This week we weren’t blessed with a full day off together, unfortunately Wills had to work in the morning, so we decided to make the best we could of the afternoon.
Llandudno is about a 40 minute drive from where we live. The plan was to start at the Great Orme, then Happy Valley, next the beach, then the Pier and then a drink!
The Great Orme
We put in this postcode LL30 2XF. This didn’t get us to the top car park, but does put you on the correct road (just keep heading up, you’ll get there!). The Great Orme is a massive piece of Limestone to the West side of Llandudno (the Little Orme is at the East end!). The Danes named it, way back when! In Danish it translates as Big Sea Monster!
It’s 2 miles long and 1 mile high and rises a great 207m high. The views from the top are simply breath taking. You can see Anglesey and the start of the Menai Straight, the beaches down at Delaney and a simply stunning view of Llandudno. We were blessed once again with absolutely amazing weather (very unwelsh!). You can either drive up to the top, or go to Happy Valley and take the cable car. These were running today which was brilliant to see. Beautifully bright coloured baubles floating up and down the mountain. It was so beautiful up there, that we spent ages walking, filming and generally enjoying life. This was our undoing! We quickly realised that there was no way we were going to fit in everything we wanted to, so Happy Valley was struck off the list. We will definitely be back for a full day in Llandudno so we can do it in more detail!
The beach and Promenade
With it being a Sunday and an absolutely scorcher of a day, Llandudno was busy! Parking was a bit of a nightmare and we ended up having to walk a long way back into town. This was no biggie though as Llandudno has the most fantastic promenade. It’s super wide and there are benches all along. I love watching all the happily contented older couples just chilling and looking out to sea. The architecture of the promenade is one of the best Victorian sea fronts in the U.K. so don’t just look out to sea!
The Punch and Judy
At the end of the seafront is where the Punch and Judy Show plays. Due to Covid and the council, sadly it wasn’t on which was a shame. From what I’ve read the council are making the risk assessment and Covid safe procedures almost impossible to comply with! I do like the story of how the the Punch and Judy came to be in Llandudno. It was founded by Richard Codman in 1864 and is still performed by the Codmans today. The story goes that Richard, a travelling showman, was travelling around doing his thing. Sadly in Llandudno hi horse died and he was unable to afford another! He used driftwood to whittle some puppets and the rest is history. Do remember if you are lucky enough to see the show, they are not funded by the council or any organisation, all funds come from the audience, so do make sure you give a few £££.
The Pier
Llandudno’s Victorian Pier is the longest in Wales at 700m, it’s also the 5th longest in England and Wales. It opened in 1877 and won Pier of the year in 2005 - who knew that was even a thing! We hadn’t been to Llandudno since April. So it was brilliant to see all the shops open and trading. Yes there were still restrictions for the arcades and indoor things, but it was busy and bustling and everyone seemed to be stringently ignoring the 2 metre distance!!
The Pint.
Unfortunately we couldn’t get into our first choice pint, we will save that one for the Llandudno part 2!! We were lucky enough though to get into ‘The Carlton’ on the Main Street. I can’t find any info about its history at all, although it looks Victorian. To be honest is was a bit sticky and I wish I’d done my homework on pubs to have a better plan B! We enjoyed a nice pint of San Miguel and realised that a vlog in an afternoon is bye on impossible!! Llandudno, we’ll be back!!
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