May 15: Great Orme Tramway

The forecast for today was rain. And that suited me perfectly. As usual, I've been setting myself a ruthless pace on my holiday. Today is roughly half way through and I'm exhausted! I needed a slow day to recharge and rain is good for making me slow down. 

For the first time I savoured breakfast and took my time. Only then did I realise how quickly I'd been trying to get through it on the other days. Last night I was too tired to write up my blog so I spent sometime sitting down in the lounge this morning writing up the entries. After that I was feeling quite sleepy so I decided to have a late morning nap - something I rarely do. I slept for nearly 2 hours! That's unlike me so I know I must have needed it.

When I awoke I could have happily stayed in the hotel but the weather outside was OK, grey but it wasn't raining. I had been doing some reading and had found something I wanted to explore. I've seen that there is a cable car going up to the Great Orme, the rocks/hill to the side of Llandudno. I'm not keen on cable cars at the best of times. But this morning I discovered that there is a cable tram that also goes up there. That sounded OK and fairly unstrenuous, so I decided to give it a go. 

The tram takes you up in two parts. Halfway there is a cable house and you change trams. 

At the top it was blowing a gale and lightly spitting of rain. It wasn't enough to get wet, but it was enough to wet my lens when I pointed towards it. All the same, I managed to get a few OK shots. It would be spectacular up here when the sun is out. 

On the side of one hill were hundreds of names and messages made out of stones. I liked the idea - a much less destructive and more transient way of leaving your mark. 

There was a cafe at the top which was a great refuge from the wind and ideal for coffee and some cake. 

There's a cemetery up there too. 

As well as masses of this yellow flower. Unfortunately, I didn't get close enough to be able to get a good shot. The best I could get was from the tram while it was moving. 

When it came time to come back down I made sure I secured prime seating position as determined on the way up.  

That was quite enough activity for the day. Tomorrow I'll be getting up early to attempt a steam train adventure, so I'm planning a very early night tonight. 

May 14: Llandudno sunset?

Talking to the man on the train from Bangor to Llandudno Junction, I asked if he thought I would get any good sunset pictures at Llandudno. He thought so and suggested a few spots. 

As it was already getting on by the time I got back to Llandudno (or so I thought) I decided not to go straight back to the hotel. Instead I grabbed some fish and chips to eat by the sea. The serving was HUGE - way too much for me, but very tasty.  

After that I wandered around in hope of a colourful sunset. Of course, I had no idea how long that wait might be for and it ended up being longer than anticipated. Never mind though, it was a nice way to spend the evening. Although it was quite chilly by the end. 

I started by walking back to the western side of the town to take more photos of the landscape I had photographed when I first arrived. 

Walking back to the eastern side I came across this chap keeping watch. 

Unfortunately, the colourful sunset didn't eventuate. However, in the "golden hour" it was possible to get some nice shots of the foreshore. 

This shot shows you just how long the promenade is. 

As I walked back from the end of the pier I managed to get just the right angle to show buildings on the promenade and the mountains in the distance. 

May 12: Llandudno (Chlan-did-naw)

I chose Llandudno as a base for the Welsh part of my journey because it's central to the places I wanted to visit and seemed like a reasonable spot in its own right. 

The hotel is on the promenade overlooking the sea.  

The sun was valiantly trying to peek out from the clouds so I went for a quick stroll around town. There were some people on the pier but I imagine it would get much busier here on the weekends in summer. 

It provided great views back to the beach and coast. And it was a great spot to pause for a drink.

Llandudno is sort of on a peninsula and it's possible to walk to the other side. Along the way I could see the houses perched on the side of the mountainous part at the end of the peninsula. 

The view on the other side of the peninsula is just as beautiful.

All of the official signage here is in Welsh and English. At the station, the train announcements were made in Welsh first and then English. 

My hotel room is a sea view room. Unfortunately they're doing some major extension work requiring scaffolding at the front of the building, but that doesn't prevent me from still getting a clear view of the sea as you can tell from this picture. 

Tonight I will read through all the pamphlets I have accumulated to plan my activities over the next few days. I'm looking forward to exploring. 

May 12: Oxford to Llandudno

Today it was time to move on from Oxford and the Cotswolds to my new destination - North Wales. 

I woke up early to pack after a really restless night from an uncomfortably warm room. The morning was grey and it had rained overnight. After breakfast I spent some time downloading timetables for the trains and buses I would need in Wales - just in case the wi-fi at the next hotel was not as good as this one. 

I got to the station early to catch the 9:39am to Birmingham New Street station. The scenery at the start of the journey was very familiar but misty.

At Birmingham I changed to the 11:25am train to Llandudno Junction. From Birmingham to Wolverhampton the scenery was all industrial. But after Wolverhampton the country returned, eventually becoming hillier.  

By the time we reached Chester it was raining lightly. Shortly after leaving Chester we reached the coast of the North of Wales at Flint. 

As well as this curious "beached" ship. 

The train had wi-fi, which was excellent because my daughter Emily emailed me to tell me she had just won Best Documentary at the South Australian Screen Awards. Modern technology immediately allowed me to then share the wonderful news from the other side of the world! 

From Llandudno Junction I had a 20min wait before the final 10min train trip to take me to Llandudno itself. 

All together the journey took nearly 5 hours. The Birmingham to Llandudno Junction part was particularly slow because it had so many stops. There may have been a faster route but this was heading through country I hadn't seen before so I didn't mind.