Day 3 -
Towards Wales
Page 2 - - - Page 4After a second night with not very much sleep, my head felt ready to explode. The missus had slept well though, and we were ready for Wales.
Steve served us breakfast and drove us to Manchester Piccadilly. Not having been to Manchester for a while, he scared us by claiming he "got lost". But eventually he let us off within sight of the station. We said our Good Byes and Thank Yous and he took off for Oldham. Steve is a very good friend who has helped me on many occasions, and several times invited me to stay in his home. One of the kindest and nicest blokes I have ever met.
Next on our agenda was to find a train that would see us to Chester. Naturally we were two minutes late at the ticket office, and had a fifty eight minute wait for the hourly service. Good thing there are newspapers about. This time one that gave away a free bottle of sprinkling water with every copy. Novel!
Stepping on the train to Chester, I don`t think we`d decided yet, where to go next. Reaching Chester, we stepped off the train and bought tickets for Conwy. Why, I`ll never know. During half an hour`s rest I proclaimed Chester was to interresting a town to just "pass through". Unanimously we decided to pay a visit on the way back, Welsh or not! Then off to Conwy we were...
Some trainride later, a big stony wall appeared to our left (we were riding backwards) and it turned out to be Conwy Castle. Off we hop! To a station that seemed deserted. We regretted our decition, but had to live with it. Seekingly we got out of the station and found ourselves on the city wall. The Castle in the distance told us which way, and after climbing stairs both down and up a couple of times, we found a ticket boot cum souvenir shop. A nominal fee saw us enter the Castle, which on this day was invaded by a troop of Medieval Knights. And a Medieval show was being staged in the front yard. Philip of Caersws fought John of Abercomby, and a 9 year old tourist fought William de Treadmill. All in good spirits for good sport.
I think we climbed all six towers to the bellfray, and a lot of photos were shot. Why did we bother. That camera was lost a couple of days later anyway. Thankfully, we were packing two cameras.
Having dealt with the Castle, we had to find somewhere to sleep. Castle Hotel was able to offer us a suite at half the price. Not for us to decline, this was the finest hotel room I have ever been to. We no longer regretted getting off at Conwy, and started a few hour`s sightseeing in the town. This included a walk to see the smallest house in the world, a 2x3 metre two storey building in the harbour. A nice little town it turned out to be, suited for a romantic evening with ice cream and not for the last time, some local brew.
I`d love to go back, allowing myself a day or so more to really get to know the place...
Sorry, but we couldn`t find Shirley Bassey anywhere...
Stations en route:
Piccadilly - Chester - Shotton - Flint - Prestatyn - Rhyl - Abergele & Pensarn - Colwyn Bay - Cyfferd Llandudno - Conwy
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Detail from Piccadilly Station interior.
Rolf Løvland comes from here? (Shop sign in Conwy).
