On Saturday, March 29th I got up bright and early (10am) and got ready to head out the door. I had a change of clothes, 6 sandwiches, and my computer and cameras with me when I left, and I was travelling alone to North Wales. I honestly knew very little about the place I was going. I had found it on a travel site, liked the name, and heard it had some Alice in Wonderland ties, so I figured it was a good spot to go.
Around 5pm I made it to Liverpool, where I had about 30 minutes to wander around before I had to get on the bus again. I had seen this radio tower from the stop and decided that I would see how close I could get to it before I had to run back to the station. I didn't make it terribly far, but there are some pictures included in the Llandudno photo album (I'll link you at the end).
Finally at 8pm (about an hour early actually) I was in Llandudno. The bus station was just a stop on the road, and the streets were already abandoned. Llandudno is a very small beach town, you can walk from one side to the other in about 20 minutes, and when it's not peak season for tourists it's very very quiet. I found my hostel in about 30 minutes, it turned out to be right around the corner from the bus stop but of course I had gone the wrong way, and then decided to take a quick walk to get my bearings. I found my way to the beach, walked along it to the pier, and then started a climb up the mountain. I have a bad habit of scaring myself when I'm in creepy places though, and about halfway up the path I was on I had to run back down because I had convinced myself there were angry ghosts following me. Yeah, I'm an adult, can you tell? I decided to call it a night so that I could wake up early.
In the morning I started my trek to the Great Orme and the old copper mines that were in it. I had been planning on taking the tram, but it turned out to be closed. So was the cable car, and the buses weren't running frequently, so I decided to give up and just explore the area at the bottom of the mountain. This turned into climbing every single path on the mountain. I finally found the mines sometime around 2, and made it to the summit around 4. It was beautiful, but 15 miles of walking had started to wear me out.
The Great Orme has a few quarries on it, and near one of them people seem to have a tradition of writing things out of the loose stones. The first evidence I saw of this was this on my way to the summit:
Finally at 8pm (about an hour early actually) I was in Llandudno. The bus station was just a stop on the road, and the streets were already abandoned. Llandudno is a very small beach town, you can walk from one side to the other in about 20 minutes, and when it's not peak season for tourists it's very very quiet. I found my hostel in about 30 minutes, it turned out to be right around the corner from the bus stop but of course I had gone the wrong way, and then decided to take a quick walk to get my bearings. I found my way to the beach, walked along it to the pier, and then started a climb up the mountain. I have a bad habit of scaring myself when I'm in creepy places though, and about halfway up the path I was on I had to run back down because I had convinced myself there were angry ghosts following me. Yeah, I'm an adult, can you tell? I decided to call it a night so that I could wake up early.
In the morning I started my trek to the Great Orme and the old copper mines that were in it. I had been planning on taking the tram, but it turned out to be closed. So was the cable car, and the buses weren't running frequently, so I decided to give up and just explore the area at the bottom of the mountain. This turned into climbing every single path on the mountain. I finally found the mines sometime around 2, and made it to the summit around 4. It was beautiful, but 15 miles of walking had started to wear me out.
The Great Orme has a few quarries on it, and near one of them people seem to have a tradition of writing things out of the loose stones. The first evidence I saw of this was this on my way to the summit:
Once I got to the summit and looked back down towards the quarry I noticed that the entire hill was covered in words and shapes. It was interesting to see what was spelt, though most of the time it was just peoples names.
I only had 1 run in with the goats, and 1 run in with some horses. Dogs were a bit more of a problem though, and I had several decide that they didn't like me wearing a hat and that they were going to get it off of my head. I was successful in not showing that it terrified me when they jumped on me though, so I'm quite proud. It's easier to not be afraid of dogs here since most of them are so well trained that if they're jumping on you, it's likely they just want to play. I haven't seen one dog try and attack someone since I've been here.
The next morning I played proper tourist. I took a bus tour through Llandudno and the next town over, Conwy. It was just me and about 6 old people from Scotland, which was an interesting experience in itself. When the tour got to Conwy I hopped off and headed for the castle. This is the first castle I'd been to since I've been here, so I was extremely excited. It was amazing to explore, and I had so much fun looking at the landscape from the top of the towers.
When I got out of the castle I headed down to the docks, and as I was walking there was a man just chilling out holding a hawk on one hand and petting another that was sitting on a bench. I went over and kept a good distance for a bit before he asked me to come over closer and meet the birds. That's when this picture occurred (Brace yourself, I'm not wearing a hat, and I'm smiling. I know it's overwhelming):
I only had 1 run in with the goats, and 1 run in with some horses. Dogs were a bit more of a problem though, and I had several decide that they didn't like me wearing a hat and that they were going to get it off of my head. I was successful in not showing that it terrified me when they jumped on me though, so I'm quite proud. It's easier to not be afraid of dogs here since most of them are so well trained that if they're jumping on you, it's likely they just want to play. I haven't seen one dog try and attack someone since I've been here.
The next morning I played proper tourist. I took a bus tour through Llandudno and the next town over, Conwy. It was just me and about 6 old people from Scotland, which was an interesting experience in itself. When the tour got to Conwy I hopped off and headed for the castle. This is the first castle I'd been to since I've been here, so I was extremely excited. It was amazing to explore, and I had so much fun looking at the landscape from the top of the towers.
When I got out of the castle I headed down to the docks, and as I was walking there was a man just chilling out holding a hawk on one hand and petting another that was sitting on a bench. I went over and kept a good distance for a bit before he asked me to come over closer and meet the birds. That's when this picture occurred (Brace yourself, I'm not wearing a hat, and I'm smiling. I know it's overwhelming):
The man was incredibly sweet, and the birds were as well. They loved to have you pet their bellies. Just down the road from him was the smallest house in the UK. I can't remember the dimensions but I'll put a link to the houses website in the links page.
That day when I got back I went to the beach, and then back to the pier. The arcade games successfully stole a couple of pounds from me, but it gave me a few hours of entertainment. I ended the day with another walk along the beach, this time at low tide, and I found my sisters name written in stones where the water usually was. I think it may have been the last thing I expected to see.
Llandudno is a fantastic town with excellent people in it. The Llandudno Youth Hostel is a wonderful place to stay, no matter what age you are. The first 2 nights it was me and a couple of older people as well as my roommate that was probably in her 30's. The last night it was just me, which was a bit creepy, but the people that work there are fantastic and the rooms are amazingly clean. The only problem I had was at the Town House, so if you're there and looking for a drink, don't go there. They tried to tell me that my license and passport were both fake and that I wasn't old enough to drink. I finally got my drink, but I was well angry by the time I did. There are plenty of other places to go that are much friendlier though.
If you want to look at pictures they are here, here, and here and if you want some links to the things that I did you can check out the links page here.
That day when I got back I went to the beach, and then back to the pier. The arcade games successfully stole a couple of pounds from me, but it gave me a few hours of entertainment. I ended the day with another walk along the beach, this time at low tide, and I found my sisters name written in stones where the water usually was. I think it may have been the last thing I expected to see.
Llandudno is a fantastic town with excellent people in it. The Llandudno Youth Hostel is a wonderful place to stay, no matter what age you are. The first 2 nights it was me and a couple of older people as well as my roommate that was probably in her 30's. The last night it was just me, which was a bit creepy, but the people that work there are fantastic and the rooms are amazingly clean. The only problem I had was at the Town House, so if you're there and looking for a drink, don't go there. They tried to tell me that my license and passport were both fake and that I wasn't old enough to drink. I finally got my drink, but I was well angry by the time I did. There are plenty of other places to go that are much friendlier though.
If you want to look at pictures they are here, here, and here and if you want some links to the things that I did you can check out the links page here.
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