Day 76
Llandudno to Penmaenmawr: 10 miles
Favorite Restaurant of the Day: Ti Amo, Penmaenmawr
Reason: Not only was the service exceedingly Italian, and the food proper Italian (as opposed to Italian-British), I got a recommendation for a restaurant in Italy as well - in the town one of my great grandparents are from.
So, I still wasn't feeling particularly wonderfully today, I'd had a few more online chats with people from home but the broken phone situation from yesterday wasn't doing me any favors with contacting people directly. But I went back out and wandered the streets of Llandudno, Conwy, and Penmaenmawr - and had a visually stunning stay that almost distracted me.
Onward to Conwy
So walking toward Conwy, two things stand out - first, the stunning location on a bay/river set at the foot of hills that spread along the north-west coast of Wales. And second, the enormous castle. And really, it's not just a castle - it's an entire medieval town enclosed by turreted and crenellated walls. Not only is Conwy Castle a UNESCO site (along with Harlech, Caernarfon and Beaumaris as part of Edward I's 'Iron Ring' of castles intended to subdue the Welsh population) - the town itself is the most complete medeival walled town in Britain.
And as I walked closer and closer, the three bridges leading across also made an interesting - though incoherent picture. First, there's a 20th century road bridge. This largely blocks what would be an otherwise great view to an early 19th century suspension bridge, built by the same architect who built the suspension bridge over the Menai strait to Anglesey. This suspension bridge was actually saved by the National Trust when it had been slated for destruction by the local authority - and it fits much better with the feel of the castle given the towers at either end. Similarly, there's a third bridge here for trains also built in the 19th century, this one's basically a tube, also with towers at either end that the trains drive through.
Basically there's a lot happening on the way to Conwy Castle, and along with various sculptures celebrating everything from the creation of the underground road tunnel to the local mussel and pearl population, there was a lot to distract me on the walk.
That said, when I finally actually got across the bridge, I decided to give the castle a miss, in favor of sitting down by the pier. I did this for two reasons - first, there were all kinds of people 'crabbing', and as I understood this to be something of a British seaside obsession, I wanted to get a better look at it. Basically you drop a wire bucket with bait attached to it off a promenade edge and pull up a bunch of crabs - I'm still not sure whether you eat them, but the kids seemed really excited about the crabs.
And the second reason I hung out on the water is because I decided to amuse myself by watching the line for entry into the Smallest House in Britain. Measuring 10ft high by 6ft wide, this house was built a few centuries ago by a man who wanted to save money, and so found a spot that already had three existing walls - and he found such a tiny spot between two buildings. The scene is set even better by the fact that the last man who lived in the house was a 6ft 3 inches tall fisherman who had to sleep with his feet on the windowsill. In any case, this tiny house is guarded by a woman in the national costume of Wales, and I watched as many, many, many people paid her a pound to be allowed in - one at a time - to get a look.
After sitting there for a while, I realized I needed something to eat if I was gong to continue on, but rather than find food I instead found myself in Aberconwy House. Yet another National Trust property this is the oldest town house in Wales. Set up so you can view different rooms of the house as they were at different times of history, I nonetheless felt a little weird about the fact that at one point the original inhabitants were referred to as 'English settlers'. Combined with the imposing castle and massive town walls, protecting what would have been a town full of such English settlers - protecting them from the Welsh population, I assume - it gives an odd feeling for those entirely outside this history, like me.
I'll take the high road
After I moved past the crowds of Aberconwy House, into the crowds of the streets of Conwy, and eventually past all of these crowds and back onto the Coast Path - the path presented me with an option to do something the Coast Path doesn't normally do - go inland. Having been in this area several months ago with P when we took our Plas y Brenin navigation course, I knew I wanted to go inland - even if it was going to be longer. Mostly because I remembered the several ancient stone circles and monuments that we'd seen there in November - but also because I thought it would be good to see that same gorgeous mountain landscape in summer as opposed to winter.
And I was right. Although at this point my resolve to keep on going was somewhat flagging, and although the visibility wasn't always the best - the hillsides of green, purple and yellow were stunning. And the hike went through an actual mountain pass - the Sychnant Pass that mail coaches used to use before the coast road was blasted out to connect the north coast valleys. Of course that also meant that it went up and around several hills and possibly mountains. And by the time I got to the part of the trail overlooking Penmaenmawr that P and I had hiked in November, I was completely exhausted and mentally drained enough that I wasn't really able to figure out whether I had enough energy to make it the distance to the druid circles - because I honestly couldn't figure out for myself how far they actually were.
So I decided that now was the time to come back off the trail. Luckily I had both a lovely place to stay for the evening in Penmaenmawr, and also access to the equally lovely and infinitely delicious Italian restaurant Ti Amo. I knew as soon as I failed to order an appetizer, and heard the waiter being yelled at by the chef (in incredulous Italian) that I wanted no appetizers, only a main, that I was in the right place - because these were real Italians. And it turns out I was right, and in the great tradition of real Italians of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, they made amazing stuffed pasta - in this case spinach and ricotta pasta with a real mascarpone and walnut sauce. It was wonderful, and when they found out I actually knew where Rimini was (where they were from) I got a free tiramisu that was the best tiramisu I've had in a long time.
I didn't really have a chance to ask wtf they were doing in North Wales. But then I guess plenty of people ask me that same question - and who cares really - it's beautiful here, and apparently you can get great Italian food.
