to see two castles.
Our first stop was Caernarfon (pronounced ca-NARV-on). It was also built by Edward the 1st in the late 13th century, but is MUCH bigger than Harlech. Unlike most other castles, its towers aren't round, they're hexagonal. Also, it's walls have stripes of contrasting stones in them.
We explored the castle for a few hours, and then had lunch in the town (Carrie was in heaven because the couple net to us had a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that she got to pet and coo over) and drove back towards Llandudno to Conwy (pronounced CON-way). Conwy Castle was ALSO built by Edward the 1st in the late 13th century (a busy guy!). We explored the castle for a while (we both love castles!).
We then walked through the town to Plas Mowr (pronounced PLAS-MOU-er), a complete 16th century Elizabethan town house. The floorboards were original! There were two fireplaces that still had the original plasterwork with the year 1571 on it!
After dinner at the hotel, we went back up the The King's Head pub for dinner, hoping that the same local folks might be there, but we were out of luck. We saw the 1st half of the England-Croatia soccer match, and then went back to the hotel for a drink in the pub, and packing.
Next: Bath, Stonehenge, and how I almost went bankrupt
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