Wedding Anniversary in Llandudno (DAY 4 of 4)

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Monday was our final day, and the actual first anniversary date of our wedding

We woke up and watched some TV in bed for a while before going down for the superb breakfast again, where I again became the Toast Eating Monster of Doom.

After we finished, we went back upstairs and packed, and headed to reception where we checked out and said goodbye to the owners. We said we were considering doing an open top bus tour today, and they gave us information on the two which run through Llandudno and Conway. We ended up choosing the most well known of the two, and after buying a couple of drinks and a hy00ge bag of Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles, boarded the City Sightseeing Open-Top Tour Bus.


The bus at the back... I just loved this great 1950's bus which was also doing the Marine Drive that we did on day 2

It'd been a damp night it seems, and the top deck was slippy and the seats wet, but luckily they were wipe-down types, and I had some tissues with me, so we were able to have a nice dry seat on the top deck of the bus whilst everyone else was huddled into the covered section. The tour at about an hour long was great, very enjoyable, but sadly due to the engine noise and wind noise, we couldn't particularly hear most of the pre-recorded commentary, but that didn't matter as we still enjoyed it



Upon completing the full route of the tour back to the starting point at Llandudno Pier, we saw Jet Boat Rides available. I'd seen these since we arrived and we both fancied a go, so we hopped on board and the driver...captain?... zoomed us right out miles from the land and around to the other side of the bay, bouncing like mad, dipping, banking, all at breakneck speed. Everyone on board was screaming and laughing, it was very exhillerating, and one of my highlights of the trip! Well worth the £3.50 each! I still felt myself going "phew!" 10 minutes after getting back on land! Hehe!



We were going to go and check out the shops before heading home, but it was so busy that we just didn't fancy it, and we'd had enough walking really, so we decided to go on a scenic route home, via Snowdonia National Park, which is well known for its beautiful views and lansdscapes reminiscent of parts of Canada.

Our route took us through some pretty towns, quaint villages, giant rolling hills and twisting country lanes, and it was beautiful. At one point I became familliar with the area, and we stopped off at Swallow Falls, where I remembered visiting with my parents and my late grandfather about 10 years ago, and had good memories of it. After a (very tasty) meal in the Swallow Falls Hotel, we went to see the falls itself. It's now £1.50 each to get in, but the falls are quite breathtaking, and you can see them from several vantage points up and down some stairs with benches dotted around to sit and relax. Again though, at least one open area of shallow water was filled with coins... people need to realise that not every body of water is a wishing well!



Some of the views would leave you doubting you could still actually be in Wales. Wales is a beautiful country and vastly underrated, people need to check it out more! After the exhausting climb back up to the entrance, we hopped back into the Landy. It'd started getting REALLY hot by this time, and with the windows down, we drove through the twisty roads again in the sunshine, which was wonderful.

I knew nearby Swallow Falls was The Ugly House, which is a fantastic Victorian folly of a cottage made out of ramshackle boulders. Sadly, it relies on donations and volunteers to keep it open, and the owner thinks it may not be able to stay open much longer, which is a shame. If you ever get chance, go and see this cottage and its vast traditionally English style garden!



After the Ugly House we decided that the scenic route might take us too long, so we changed the SatNav to our direct route home, which still took another 2 hours, towards the end of which we were both yawning like mad and trying to keep awake! We made it though

So we arrived at home sweet home, having popped to Tesco for our weekly shop (which we'd normally do on a friday). They didn't have the sandwich spread we usually get so we had to pop to the nearby ASDA afterwards, where I found tubs of Haagen Dazs reduced to £2.00 each from about £3.95. Score! Cookies and Creme flavour FTW!

So all in all, we had a superb anniversary weekend! I know most people would giggle at the idea of spending an anniversary in Llandudno rather than somewhere exotic, but my report proves (I hope) that you can have a really lovely time!

I hope you enjoyed my report