The train pulled into Llandudno, the end of the line. We walked 10 minutes to our Airbnb on St Sieriol’s Drive where we’d be for the next three nights. We spent much of our Llandudno time on the road, climbing Moel Siabod in Snowdonia one day and visiting three castles the next. Click on each of those to read about those adventures.
Our first afternoon in town, we checked out the promenade and the pier before settling in at Tapps Micropub. This welcoming little pub has five tables in a small room and a bar where a bunch of guys were standing when we entered. I asked about the many ciders on their taps and was coaxed by one of the regulars to try a mint cider. I later learned that they all had tried it, but only once. It was kinda weird but, he was right, I’m glad I tried it.
After a bit, we headed to The Albert a few doors down the street. This restaurant and pub had a good menu and friendly staff. We learned that they also have trivia, which they call Quiz Night, on Mondays, the very night that we were there. We stayed and watched the fairly empty tables fill up as the 9:30pm start time neared. There must have been 12 or more teams that were competing. The quiz had two parts: one sheet with 12 pictures of bridges that we had to name and another sheet with space to right down the answers to 40 questions. It didn’t take long for us to realize that we did not know the names of soccer players from the 1970s, or which British motorway goes from London to wherever they said, or what county borders Yorkshire. It went on and on, but the bartender recognized Americans in distress, and he whispered to us a whole bunch of answers. This was so much fun and, believe or not, we got second from last. That’s right, someone did worse. Two nights later, though, at the Kings Head, we did get dead last.
On day two, we picked up a rental car and drove 25 miles south to Snowdonia which you can read about here. This was my first experience driving on the left (i.e. wrong) side of the road. It ended up going fine as soon as I stopped hitting the curb. I found it hard at first to stay towards the center of the road and was hugging, and kissing, the shoulder. Tony only had to yell “Curb” a couple of times. That evening, back in Llandudno, tired from a long hike, we ate at Cottage Loaf, a lovely and comfortable restaurant. Somehow, we found ourselves back at Tapps Micropub after dinner. I can’t explain it!
Day three, after a breakfast at Kitchen 50 Six, we were off to the castles down the coast. Read about that right here. Then our last evening in Llandudno was spent at Kings Head, another great restaurant and pub. We again subjected ourselves to British trivia, and we really knew better at this point, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. After a series of ridiculous questions and even more ridiculous answers, we managed to get last place, 10 points behind the next team. Perhaps the only positive was our team name, Pregnant Angels, which came from an angel carving we saw in York that looked especially, well, pregnant.
The next morning, we caught the 9:22 train from Llandudno to Holyhead where the ferry to Dublin was waiting. Llandudno is part of a 10 day trip to the British Isles.