Llangollen

Last night’s B&B was in a perfect location. Just a couple of minutes to a pub that had a curry night, then only a 5 minute walk to the concert. We were lucky to find an on street park directly opposite our B&B, so we left the car there this morning and walked around to the station for the Great Orme Tramway. The Great Orme is a 697 ft high hill with spectacular views.On a clear day, you can see Snowdonia, Anglesey, Isle of Man, Blackpool and the Lake District. There is a cable tramway, built in 1902 and a modern cable car. The tram is Britain’s only cable hauled road tram. We chose the tram because it was slower, historic and seemed like a good idea. Turns out it was. The steepest section was about 1:3. The tram was good fun and the views from the top of the Great Orme were well worth the trip. At noon, we stopped for the UK’s national minute of silence to remember the loss of lives in Tunisia a few days ago.

   

When we returned to sea level, or just a little above, we walked around to the Llandudno Pier. Nothing like ours. It’s a tourist / holiday destination and the pier was full of amusement arcades.

     

Just back from dinner with the best view ever.

Back to the blog. Stopped in town to try to get Gary’s phone fixed, but no luck. We then went to Conwy, only a few miles away. We were lucky to come across an empty parking spot right in front of Telford’s suspension bridge that is now managed by the National Trust. Just in case you haven’t worked it out, we have memberships of the Victorian/South Australian National Trust. We also visited Aberconwy House, a merchant’s house built in the late 1200s. After a good strong coffee, we visited the smallest house in Britain. It is a 2 storey house with a tiny room on each floor. There is a steep ladder from the lounge/kitchen to the bedroom upstairs then the trapdoor is shut to be able to move around a little bit. Don’t know how ablutions were managed, perhaps a pot somewhere that was emptied somewhere.

We then drove to the spectacular, extensive Bodnant Garden, originally established in 1792 and given to the National trust in 1949. The stunning Laburnum arch that G&R saw flowering in bright yellow 2 years ago was, unfortunately, not in bloom but was still impressive. The roses were past their prime but still stunning with an amazing range of scents, including citrus.

Llangollen was the next stop and just as exciting as the last time R&G were there. Counting down to collect the canal boat tomorrow. Hard to hold Rick back. However before we can  move on tomorrow, there is the mundane issue of visiting the laundrette.