Like many tourists of yesteryear I have just got back from a holiday in North Wales, based in Colwyn Bay where my brother in law now lives. I have stayed there before but many years ago. He was down in our neck of the woods, so I hitched a lift in his MX-5 car to save me using the train or driving. The weather was still nice up there, just a little cooler, with a sea breeze thrown in for good measure. In the evening after we got up there, as Monday is a quiet night, we had a few drinks in a local bar, where they have a reciprocal arrangement with a local pizza place, you order at the bar, they get delivered to you and you eat them with your beer. Result. All are priced the same. I had Peking Duck ( amazing ), he had Smoked Haddock ( also amazing ). The bar does all sorts of things like film nights, to tempt to punters in. We also had another drink in the local Wetherspoons, which I think was an old cinema, still featuring lots of its old fittings. On the next day we walked to nearby Rhos on Sea.
The promenade is recently refurbished and is really wide with all sorts of things to look at along the way. ( and keep the children amused ) The beach has also had a makeover, with tons of sand being brought in to improve it. Out in the sea are wind turbines, but they don’t really take away from the spectacular views we were getting.
Rhos on sea is a smaller place and more like a tourist centre than a proper village. We both had a nice ice cream while we wandered about. There is this minute church which is still used. It can hold six people plus the priest. The original was built with wattle and wood, this stone one replaced it. A Celtic saint built it, he was called Saint Trillo. The church is built on top of an ancient spring, the water used for baptisms.We saw a Greek restaurant, which my brother in law has been in, the menu looked good. There is a pub named after the Cayley family. A George Cayley designed a flying machine fifty years before the Wright brothers. ( they acknowledged this ) His was a glider, and unlike them he did not fly it, he got his coachman to! It flew for 275 metres, before crashing. After the experience, the coachman resigned. We then took the bus to Llandudno, where there is a Wetherspoons this time in an old Theatre.
Years ago we stayed in Llandudno to celebrate my brother in law’s parents Ruby wedding anniversary. It’s really nice, it has a pier that we walked along and bought some local cheese. We could see the gondola ride wasn’t running to the Great Orme as it was a bit windy. We took the bus up to the summit and had a walk around it.
For the down trip we used the tram which was quite fun. Half way down you have to swap to another carriage, to get to it you walk through the winding shed where there are motors, wheels and all sorts of machinery that makes the whole thing work.
Back in Colwyn we visited another couple of bars, both which specialise in small breweries offerings. This one, below was more like a community centre. A teenager was playing piano very expertly. It’s was a very eclectic place and the beer was good.
Our second full day had us go by train to Conwy. It’s not a huge town, but is dominated by the castle and original town wall. The castle was very interesting, but an audio guide would have made it more so. Unfortunately lots of the wall was closed due to safety reasons.
On the bits of the wall we could get on the views were very good. There are lots of local shops, selling all manner of things made locally. Just how towns used to be in years gone by. There was also a monument to the 1937 coronation of Queen Elizabeth the second.
By the sea front we saw the smallest house in Britain, quite pretty, but evidently very small.
We decided to have an early dinner and had a fish and chips dinner, sitting out in front of the Old Police station. We caught the train back, and had a couple of drinks in another pub, this time in Rhos. The next day we had another wander around Colwyn, and I caught my train home. It’s been a nice break, the weather is still good, but some watering to do on the allotment tomorrow!
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