We got up on Saturday morning and were  similarly impressed with the breakfast at the pub we were staying in. We both got a ‘full Welsh’ and I was even able to order mine gluten free (although sadly that meant I lost the black pudding, hash brown and sausage, as well as substituting GF bread)! Once we’d finished eating we left our bags in our room and caught the bus back over the bridge to Llandudno Junction, walking the remainder of the way around to Enterprise car hire - I feel like we’re keeping them in business at the moment! We were thrilled to find when we got there that we’d got the same Ford Fiesta ST (just Auto this time) that we’d had in South Wales. Peter was driving this time around so we hopped in and then drove back to Conwy. 

After parking in the pub car park, we threw our bags in the car and checked out, planning to go for an exploratory walk around town. We’d seen a sign for walking on the town walls, so we followed the ‘one way’ signs and map around to the entrance, climbing up a staircase that brought us to the top of the walls, with a spectacular view over the castle and town. From there we were able to follow signs up and down staircases and around the entire perimeter of Conwy, from the castle all the way around to the sea. The town was beautiful, with gorgeous little cottages and windy streets, and stunning views over the inlet and surrounding hills. When we came to the end of the walk and exited down a set of stone stairs, we walked along the waterfront, passing the ‘smallest house in the UK’ as we went! This was a gorgeous little red house that was truly tiny - even Peter and I were taller than the front door! 

It was quite busy along the waterfront so we kept walking until we found our way back onto the main road, and after a wrong turn under the railway bridge, looped our way back to our starting point at the castle. We got there in perfect time to join the line for our pre-booked 11am entry ticket to the castle. They’d set up a really effective one way system through the castle, with limited tickets sold to avoid any crowding, and signs everywhere emphasising the importance of social distancing. The views and the castle itself were spectacular! It was a bit smaller than Pembroke castle but was so much more intact, and we were able to go for a big walk around the walls and through some rooms and towers before exploring the ground floor. I was so impressed with the way they’d set everything up and how easy it was to avoid people. After a very interesting and informative walk around we found our way out of the castle and headed back to the car. 

From Conwy, after a little loop through the town and back across the bridge, we jumped on a major road (after Peter’s first roundabout experience!) and headed on up to Llandudno. We stopped in at a brewery in the factory district there, and while being a little disappointed that their tap room was closed, we picked up a few beers to try at home. The road continued through a very cute town with quite formal architecture that was very different to Conwy, although it was very busy so we didn’t stop. We followed Google’s instructions which took us up a horrifyingly steep and skinny road (worse than the ones leading up to Clydach Vale!), up towards the Great Orme Mines. Peter was really keen for the mines but we gave up on the road not far before the mines, found a park on a side road and walked the rest of the way. We were glad we did as well, because the last stretch was on a 20% incline. The walk was pretty anyway, up a tramline that wasn’t being used and then across some fields. 

Once we got there, after being a little shocked initially at the £8 entrance fee, I was pretty blown away by the mines! After an explanation by the ticket booth guide, and popping some hard hats (and our masks) on, we started in an information room. This explained that the site was a Bronze Age mine from approximately 1400 BC. The boards in the room explained information about the discovery of the site, the artefacts (mostly bronze hammers and axe heads) found at the site, and the process of mining in the Bronze Age.   The discoveries at this site had significantly altered the historical understanding of technologies and society of Bronze Age populations in Britain. From the information room we went into a little cinema room that showed a basic video about the discovery of the site in 1987 and the ongoing research that happens there - they’ve found new important artefacts and caverns as recently as 2017 and are continuing to explore the site. 

From the information side of things, we followed some signs down some stairs outside and entered the tunnel into the mine itself. The path led down into two layers of the mine (of nine!). We squeezed through tiny passageways, glad for our hard hats when we each bumped our heads a couple of times! It was mostly tiny tunnels, with little explanations of the way Bronze Age miners used stone hammers and bone tools to scrape out malachite, which would later be heated in fires to create bronze ore. However, there were larger caverns that had been carved out by hand, and areas where fire had been used to further break down hard rock. It was fascinating! Exiting the other end of the tunnel, after a small portion of what apparently totals around 8km of tunnels, we had a little explore of the site, which had other some models of Bronze Age tools and how people would have made them. Then it was past the workshop where all the rocks and tools are tagged and out through the gift shop. 

I’ll happily admit I was totally sceptic of the idea of visiting a mine, but it was a great place to visit! By this time we were both starving though, so we headed down to Colwyn Bay, where we were aiming for some lunch before visiting the tap room of a brewery.  When we arrived, we were both surprised to find a very quirky town with a specialty musical instrument store, a tattoo shop, the brewery and an American diner on the main street. On sitting down in the American diner (nothing else was open for food), we noticed that most people in there were covered in tats, and we noticed a significant portion of people in the street were heavily tattooed as well. Very interesting for such a small town! We each had a burger (they had gluten free buns, woo!) and enjoyed having a bit of a sit after a busy day so far. Disappointingly, when we headed up the street to the brewery, their taproom was booked out as it was the first day they’d reopened. We got a couple of takeaways though and decided to head down to Llanfair to our glamping site. 

It took about an hour and twenty to get down there, with a few tense moments on very tiny, wiggly, rock-lined roads, but Peter did a great job navigating the challenging roads.   When we finally pulled up the tiny, tiny street leading up to the glamping field, it was such a relief to turn into the field and have space to move! We were surprised to find not only the three bell tents that we’d expected in the field (as per the Airbnb listing) but also a fourth bell tent, a caravan and a family with a huge expanded tent. Luckily it was a big field and it all felt quite spread out. We spent the evening settling in and finding where things were, and then getting a fire going for dinner. We’d expected a set up like the carriage where you had everything you needed, but while they provided logs, they hadn’t left any kindling or matches.    After texting the hosts they dropped by and left us with a lighter, but we had to collect some sticks from the edges of the field and even then we really struggled to get it going. Thank goodness in the end we got up a decent enough heat to cook our steaks and made do with a (deliciously smokey) steak and some salad. 

Because we’d eaten so late, it was slowly getting dark and we spent most of the evening just talking about stuff, with a walk down the lane to look at the spectacular view over the bay and peninsula. When we went to clean our teeth, walking back across the field we realised that the stars were out! We sat down not far from our tent and lay looking up at the stars - it was definitely the stargazing experience I’d been hoping for when we went to Brecon Beacons!   We saw shooting stars and satellites, and both had to readjust our night-sky perceptions of where things should be. Then it was time for bed ahead of another busy day!