Wednesday 24 May 2017

Llanfair etc, and Llandudno

Hello. Here we are on the last day of the holiday, well actually Sunday was supposed to be the last day, but after a look round Llandudno I decided to head back on Saturday. Before leaving Anglesey I needed to pop into Llanfair thingymajig, to get a pic of the famous long name at the station. There is a large car park which belongs to the big department store on the same site. Signs everywhere saying it is for customers only. I only wanted to stop for ten minutes so I took a chance that they would not check number plates. After I took the photo's I did actually buy something there, so technically I was a customer. 
Picture this, a massive car park almost empty. I chose a bay at the end of a row, empty space to my left, because I don't want to get my car door bashed by inconsiderate drivers. Someone pulled in right next to me and filled the space. Why did he do that! I started my engine and moved a few feet to my right to leave a bigger gap between us. Big bloke gets out and thanks me for giving him more room to open his door. For goodness sake, he had the whole of the car park to chose from, what a dipstick. 

And if you can's say it, try this. Double Dutch to me. I think most people use the shortened version.

My last port of call was Llandudno. I thought I might stay here the night, but when I arrived there were thousands of holiday makers and day trippers. Chose the wrong day really, it was bound to be busy on a Saturday. The streets were chocablock with parked cars, I went in a car park and paid £1 for two hours, and had a look around. I didn't enjoy it, my first thought was to get the heck out of there. It was dull and overcast and threatening to rain. As I drove out of the town along the promenade the traffic wasn't so bad and there was free parking on the left so I decided to dump the car there and walk back along the prom.


Lots of very large hotels.


Heading towards the pier. Weather still a bit mizzley but at least it didn't chuck it down.

I decided to take a walk up the Great Orme, following signs for Happy Valley.


Good views. The prom there in the distance.


The higher I went the better the views.


There is a Swiss Chalet style cafe and shop, an artificial ski slope, a snowboard slope, and a toboggan run. These were very popular, everyone enjoying themselves despite the cool and breezy weather.


Climb a bit higher.

Fantastic views from up here. No cable cars running today, closed because of wind I imagine.

The Happy Valley gardens were very pretty, plenty of benches to sit down and rest for a few minutes.

This is a good site for more photo's of the Trail.

Once back in the town I found the Tramway Station. It was very busy, people queuing to get on.

Off it goes up the hill.

Still people waiting to get on the next one. Too busy for me, I hate queuing.

It was 3.45pm when I got back to my car, what to do now? Too early to find a room, so I set off towards home, with the intention of calling in to see John on the way. I didn't know if he was going to be there or not, yep, he was in as you know, we had a laugh, he was getting ready to go out, so I carried on. I needed petrol so stopped for that, I rang my friend Lin at Ellesmere Port and she said she was in. I had originally said I would be there on the Sunday, but as I couldn't think of anywhere else I wanted to go it seemed a good place to end the day. It was smashing to see her again, we had a lot to talk about over a couple of beers. A good end to the holiday.

It was a smashing holiday. I might go to Wales again at some point in the future, the scenery is great, and there are lots of places of interest to visit.

The weather has been hot hot hot today, plenty to do in the garden. In fact it's half past seven, still sunny, and I am going back out there to do a bit of hedge trimming. Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

29 comments:

  1. Dip sticks are everywhere, aren't they...nice photos, sorry the weather wasn't brighter. Can people with wheelchairs ride that tram?

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    1. Hi. Not sure, I didn't get that close to inspect it.

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  2. You timed your holiday well Ilona, the places you visited will be heaving with tourists this weekend being a Bank Holiday. We hibernate on a Bank Holiday, too many crowds and queues. Very interesting information and wonderful photos. Amanda

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  3. Lovely photos of my stomping grounds Ilona! I was at uni in Bangor and still have a cottage just outside Beaumaris so it's lovely to see somewhere so familiar to me through a fresh set of eyes :)

    And I can confirm most of the locals and uni students shorten the long name to Llanfair PG!

    Cheers

    Jo

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  4. Hi.Love your photos,They make me feel like i am on holiday!!,I remember,being on holiday,when i was about 11,n learning the Llanfair word.My teachers at school were so impressed and my Welsh sewing teacher got me stood infront of the class to say it.Im 62 and i can still say it now,lol,Debi,Leic,x

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    1. I'm impressed as well. Such a flippin mouthful to remember.

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  5. Ah the photos were great,,thank you! Loved the views of the town from the hilltop. Glad you like to walk,otherwise we would have all scenes of street level parked cars when you travel ;). And thank you for taking the time to post your travels, it is a lot of extra work but sure is appreciated.

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  6. O_o Dipsticks are everywhere and so are grifters.

    Nice holiday pics Ilona! Glad you had a nice time.

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  7. That's a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious of a name. ;) I tried to pronounce it but of course I butchered it. :) The gardens are beautiful! I couldn't help but laugh at e's "dip sticks are everywhere, aren't they" hahaha!

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  8. Spammer deleted. That's what happens if you switch off moderation. Spam is computer generated, programmed to hit thousands of blogs/forums at the click of a mouse. Once it knows there is an open door it will come back again and again. I will leave the moderation off for now, but if it escalates I will have to put it back on again.

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  9. You zapped 'em Meanqueen-Rock on x

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    1. Another spam arrived this morning. Once word gets around it's like opening the floodgates. Chuffin annoying. At one time I was getting up to 100 each day. The only way to stop it is to moderate comments.

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  10. Glad you enjoyed your trip to Wales Ilona. Next time visit Aberystwyth. We live 13 miles from there so it is our nearest big town. It is a wonderful and traditional seaside town but has the the amenities you need for daily life, too.

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    1. Thank you. I think Wales needs more exploration from me. Maybe one day.

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  11. Ilona we have often made the same observation, some people are like lemmings, they have to be squeezed next to others. We were camping in Suffolk and had carefully pitched well away from everyone, when we came back after a day out someone had pitched right next to us! This was in a five acre field. Bizarre.

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    1. Very bizarre. It happens all the time, are people afraid of being out on a limb, have to have the closeness of others? I would have been really annoyed to find a tent next to mine if there was no need for it.

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  12. I also find it peculiar and annoying when someone sits right beside me. I like my personal space, whether it's on a seat, in a car, in a tent (!) or wherever. Inevitably someone sits beside me and starts sniffing loudly or talking very loudly or something else equally annoying. Irritating! Karen.

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    1. That's why I don't like buses very much. A young female sat next to me on the bus, I was at the end of a long walk and just wanted to go home. She started waffling on about everyone being friends and how she had so much love for everyone. Turns out she was a Mormon and was spreading the word, even gave me her card if I ever felt in need of friendship. I spoke to her at first out of politeness, but kept thinking for goodness sake, leave me alone. Then I stopped answering her and she went quiet. I had to tell her that I am of no religion.

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  13. I'm another one to park away from other cars, I have seen so many times people rushing into a space banging their door into the car beside them as they get out.....some people just have no consideration to other peoples cars...at all! Lovely pictures again Ilona. I think maybe you saw the best of Llandudno by climbing high up and enjoying the views. Some seaside resorts can be so samey don't you think, always the a typical food outlets, joyrides for the kids and slot machine palaces, a lot of them really do need an overhaul. Rae x

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    1. Llandudno doesn't need an overhaul at all, it's exceptionally well maintained. There are just a couple of places that need refurbing and bringing up to scratch. We are a traditional seaside town along the front with all the hotels having to maintain their frontages to a certain standard as their leases are all held by one family, when the tide is right out we have some sandy beach with donkeys for children to ride and deckchairs, as well as miles of pebbly beach to walk and at the far end where Ilona parked her car free of charge, the grass leading to the beach that dogs are allowed on all year round. If it had been a lovely sunny day Ilona's photos would have shown it off in all it's glory.

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    2. Surprising what a lick of paint will do.I'm saying this because my house is in the process of being painted outside.It was looking tired and is now looking quite cheery x

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    3. Llandudno is very popular with tourists and is a beautiful place to visit, sadly some resorts are a bit neglected and do not attract as many visitors as Llandudno, cheap hols abroad being one reason.

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    4. From what I saw of it Llandudno looks like a nice place. The hotel frontages are tidy, saw hardly any litter, and the Promenade was not very busy. I didn't see much tacky commercialism, the kids entertainment was mainly contained in the pier area, I didn't go on the pier. The town was busy, but I don't like town shops anyway.

      It was the last day of my holiday so I cut it a bit short, as I nearly always do. Sorry I missed Sue and the dogs, I would love to have met them, especially the lovely Mavis.

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  14. Comments are making me smile. I was standing in an empty carpark waiting for partner the other day. Woman drove up and tooted at me because she apparently wanted the one space out of about 300 that I was standing in. Nowt as odd as folks.

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  15. And somewhere down on that prom on Saturday afternoon was us walking the dogs :-)

    It wasn't that busy really on Saturday, you should see it sometimes when the whole prom is full of folk and the shops are bursting at the seams, that's when we stay away. The overcast weather kept it a bit quieter at the weekend. Sorry we didn't bump into you.

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    1. I am gutted that I didn't see you. Very sad.

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  16. Hi Ilona, thanks for taking us all on a wonderful sightseeing tour, I really enjoyed seeing all those beautiful places. Glad you're safely home - and got rid of the mad spammer (what a pest). Enjoy the garden, the weather and the little furry ones, have a lovely weekend, Elaine

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  17. Have only been to Wales once before but I think I need to go back. Lovely photos!

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  18. There are so many different parts of Wales so well worth going back. The Gower coast is lovely and so is the area around Teny in South Wales. Cardiff is a really vibrant city. Great photos.

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