The Welsh Coast: Finding Family Fun & Romance

For our weekend in Wales, we drove four and a half hours from Cambridge to Conwy, Wales on the western welsh coast. We spent the day in Conwy exploring ancient structures. In the late afternoon, we drove just a few minutes farther on to the resort town of Llandudno (pronounced with a guttural sound in the beginning; chan-did-no).

The Welsh Coast

There is a lot of coastline in Wales. We chose Llandudno as our second town because it was nearby and there was lodging available. Conwy is smaller and even in October (the low season) everything was sold out. I called the tourist information office and the nice man suggested I try sleeping in Llandudno because it is larger. He also provided the above tutorial on how to say the name.

Family Fun

Llandudno is a bit like Coney Island. In the warmer months, it swarms with families having beach vacations. There are wide swaths of beach, boat ramps, and one very big pier. Yes, this is a pier in the traditional sense; complete with a ferris wheel, rides, silly souvenir shops, game booths and snack shops. It is easy to see why families from Europe flock here in the warmer months. The pier juts out an impossibly long way into the Irish sea. In fact, signage warns that during inclement weather, it will sometimes be shut down entirely even if you’ve rented the event venue at the end. I guess if you’re having a special event on the pier, you’d better have a Plan B.

Finding Romance

For us, this meant strolling hand-in-hand on the expansive “Parade.” This is the name locals give the wide, pedestrian-only path that runs parallel to the beach. In October, the wind is strong and it gets dark early (5:00pm). Watching the sun set over the town and its cliffs from the end of the pier was peaceful. Though, the wind and waves certainly remind you of Mother Nature’s power and moods.

Our Special Dinner

This event planner goofed. I didn’t make dinner reservations soon enough and few places had openings. I called a pub named The Cottage Loaf.  The only opening they had was for 7:45pm. That is considerably later than we usually like to eat dinner, especially after a day of driving/exploring. But, we took it just in case we couldn’t find anything else. When I checked into our Bed & Breakfast, the owner asked if I had found a place for dinner. I told him the plan. He gasped, “Oh my God! I can’t believe you got in there! It was named “best pub in Britain” a few years ago! You’re so lucky you got in!”

With that, we kept our reservation. The atmosphere was wonderful, but if I’m being honest, I thought the food was bland. Since we’ve been here, many Americans have told us they think British food is bland. We didn’t think so. . . until now. Both of our dishes had wonderful potential. We just like bolder flavors. Plus, we were exhausted and nearly falling asleep into our plates. (That part isn’t the restaurant’s fault).

We dragged ourselves the 15-minute walk back to our B & B (The Oasis Hotel) and collapsed after dinner. A full English breakfast awaited us in the morning and that gave us sweet dreams. The Oasis faces the ocean, which was the selling point. The rooms are simple and unadorned. However, they are very functional and the married couple who runs the place are super friendly.

Between Conwy and Llandudno, I think I’ve gone and fallen in love with Wales. If every one of our international experiments goes this well, I’m gonna be one happy woman. Though, I think it would take a better writer than me to craft a worthy love letter to a whole country.