Day 16 – August 2 – Edinburgh to Wales

by The Travel Guy

We got up at the usual time and started towards the Waverley train station in Edinburgh. We were early for the 10:50 train to Conwy, (Con-wee) Wales, so we sat in Princes Garden Park next to the statue for Sir Walter Scott, reading in the sunshine rather than trying to find a piece of concrete to rest against in the train station.  Sir Walter Scott died in 1832 and this monument was built in 1840 it was said to a man that “Scotland never owed so much to one man.” To many he is considered the father of the romantic historical novel.

Sir Walter Scott statue

Sir Walter Scott monument

It was a beautiful morning and we watched as the volunteer guide assembled her group for the Georgian Town and Garden walking tour and then headed off.

We jumped on our train with the Britrail pass and found some available seats that would get us to Crewe so that we could change to a train to Chester.  Once in Chester we happened to visit the lady at the ticket window who let us know that there had been a problem with the train coming in from London (we’d later learn that there was some sort of problem with someone stepping in front of the trail and this caused a delay) so we hustled to catch the next train to Chester.

The train gave us an opportunity to reflect on our time in Scotland and the Rick Steves tour.  We definitely felt this was a very a terrific part of our trip.  Roy our guide was extraordinary in conveying a large amount of knowledge in a learnable way.  Not everyone can do this.  We’ve all had teachers who presented the data on a given topic and left it up to us to turn that data into useable information.  Roy helped to bridge that gap between data and information by starting out many discussions with “Do you remember when we talked about …..”.  For many things the measure of how much you enjoyed something is “Would you do it again?”  We would definitely take another Rick Steves tour and if we could pick one that Roy is leading we’d sign up right away. We’ve mentioned previously that the people we traveled with on the tour seemed to have common interests and we’ll certainly consider coordinating a trip with a few of the people we’ve met on this tour.

The ride from Chester to Conwy heads overland for a while before it reaches the coast of the Irish Sea.

Wind turbines in the Irish Sea

There we started to see a very large tidal beach as the tide was out.  In the distance were a number of wind turbines that have been set up in the sea to minimize the impact on existing properties.  Part way along the journey a fellow was getting off the train at the next stop and somehow Jeff learned that he was originally from Vancouver but is living in Birmingham now and he was wearing a golf shirt sporting the name of a Birmingham electrical company so we figured that was his employer. He wondered where we were headed and then asked how a couple from Canada would select this small town as our destination.  Jeff was tempted to say we just threw a dart at a map and it landed on Conwy, but if you know Jeff, that just doesn’t happen that way.  Guide books were consulted, research done for things to do using this as a hub and then suitable accommodation was selected.  Two stops before Conwy Jeff struck up a conversation with someone who was going to be getting off at the same stop so we were confident that conductor had notified the engineer and we’d make our stop.  He’d also learned from the woman a few directions to our B&B once we left the train platform.  The instructions were easy and we located Gwynfryn B&B in short order.

Our B&B in Conwy, Wales

Colin greeted us and carried our bags (which are getting heavier with every stop) to the 2nd floor (in UK/Europe speak that is above the 1st floor which is above the ground floor, where you generally enter the building), Le Rouge room.  It has a beautiful view of the wall that surrounds the town.

Le Rouge room at Gwynfryn B&B

Great big bathroom, with a large tub.

We went for dinner at the Alfredo Italian restaurant just a few doors down from the B&B and managed to squeeze into a seat just by the kitchen.  As the young waiter brought a couple of glasses of red wine and started to put one of them down for Deana he managed catch something and sprayed the glass over Jeff, the guy behind him and and the cash register beside Deana.  We didn’t get excited and this endeared us to the owner we joked with them the rest of the night.  Through the rest of the meal we watched large groups of locals come in and enjoy the wonderful food and atmosphere.