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Friends from Birmingham, mid England were coming up north. We'd planned
to go to Liverpool, but after they found out I'd been a few times
(Liverpool's the other big city nearest Manchester), they suggested we
try somewhere none of us had visited. In the end, we picked
Llandudno in Wales. I'd actually wanted to see the place for a
while, but had never managed to make it work with everyone's schedules. |
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Llandudno is a Victorian seaside resort in Conwy County Borough, north
Wales, nicknamed 'The Queen of the Welsh Resorts'. It's about 135 km
from Manchester by car – roughly a two-hour drive. |
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The Parade; Great Orme is over to the rear |
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My friends were taking the 10:00 train to Manchester, due around 11:30.
I had to take my mum to the doctor at 09:00 because she'd sprained her
wrist. I though it'd be quick, but the doctor asked for an X-ray and the
whole thing wasn't finished until about noon. They went to have a coffee
in city centre while I drove to meet them. |
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After two hours on the road I arrived in Llandudno at about 14:30. It
was the first time since moving to the UK that I'd set foot outside
England. In Britain the word 'country' has a double meaning: it can mean
a sovereign state, or one of the four nations that make up the UK –
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. So when someone here
asks, 'Which country are you from?' they might just mean which part of
the UK you're from (you see that a lot in public services). |
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| ▲ | The Promenade;
the headland jutting out is Little Orme |
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As you cross into Wales you'll see 'Welcome to WALES' signs and
bilingual road signs; on the trunk roads English tends to appear first,
while inside towns Welsh often comes first – reading signs can take a
bit more concentration. In Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan... the use of two
language scripts is obvious; Welsh uses the same alphabet as English,
the same font and same size, so figuring out which name is which can
feel like a bit of a word puzzle. |
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I parked on one of the main streets – Mostyn Street. The Mostyn family
were historically the big landowners in north Wales and played a major
part in developing Llandudno; you'll see the name all over town. Like
many British towns there's on-street parking, but check the signs –
where I parked it allowed 90 minutes between 09:00 and 18:00, and you
can't return within 60 minutes after leaving. Outside those hours the
basic rule tends to be 'if it isn't prohibited, it's permitted'. |
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Mad Hatter statue on the seafront |
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We were running a bit late for lunch even though my friends had had a
big breakfast, so they found
The Goat Restaurant & Bar
online. It's on The Parade at North Shore Beach. 'The Parade' isn't a
single road name but a stretch made up of several roads; the seafront
walkway is called Llandudno Promenade, with the beach on one side and a
long row of Victorian hotels on the other. |
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Walking the promenade you come across a Mad Hatter statue. The Mad
Hatter is from Alice in Wonderland: Alice's real-life inspiration was
the daughter of Henry Liddell, headmaster of Westminster School and
later the vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford, and the Liddell
family holidayed in Llandudno. The town has a number of Alice characters
represented in statues – Mad Hatter, Alice, the White Rabbit, the
Caterpillar and the Queen of Hearts among them. |
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The Esplanade hotel (image source:
Google
Map) |
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Starter: Asian Pork Belly Bites |
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Starter: Lamb Shoulder Bon Bon |
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The Goat sits inside The Esplanade hotel. It has a pleasant
holiday-hotel atmosphere. We ordered two of three-course sets (starter,
main, dessert) at £27.50 each, plus two pots of tea – a Welsh Tea
(£3.00) and an Earl Grey (£2.60). Welsh Tea isn't very different from
ordinary English black tea – it's just a local brand. |
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Starters were Asian Pork Belly Bites and a Lamb Shoulder Bon Bon. The
pork belly was on the lean side but tender, with a sweet-sour-slightly
spicy sauce and a garnish of chili and spring onion – very much how the
west imagines East Asian flavours. 'Bon bon' in British menus often
means a small ball-shaped croquette rather than the French chocolate
meaning. The lamb was flavourful and went well with feta, pea purée and
a vinaigrette. |
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Main: Chargrilled 4oz Sirloin Steak |
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Dessert: Orange Polenta Sponge |
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For mains we had a chargrilled steak, and fish and chips. The chips were
triple-cooked – par-boiled, frozen, and fried twice – so crisp on the
outside and fluffy inside, and they keep their texture when they cool.
People joke the UK is a food desert, but many world-class chefs are
British; it's just that everyday eating habits don't always favour fine
dining, which leaves room for low-quality convenience food to spread. |
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Desserts were an Orange Polenta Sponge and a Double Chocolate Brownie.
Polenta sponge uses coarser cornmeal so it's slightly grainy and moist –
not as fine as an ordinary sponge cake. Brownies are safe bet and
generally hard to get badly wrong. |
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Dessert: Double Chocolate
Brownie |
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To avoid exceeding the 90-minute parking limit, I popped out before the
dessert to move the car. I could've moved to another spot to get another
90 minutes, but for convenience I paid for a Pay & Display on The
Esplanade frontage – four hours for £3.80. |
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After lunch we headed for
Llandudno Pier and planned to take the Great Orme Tramway. The
walk from The Esplanade to the pier took about ten minutes. |
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House with wisteria on the iron railings |
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Yarn-bombing street art |
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On a roundabout there's a very eye-catching house with wisteria
clambering over the front railings. Wisteria usually blooms in late
April to mid-May, so we were lucky to see it in flower. Most of the
surrounding buildings were hotels; this one is clearly a private home
and look very well kept. |
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As a seaside town Llandudno has plenty of seagulls – they're almost a
town mascot. Shops sell gull souvenirs, but don't be fooled: these birds
are notorious for snatching food. The knitted yarn-bomb around a post
even shows a seagull clutching chips. |
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Promenade view of Llandudno Pier |
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Great Orme across from the pier – it does look
a litter like a snake's head |
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The pier was built in 1877 and is Grade II listed. Llandudno Pier is the
longest in Wales and one of the five longest in England & Wales at about
700 metres. It's mainly a promenade pier rather than a working dock.
Between the 1970s and 2005 there were regular ferries to Douglas on the
Isle of Man; since 2015 the vintage paddle steamer PS Waverley sometimes
calls here on its annual sailings. |
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Next to the pier is the famous Great Orme headland. 'Orme' isn't a Welsh
or English word but comes from Old Norse meaning sea-serpent – Viking
apparently though the headland looked like a snake's head. |
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North Shore Beach at low tide |
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The pier sees little commercial use, but the nearby North Shore Jetty is
busy: from Easter to October Llandudno Boat Trips run daily from there. |
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By the time we'd finished on the pier and beach it was about 17:00. I'd
checked online and thought the Great Orme Tramway closed at 18:00, so we
tried to squeeze in a quick ride up and a dash around the summit. At the
tram station staff told us that if we went up now we'd have to return on
the same service because the last down-tram was at 17:30 – the 18:00
time I'd seen was the office closing time, not the last tram. |
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Free-roaming cat outside Bayview Shopping
Centre |
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Since we couldn't spend time on the summit, we called it a day and went
to our B&B to check in. Hotels were expensive because it's high season,
so we stayed in the neighbouring town of Colwyn
Bay (Bae Colwyn). Normally it's under 20 minutes by car, but a
slow learner driver on a single-track stretch caused a long queue and it
look about half an hour. |
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We'd booked
an Airbnb – two bedrooms for the night, £70.16 including fees. It's
on Abergele Road, Colwyn Bay's main road, about a ten-minute walk from
the station and Bayview Shopping Centre. Parking is allowed in specified
hours, so the locations was convenient. |
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After unpacking and charging phones, we went for a walk. Colwyn Bay has
its own beach just behind the railway station. We popped into the
Morrisons at Bayview to see if there were items not sold in England, and
a free-roaming cat at the shopping centre entrance greeted us – locals
take photos. In the UK, cats often wander into shops and become sort of
unofficial mascots. |
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Colwyn Bay railway station |
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Lots of locals walking dogs on the mud at low
tide |
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Colwyn Bay Beach isn't as famous as Llandudno North Shore, but it's more
suitable for water sports. The beach stretches about three miles
(roughly 4.8 km) to nearby Rhos-on-Sea. North Shore is mainly shingle
and deeper water, good for walks, fishing and boat trips; Colwyn Bay has
long sandy stretches, calmer water and is better for swimming. |
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There's a water sports centre at Porth Eirias offering paddle boarding,
kayaking and sailing, plus toilets and changing facilities. There's also
a restaurant by Welsh chef Bryn Williams at Porth Eirias. |
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Under the subway next to the station you come out onto a 45-metre
platform that sits just at the tide line – Victoria Pier's remaining
section. The original pier was 230 metres but partly collapsed in 2017;
only the intact section has been rebuilt so far. Conwy County Borough
Council and the Victoria Pier Trust are seeking funds to restore it
fully. |
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Johnny Dough's Junior pizza bar (image source:
Google Map) |
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For dinner we tried Johnny
Dough's Junior, a wood-fired pizza place. Johny Dough's started
as a street food van and, after investment from the owner of Great Orme
Brewery, opened a shop in Llandudno; Colwyn Bay's Junior is the third
branch and focuses on takeaway with just three bar tables. |
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The menu is split into 'Old School' and 'New School' pizzas. My friend,
predictably, went for the Hawaiian (Old School) with pineapple, while I
chose Johnny's Meat Special (New School) with roast chicken, ham,
pepperoni, mozzarella and jalapeño. |
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Still light at about 20:00 |
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My friend doesn't drink, so had a cola; I went for a local Snowdon Craft
IPA from North Wales – it's one of Great Orme Brewery's labels. |
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Small towns in the UK have a quiet feel after dark: the sun sets late,
many shops shut early and streets are fairly empty. After dinner we
headed back to the B&B to wash up and get an early night. My room faced
the main road so there was some traffic noise, and there's a pub
downstairs where patrons chat outside, but it was all acceptable. |
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Breakfast café Providero |
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The owner had warned us a surveyor would call round the next morning for
a valuation, and to let them in. I thought properties booked for
inspections usually wouldn't be rented that night, but the British way
is more relaxed. The surveyor arrived at 07:00 – earlier than I'd
expected. |
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We'd planned to have breakfast at Bryn Williams at Porth Eirias,
but it opens at 09:30 and we were ready by about 08:00. Many tourist
towns open cafés late; some places don't open until 10:00. |
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We found a café that was already open, Providero, and had sourdough
toast with butter and Nutella (£4.10) and a matcha latte (£4.20) – a bit
pricey for what it was. |
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Victoria tramway station |
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Just missed the previous tram |
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Here comes the next one! |
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After breakfast we took the tram. The Great
Orme Tramway is a landmark and the most recognisable sight
online. There's usually free legal parking on the streets near Victoria
Station, which is name after the old Victoria Hotel that once stood
there. |
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The tramway is owned and run by Conwy County Borough Council. In
July-August (peak season) return fares for
adults are
£11.85, single £10.15; in March-June and September-October
(off-peak) return is £10.85, single £8.95. It's closed from November to
Feburary. |
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There's also the Llandudno Cable Car. We though about going up on the
tram and down on the cable car but the pricing makes you pick one or the
other (cable car fares for
adults are £15, single £14.50) – the two operators price tickets as
if they're competing, which effectively pushes visitors towards buying a
return on the same system. |
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Cable car beside the tramway |
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Trams passing each other |
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Goat statue outside the summit station |
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The tramway was built in 1901; the lower section opened in July 1902 and
the upper in July 1903. The route is split into two independent sections
with separate winding houses; you change at Halfway Station. The split
was due to the technology and power limits of the time, and it also
allows more frequent services. |
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Near Halfway Station is Great Orme Mine – a Bronze-Age copper mine
dating back around 4,000 years and one of Europe's largest and oldest.
Excavated prehistoric galleries extend some 8 km and the workings go
down over 70 metres. In 1987, work to build a car park the country park
at the mine site turned up archaeological remains during construction. A
large number of prehistoric mining tools were found in the workings –
antler picks, stone axes, bone fragments and the like. It's estimated
that about 1,760 tonnes of copper were extracted. |
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Great Orme Mine opened to the public in April 1991; adult entry is about
£12.50. The mine is cold inside and some passages are low (70-100 cm),
so sturdy shoes and warm clothing are recommended. |
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Summit viewing platform |
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You can see the Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm
in the distance |
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Pasture on the hillside |
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Summit car park and mini-golf |
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Summit Complex with café and gift shop |
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School groups visiting the quarry |
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Summit Station houses the Great Orme Country Park Visitor Centre with
geological and wildlife displays. It was a bright day but very windy on
the top, so springly rather than summery. The facilities are modest: The
Summit Complex has a café called The Capital Table, a gift shop, toilets
and a mini-golf area. |
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The summit buildings were once a semaphore and signalling station, later
a telegraph station. In 1909 the signalling role ended and the site
became a golf clubhouse. During WWII it was used as an RAF radar
station. Some of the old signal equipment is displayed in the visitor
centre. |
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From the summit you get views over the Irish Sea, Conwy Bay and
Llandudno's North Shore, and you can just make out the Gwynt y Môr
offshore wind farm – 'Gwynt y Môr' means 'sea wind' in Welsh. |
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Layered limestone cliff faces |
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Sheep on the quarry cliff |
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It keeps moving closer to the edge – risky! |
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Great Orme's geology is mainly limestone and dolomite. You can see the
banded limestone cliffs from the pier, and Bishop's Quarry on the summit
is an obvious quarry remnant named for the Bishop of Bangor, who once
owned much of the land. |
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There happened to be a student group visiting the quarry today. It took
me back to my school days in the Geography Society, when we often went
on field trips to interesting geological sites. Hong Kong may be small,
but it has no shortage of places with real geological value. The
limestone contains fossils – branchiopods, crinoid stems and corals –
formed around 280-340 million years ago, older than dinosaurs. You can
spot fossils at Bishop's Quarry but it's a protected site, so don't
break or remove anything. |
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The headland is also known for its Kashmiri Goats. Around 200 goats are
managed on the Orme by local authorities, though that day we only saw a
few sheep – one climbed right out onto a quarry ledge and we watched
nervously until it moved back to safety. |
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Meeting another tram on the descent |
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The goats aren't native: in 1837, to mark Queen Victoria's accession,
the Shah of Persia sent a pair of Kashmiri goats as a gift. The royal
household kept them at Sandringham and offspring were later given to
local landowners in north Wales, which is how the herd at Great Orme
developed. The Royal Welsh Regiment also received a goat from Great Orme
as a regimental mascot. |
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We came down around noon and left Llandudno. My friend always stops at
Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet on the way back north – it's Europe's
first designer outlet and the UK's largest cluster of outlet stories.
Cheshire Oaks is the outlet brand name; the site itself is in Ellesmere
Port, Cheshire. I've been many times but never photographed it – maybe
next time. |
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Hidden Spanish restaurant El Rincon de Rafa
(image source:
Google
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We reached the outlet about 14:00, had lunch and shopped until about
18:00. For dinner we had a booking at 19:30 in Manchester at a
family-run Spanish restaurant, El
Rincón de Rafa – 'Rafa's corner', Rafa being short for
Rafael. The owner used to play football and opened the place in a small
basement on Deansgate in 1994. |
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I parked in the NCP at The Greater Northern Warehouse at £5.50 per hour
– city centre parking is eye-wateringly expensive. The restaurant is
popular: groups of two or more are advised to book by phone; one- or
two-person parties can try their luck. I phoned a week in advance but
they were busy and, with English not being the owner's first language,
asked me to call back the next day at midday – which worked and we
secured a table. |
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Pulpo a la Gallega (Galician style octopus) |
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Calamares Andaluza (deep fried squid) |
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Rabo de Toro (Oxtail baked in red wine) |
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Muslitos de Cangrejo (deep fried breaded crab
claws) |
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Costillas de Cerdo (Iberian ribs) |
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Albondigas (Homemade meatballs served with a
tomato and wine sauce) |
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Huevos Rotos (Fried potatoes, eggs & chorizo) |
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The food was generally good – the octopus, paella and oxtail were
highlights. The squid, crab claws and Huevos Rotos felt less distinctive
and a bit like supermarket frozen meals. Huevos Rotos simply means
potatoes, eggs and chorizo served together – it comes across a bit like
a brunch dish. |
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Apart from the food, we also ordered Sangria. It's a very common drink
in Spain and Portugal, and I often order it when having Portuguese food
in Macau. In Spanish and Portuguese homes, people usually pour whatever
red wine is left from the day before into a jug with whatever fruit they
have, let it sit overnight, and enjoy it the next day. The restaurant
was showing the Europa League the Bilbao vs Manchester United match, so
the place felt like a 'double home' – most customers backed Man United
while the owner cheered for his home team. The atmosphere stayed
friendly. |
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After dinner I drove my friends to their hotel and then headed home.
We'd arranged to meet the next day for dim sum in the city. |
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HOME Chinese Manchester (image source:
Google
Map) |
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Crispy Brown Rice Cheung Fun ('Cheung Fun'
means rice roll) |
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Pork & Century Egg Congee (Congee means rice
porridge) |
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XO Turnip Paste (menu name; essentially stir fried mooli
radish cake with XO chili sauce) |
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King Prawn & Chive Leaf Dumplings |
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Our dim sum venue was
HOME Chinese Manchester (家) near the National Express coach
station – near where you'd sit the 'Life in the UK' test sometimes, as
Manchester hosts a test centre. My friends suggested bringing my
parents; they came from the hotel while we travelled by Metrolink. |
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For dim sum I usually recommend
Ocean Treasure (海寶大酒樓) – excellent food with a taste of Hong Kong –
but it's a bit out of town and needs driving. There are closer options
such as Chef Diao (刁師傅) and Gonbay Sale (利苑) reachable by Metrolink, but
my parents wanted Ocean Treasure on this occasion. |
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Siu Mai (Prawn & Meat dumplings) |
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Chicken Feet in Black Bean Sauce |
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Stir fried Beef Ho Fun ('Ho Fun' means rice
stick noodle) |
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Overall the dim sum was very good, and I still give a slight edge to
Ocean Treasure. The standout here was the stir fried beef ho fun – the
rice noodles were springy and didn't fall apart. Staff told us they make
the ho fun fresh in-house every day. The fried squid tentacles were also
great – nowadays it's hard to find good fried squid in Hong Kong dim sum
places, but here in Manchester both Ocean Treasure and HOME did a good
job: Ocean Treasure's version was cruncher and less oily; HOME's was
crisp but a touch oiler. |
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After dim sum my friends went back to the hotel to collect luggage and
head for the coach to Birmingham. My parents wanted to try a bus rather
the Metrolink to see which was faster; I took the Metrolink alone.
Pensioners travel free, so they could mix and match transport without
worry. The Metrolink's fare automatically converts to a day ticket on
the second journey (single £2.80, day ticket £3.50), so had we known
earlier, they might have taken the Metrolink instead of waiting for a
bus that only runs every half hour. |
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