We were up at 4am and walked our friends over to Waverley Bridge to make sure they caught their express bus to the airport. Heading back to the apartment on Niddry, we napped a little more before gathering our own gear and heading out again, this time for the train station. We grabbed coffees and awaited the first of three trains we would be taking today en route to Wales.
We caught the 852am Avanti West Coast train bound for London, but our stop was Crewe in northern England. We enjoyed the lush and rolling countryside of southern Scotland and into England and through the Lake District, filled with sheep, cows and stone fences.
At Crewe, we transferred to a dedicated train that makes the 20 minute run between Crewe and Chester (Caer in Welsh). During the short layover, we couldn't help but notice two distinct crowds populating the platform - people in extremely fine dress, and a drunken frat pack openly drinking beer. We assumed wedding, but eventually learned that it was a big day of horse races at Chester Races. We also had a last-minute platform change that made things interesting for us as we scrambled to the new location with all our luggage, but even moreso for those in high heels and tight dresses!
We had a longer layover at Chester (40 minutes), and grabbed some sandwiches at the train station before catching our final train from there to Holyhead, and our stop about an hour before that at the walled medieval town of Conwy. Our friends were also sending pictures of their last Guinness at the Dublin airport (having flown in from Edinburgh to connect to Toronto) and their upgraded seats for the long leg of their flight. The journey from Caer to Conwy was pleasant, as it followed the coast while we chatted with a nice local who had lived in Vancouver.
Arriving in Conwy, we walked the short distance into the town and inquired about our accommodations at Y Capel, an old church converted into a guesthouse. We were too early, but the same owners ran the awesome pub across the street (Erskine Arms) where you checked in, so we washed down our long travel day with some pints of local ale and cider (flat strawberry!) and some food. Once checked in, our room was beautiful (nicest room of the whole trip, alas but for one night) with a small terrace out back overlooking the church, medieval walls and castle.
For the rest of the day, we explored the old town, the waterfront quay and the city walls, with stops for shopping and ice cream. We had dinner at the Blue Bell pub, followed by drinks back at the Erskine. Unbeknownst to us, it was Pirate Festival weekend in Conwy, and we began to see more and more costumed characters out and about. We even spotted Rick Steves' bus parked outside the Castle Hotel.
The next morning, we were back at the Erskine for our Full Welsh breakfast that was included with the room. Fully sated, we left our bags at the pub (with permission) and set off to explore the ruins of Conwy Castle, and then wandered to the waterfront to experience the full madness of the Pirate Festival, complete with a cannon battle between a pirate ship and a shore battery. We retreated back uptown for fish and chips at The Archway, followed by a pint at The Albion across the street.
Pirate Festival notwithstanding (it got VERY busy in a relatively small town), we would highly recommend checking out Conwy. Having explored as much as we could in a short span of time, we gathered our bags (and a few more pints) before making our way down to the platform by mid-afternoon to catch the westbound Transport for Wales train to Holyhead.
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