Saturday 23 September - Betws-y-Coed

We took the bus to Betws-y-Coed this morning.  As soon as we got there it became evident that it was a mistake as far as we are concerned.  The whole place resembles a very large parking lot bringing in lots of people with screaming kids and yapping dogs and coachloads of old people with walkers to spend their money at a bunch of Welsh "craft" stores, the Welsh Love Spoons Center etc. (The Welsh equivalent of an outlet center) Mary waited half an hour in line while 8 people were served at a coffee shop only to find out that the coffee machine had inexplicably stopped working.  Typical of many places in Wales, slow service, no organization, don't give a f---.

The railway museum, right next to the station, has a small collection of good exhibits, tickets, signal apparatus etc but the model dioramas were old and tired.

 

An Edmondson ticket dater. I caught my thumb in one of these several times while at Oxford 

Do it youerself

A walk through the "town" which is strung out along the main road was not very encouraging although we did find a bar that had good beer.

We came back as soon as we could.  The Conwy bus took us as far as Llanrwst which looks to be a much more interesting place with a narrow bridge over the river.  The bus driver then told us we were going to have to get into another bus.  Mass confusion until the errant bus turned up.

The valley of the River Conwy is beautiful and we enjoyed the journey. It is a pity that Betws-y-Coed is such a nasty place.
Click here to see all pictures taken at Betws-y-Coed

Back at Conwy we found an excellent Fish and Chip shop which provided a real;y good meal.

The batter was light and the chips were crispy.  All in all a very good meal

I really wonder at some of the people who come here.  An American tourist arrived in Heathrow and called the hotel here late afternoon and asked how to get there as he had a reservation that evening.  It is quite a long journey and complicated to explain.  As a coach party were checking in two men were pondering over a map of north Wales trying to figure out where they were. Another lady was heard to say "I think I have picked up the wrong case".