Day 3 9/11/08 - Wales

Llandundo -> Beaumaris -> Conwy -> Denbigh -> Rhuddlan London ->

Highlight

• The weather didn’t get any better at all, but we managed to go for a drive around the Great Orme drive…and because the weather was crap/it was early, there was no one manning the toll booth, so we got to drive it for free.
• The view would’ve been excellent on a nice day, but that huge storm cloud that kept getting into our pictures, and the really strong wind, not to mention the call of breakfast, meant we didn’t stay long.
• The brief stop at the top, with the really strong and cold wind was fun though.
• The breakfast was slow, and quite disappointing. From the way it was described you expected it to be really good, but the food was pretty tasteless and there was not much variety.
• Off for the first drive, back to Beaumaris Castle. The weather was absolutely horrid, with really strong winds, that my umbrella did nothing, but it was eerie wondering around the castle in darkness though, especially through the many corridors of this castle.
• Then back to Conwy, which was a cute little town, but we didn’t stop to browse the shops, as we were in a hurry. A brief look at the outside of Plas Mawr Elizabethan Town House, then onto Conwy Castle, which was my favourite of all. Still retaining its crumbling charms, but with lots of towers to climb, for views towards the sea. There is a nice display about chapels in castles, but most of all, because it has retained its grand structure, it was the best.
• It was already getting dark by this time, so we went to Denbigh Castle, which was a very different sort of castle. It was not built by Edward II and was not concentric, instead, everything was on a grand scale. Unfortunately the castle is now in quite a bad state, but the view of the surrounding town and farmland was beautiful, with the autumn leaves.
• Off to Rhuddlan Castle, which was closed, but we got a good picture from the outside.
• Hit a series of small monuments, which we shouldn’t have bothered, as the weather got progressively worst (from the already terrible to start with), and it was getting too dark to see anything.
• Started our journey home, but was pretty much stuck in traffic only after about 20 minutes in. We took a detour, which cost us 30 minutes, so we arrived at dinner at the Kinfe and Cleaver at 8:30pm.
• The place was not a pub at all, but a small hotel with a bar/restaurant attached. Apart from another couple, who were obviously staying the night there, we were the only ones there. The food was cheap and very nice, and very generous, and the service was homely too. Read the reviews here.
• We were a bit afraid as the weather was absolutely mad while we were eating, we could hear the wind making a lot of noise. Luckily, the weather improved as we drove towards London, and the traffic wasn’t nearly as bad as we thought, so we made it back before the last tube closed, although we did get soak walking to the tube.

Food

• The Lindens breakfast:
  • pineapple juice
  • tea
  • coffee
  • yoghurt with dates and grapefruit
  • full breakfast with poached egg, sausage, black pudding, bacon, tomato, mushroom, fried bread, hash brown
  • toast
• digestive biscuit
• Knife and Cleaver dinner:
  • Prawn ball, relish on toast
  • seed bread and foccacia
  • Smoked Haddock Chowder (£5.25) With parmesan cheese straws
  • Deep Fried Whitebait, Gremolata (chopped parsley, lemon, garlic olive oil) (£6.00)
  • Gourmet Steak Burger (£9.75) Home made bun, crispy pancetta, chunky cut chips with tomato relish
  • South Coast Dab baked whole with an Anchovy and Shrimp Butter (£12.25)
  • ratotouille, potato gratin, buttered leek
  • coffee cafetiere