[mappress mapid=”3″]As Tom and I munched silently in the breakfast room of Llandudno Hostel, we knew the fated day had arrived. This would be our last day in Wales and we had thoroughly enjoyed our stay here especially in the Northern Parts. As we felt we had pretty much as much of Llandudno as we wanted yesterday, we decided to taste one last farewell to North West Wales by going back into Conwy for a coffee and a cake!
I especially liked Conwy. So much that I started to plead with Tom of Tomarhawk Travels if we could just go round the castle? Unfortunately for me (and fortunately for Tom), the old crabby Welsh weather reared its head again and decided to dispense its hail and rain over Conwy just as we arrived. Darn it, it was the first time I even had to drag my waterproof jacket out of my backpack! But it was not much to worry as we loved our cake with our proper english tea to get the day started!
So where do we go now? We had until 6pm when my train will leave from Birmingham and it was 11am already so I said, let’s just go along the coastline and then as we get close to Chester over the English Border, we would turn south and go back into Wales again before coming out of Wales completely mid-way down of Wales. So we did.
Our first port of call alongside the A55 (North Wales Expressway) was Caerwys, a small village that I thought sounded quaint but as we passed through, there wasn’t anything much to see. Back to square one. I rather hoped we wouldn’t have a wasted day of NOT finding anything. So I put on some music in the form of Glee, which did wonders for Tom’s mood! Bear in mind being on the midnight train going anywhere (see what I just did there?), we carried on heading eastwards towards England on the North Wales Expressway. Until Flint caught my eye. Wait, is that one of the castles built by Edward I? (yes him…AGAIN). I felt like I couldn’t pass this opportunity by and turned the steering wheel which Tom had a hold on it to head towards the coastline. Using my amazing navigational skills again, we got lost. Oops. Again. Oops. But we got there in the end. I just told Tom that we were ‘temporarily misplaced’ but he proceeded to flick me the finger and call me ‘dobber’ persistently for the rest of the day.
As we found Flint Castle, Tom was speechless. Finding his tongue he spluttered out,
‘Is that it?!’
Compared to the grand majestic castles of Conwy and Caernarfon, Flint Castle rather paled in comparison.
‘There’s no information about it whatsoever!’ Tom continued to rant. I think my navigational skills coupled with the rain made him lose the plot. Guiding him as I would do to an old person, I soothed him until we arrived at the entrance. And you know what, I rather enjoyed this castle!
Where’s the roof, guys?
‘I think the windows need some love!
Where’s a handsome guy when you need one?…Oh here he is!
One of the Towers
The Moat of the Castle…seems fitting Tom’s down there
With smiles on our faces and the sun coming out to play. we were pretty in awe of Flint Castle. You could feel what the ruined place had been like and we felt regret that the castle hadn’t been kept in good condition like the other 2 castles. But it didn’t surprise us both after checking out the town centre riff raff we encountered on the way in.
Hightailing it out of Flint, we found ourselves on the Expressway again until we reached close to Chester and then proceeded to go down south away from the main road into winding countryside lanes to head to our second choice after Llandudno if we couldn’t find a place there….Llangollen.
Straddling and clinging on the sides of the River Dee, this was truly a Welsh Market Town at its best. I mean, check out this view on the bridge.
Stunning! The River…not me.
We continued to have the same view of the River Dee as we dined at a Fish n Chip Restaurant that perched dangerously over the edge offering close up views of the rapids. Our time in Llangollen was short and truly a memorable one as we promised to each other that next time we would be in Wales, we would come here to stay for the night.
And that was it!
Our time in Wales is over! It was such a disappointment when we drove over the border and saw the very sub-standard ‘Welcome to England’ sign but as we drove on to Birmingham, our memories would be with us. Oh the valleys, the mountains, the rivers, the lakes, the people, the language, the culture, the food, the drink, the air, the proudness all led us to one thing. This what it must feel like to be Welsh. And you know what?
I love Wales.
What did you think of Flint and Llangollen?
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