A few days at the beach - Llandudno

Llandudno is a Victorian-era seaside resort on the north coast of Wales. Being Easter weekend, it was always going to be busy, with excellent weather as well, it was packed!


We stayed about half way along the beach, which meant that the huge concentration of people on the promenade around the pier had well and truly thinned down near where we were staying, and when we walked along the beach in the other direction, we only saw a few fishermen and people walking their dogs.


A lesson in skipping stones

We started the day, after breakfast, with a huge beach walk and play.

Then headed down to the pier (and the crowds) we wandered along the pier and back, looking at all the amusements and stalls. If you have never been, it is probably what you would expect - lots of tacky little stalls, food vendors and souvenirs. Also, blaring 60s music.

A Punch and Judy Show...even the kids thought it was creepy!



We enjoyed a lunch of sandwiches and salad from the supermarket, sitting on the promenade, then went back onto the beach for more play.


We were keeping our eyes on the clock - The boys had heard on the radio whilst we were driving that the BRAND NEW DR WHO!!! special was going to be on, and with David Tennant (the 10th Dr) on the radio, the boys had the channel and the time fixed in their minds!


We went and got some take away (fish and chips) and made our way back to our hotel room for the start of the show. On the way back, Alexander had a bit of an accident. He was leapfrogging bollards, and got his hand caught on one and fell flat on his face. He luckily got his hands down, but ended up with a very sore wrist. He was in shock - and this took some time to shake - but I had visions of a visit to the hospital with the way he was holding his wrist (I remember Cameron and our visit to Sicily...). A dose of Fish and Chips, and an hour with Dr Who and the Planet of the Dead, and he was a bit better.



The next morning was Easter Sunday, and somehow the Easter Bunny tracked us down. The boys got enough chocolates to keep them going, and a Dr Who magazine. The hotel staff also left the boys a big Easter Egg each, so they were very happy.


We went for another big beach walk, then used the cable car to go to the top of the Great Orme (the ancient mountains). It was another beautiful day, and after a long wait for the cable car, we really enjoyed the views on our ride up to the top.





We had lunch, and the kids played in a playground for ages, before we had an ice cream and walked back down to the town.

It was a lovely walk, and we followed the tram route for most of the way, then used small paths and the footpaths to finish our journey back into town. On the way, whilst mucking around, Cameron took a tumble and cut his knee. Nothing too big, but slowed him down a bit for a few minutes...


We got back into town and it was packed. As we made our way through the crowds we passed a bookshop - and were lured in to top up on our reading supply. The boys both chose a couple of books, as did Nicole and Phil. Nicole found a great book for Phil - Alone in Berlin - which was written in 1947 and had a real flavour of what life was like in Berlin during the war.


After another long play on the beach, we made our way back to the guesthouse for dinner.


This couple has us laughing. Here they were in the middle of the stony beach, with their fold out chairs, napkins on lap, dinner on plates, facing the prominade. The photo below is the view they were looking at while eating their dinner. Now don't you think it would have been much nicer to be looking towards the ocean???
Camerons view: (Cameron wrote a diary for school, and he has given me permission to post his thoughts in the blog)
Today was a fun day. We played on the beach for hours, We went for a walk. Well actually we spent the whole day on the beach except for 6:45 and above.

I had a sausage for dinner (with some chips). We ate the meal whilst watching DOCTOR WHO, Planet Of The Dead!!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Alexander tried to leapfrog over a pole and had lots of shock when he face-planted* on the ground. He cried like MAD when he fell. (*face plant means to fall flat on your face)
Today was Easter. We found a Dr Who magazine on the side of our bed, a packet of mini-eggs, a bucket of chocolates and a big Easter Egg* from the hotel manager.

Then we went to the beach and played for a while. Next we went up the cable-cart and played in a playground. After 1 1/2 hours we walked down the hill. Halfway down I fell down a hole (an accident) and got a nasty scratch on my knee. Then we went back to the beach and played until dinner.
(*everythng before this was from the Easter Bunny)