North Walesing - part 2

Part 2 was conducted in wonderful sun again. Funny how the whole world looks better on a nice day (apart from Holyhead of course, you cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear etc etc)

So, on sunny Sunday, we just loved Beaumaris and the suspension bridge area. There was a classic car event on too so the captain could drool over some interesting old cars. The views across the Menai strait towards Snowdonia were stunning. The pic doesn’t do it justice sadly:

The castle is equally amazing – another one of Kind Edward I’s buildings whilst attempting to control North Wales  – this one was never fully completed before the money ran out:

They even look after the local crustaceans here, giving the kids who love fishing for crabs at the pier a hint on how to care for them whilst out of the sea. The message is, don't use the tapwater:

 

The town was also very north Wales – English seemed kind of optional here and some shops didn’t bother to have their signs in both languages:

So we didn’t go in there as we had no idea what they were trying to sell us. Big mistake Mr Shopkeeper. Actually not that big as we would not have helped to swell his profits dramatically anyway, we only wanted a tea.

Patrick got very very excited again, and then most disappointed. Following his shop sighting in Saundersfoot, he found what he thought was his spaniel friend’s boat:

Of course, when she was not visible on board he went into a sulk. Again.

On the way to the mainland, we bumped into a Waitrose store. You can tell that the Beaumaris area is up market. Of course, that was a tea and chocolate twist (torsade in Waitrose speak) excuse that we could not pass up.

We took a trip around the mainland coast via Conwy (lovely but madly busy as there was a beer festival underway so no chance to park and wander around), Deganwy and then up to the old tourist resort of Llandudno. We were quietly impressed with how well it has been preserved compared to many other seaside towns. OK, it was full of day tripping scousers (sorry Steve, Julie, Karl, Mark) and coach tour folks but the town was not all charity shops and cheap souvenir stalls. We enjoyed a great walk around the bay area in the sun. Almost tropical (well, apart from the chilly breeze):

We were very cheered by an SMS we received from John (he of the knees) and Tina. They were sitting having lunch in Villefranche sur Mer where it was pouring with rain (but the boats were bigger of course). We hope to welcome them back on board before the winter to get some more knee photos for our female readers to enjoy.

  

On the way back we enjoyed the iconic views of the suspension bridge (one of Telford’s prettier creations) from the Anglesey side:

All in all, it was well worth hiring the little funny coloured Fiat (less than £40 for 3 days) as it enabled some serious exploring and gave us some ideas on where to visit this winter from Penarth (assuming that Penarth will have us back of course).