As usual our day started pretty early. We're staying at the Empire Hotel here in Llandudno. Looking out our window the bay is a few hundred yards to the left and the Celtic Sea is less than a mile a way to the right. We booked it through Hotwire. We've started using them a lot and are becoming bigger fans with every booking. Beth, who of course is the brains behind this duet has become very proficient at getting outstanding deals.
With Monday being a big driving day we didn't really do much after arriving. Just a short walk to stretch the legs, relaxing in the pool, a nice meal here at the hotel (unusual for us to eat at the hotel) and we called it a day. Driving in we liked the fact that the area is pretty flat and we had read about some nice walks.
Our goals for Tuesday were to check out Llandudno, walk the beach path to Conwy, check out the Conwy Castle and walk back. The distance between Llandudno and Conwy is about 4 miles so we figured it was easily going to be a 10+ mile day for us. By the time it was all said and done we had probably covered 12-14 miles and learned a few things along the way.
As we were heading out we noticed a statue honoring C.S. Lewis. There is a picture of it below. Now in doing a little research it turns out there is a bit of controversy as to if C.S. ever visited Llandudno. What is known is that Alice Liddell who was the inspiration for the book vacationed with her family here frequently. Since it's been over 150 years it's doubtful the truth about C.S., and Alice in Llandudno will ever be known. What is a fact is that Llandudno has taken every opportunity possible to tie him to the city including the commerative statue as well as other statues of characters from the book scattered throughout the town. As the marketing/media folks will tell you; never let the truth stand in the way of a good story!
The closer we got to the city of Conwy the bigger and more impressive the Conwy Castle became. This castle and the walls surrounding the city were planned and built in just four years by King Edward I back around 1283. It sits right at the mouth of the River Conwy and it certainly was well placed to defend attackers from either land or sea. We enjoyed walking through it and imagining what it must have been like back in the day. Of course, I'm sure it was a little different in the Royal Apartment area than the servants side of the castle.
We've been touring around England and Wales going on three weeks now. We saw something yesterday we had only had a glimpse of a time or two previously.........the sun! Although it clouded up late in the day we had sunshine pretty much all day. The ironic thing, it was far and away the coldest day we've had the entire time. The temperature never got much above 40 degrees and the wind blew around 20+ mph all day. The wind was coming off the chilly Celtic Sea to make it even colder. The Traveling Idiots pushed on through the elements in spite of the fact that at times we couldn't feel our faces!
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| Conwy Castle |
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| Fact or Fiction? |
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| I'm not smiling......my face is frozen! |
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| The Queen of Conwy Castle |
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| Castle, Blue Sky & a strong wind |
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| Llandudno Promenade on the Bay Side |
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Everyone should have their picture taken in front of Great Britain's Smallest House
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