Llandundo Victorian Extravaganza Weekend

An interesting couple of days in Llandudno's "Victorian Extravaganza" as usual. Got a few bargains in the charity shops and markets. CD's of obscure Soweto artistes, comp. of old rockabilly, etc. A nice tattoo book of machines vintage photos, designs etc. that will probably emerge in my sketchbook soon. Hazel found an old "What Do You Know" game. The auto-jumble was rubbish this year - no bargains at all. We did enjoy the steam engines and various stalls of collectors of weird stuff though. Hazel was particularly delighted by the sewing ephemera and finding the Granny Pin. Some nice food including a tuna melt panini in the Bionical Babes cafe and the baked potato in the Mr Yum Yum cafe. Over cheesed it on Sunday with selection from M&S Food with crackers and chutney etc. Lovely Land Train ride up the Great Orme and around to the other side . Shame about the mist hiding most of the things the guide tried to explain were there somewhere!

North Wales

Nice couple of days in North Wales to celebrate my birthday. Went to Ruthin, stopped off to have a coffee and walk round the charity shops. Then on to Dolgellau and Barmouth. Rain showers blew away and the sun came out - hoorah! Fish and chips in the park. Went for a nap in the dunes. Drove back to our B&B in Dolguelleu. Weve stayed there before. Close to the Torrent Walk - a bubbly stream that cascades over rocks. Usually more water but the rain has been few and far between this year despite the recent thunderstorms. Next day we went to our friends Linda and Ivor's who live the "good life" in a cottage nearby with 5 cats , 6 chickens, hives of bees etc. Went for a walk to the lake via the Precipice Walk. Delicious lunch of home grown salad, cheese we took along, fresh boiled eggs, home made sour dough bread etc. Yum! Looked through all there recent "finds" and an amazing pelikan pen engraving machine. Stopped for a curry at tea time amd then off back to the B&B. Next day home via Llandudno and a sandwich on the pier.

Llandudno

A very nice ,sunny for the most part, May Bank Holiday weekend in the lovely town of Llandudno - our favourite seaside place in North Wales. Made a nice change from the stresses and strains of previous weeks. Delightful wanderings around the town, the shops, the pier, the fun fair ( not too much of that - a bit noisy!) and relaxing in the Promonad B&B - excellent new owners - delicious breakfasts! Home again now and going through the dozens of photos we took. Here's just a few for now.

Llandudno Victiorian Extravaganza - May Day Weekend

More Pics from Llandudno

Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza

Another excellent weekend in Llandudno for the annual fair and auto jumble etc. Very warm on Saturday and Sunday which really brought the crowds out! We prefer the drizzle actually and have more room to move about! You could hardly move for day trippers. Despite the heat we enjoyed it and Hazel bought loads of bargains from the many antique shops and charity shops etc. Also the auto jumble provided many treats. The bus ride there alone was worth the price of admission ( buses were free - throw a coin into a bucket on the way off ) Nice food too at our usual haunts - a real feeling of deja vu for most of the weekend as we eat virtually the same food in the same places! It's only in llandudno for some reason - everywhere else we like to ring the changes.

Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza

Nice weeeknd in Llandudno to the annual May Bank Holiday Victorian feast for the senses! Tons to see and do including the traction engines, old buses to ride to the vintage vehicle fair on, art gallery, war museum, the pier, slot machines, lovely food and a big pebbly beach to name but a few. The B&B we usually stay in had been taken over by a new proprietor but thankfully he and his wife were very nice and the breakfasts were up to our high standards! Shame the weather was slightly rainy and cold but Saturday was a lovely sunny day so we got sun burn and had fish and chips on the prom looking out for dive bombing sea gulls! The auto jumble wasn't quite so good as previous years but Hazel did get a couple of bargains including a weird wall papper cutter in it's box and a Noddy and Big Ears toffee tin. Hada ride in an old charabanc to the far side of Llandudno to see the white rabbit statue and the foot hils of Snowdonia in the background.

Llandudno Weekend Part 2

Continuing from the previous post  ----   we climbed up the Orme to the Happy Valley the next day (Sunday)  and had a good view of the Victorian Extravaganza parade as it wended it's way along the sea front. We could see the traction engines steam whistles quite clearly and hear the Drum and Pipe bands wafting up on the breeze.  We took a picnic to eat on the cliff edge and had a wonderful panoramic view of Llandudno , Conway and the the Welsh hills beyond.  We wanted to visit Drew of Salvage Hunter fame but seems he's so popular now through his TV show that you can only peruse all his junk by prior appointment.  Walked down the hill later to have fish and chips on the prom - making sure we hid our meal from the marauding seagulls!
Went back to the gallery again to build more towers and stuff with the bricks and type on the adjusted tip-tappers.  O yes, I missed out the Voltini sideshow  which we saw a couple of years ago and were keen to see again. A real old fashioned Victorian eccentric show man and his chums who do things with electricity - mainly to his lady assistant/ accomplice  Madame Electra who has an enormous rack - of light bulbs and makes cucumbers spark in a very suggestive fashion. In fact the whole show is littered with innuendo from start to finish!   And lots of sparks and flashing lights and weird apparatus out of Frankenstein's laboratory.

May Bank Holiday Weekend.

Quite a busy weekend starting on Friday we drove to Ruthin in Wales and went the wrong way first of all and had to come back via Tarvin. Sat Nav was getting quite shirty!
Ruthin is a lovely village but rather overwhelmed by traffic which is a shame. Still we enjoyed a brief stop off for a brunch in the cafe we went to last time and then the Crafts Centre where we were delighted to find a couple of exhibitions by people we liked  - Rodney Peppe toy and automata maker and illustrator and a Gillian Lowndes retrospective.  Also bumped into a colleague of Hazel's from MMU who's name I forget at the moment.
Eventually got to Llandudno around  1pm and checked into the wonderful  Promanad  B&B which we stayed in in for our "honeymoon" last year and promised ourselves we would return as it was so nice.  A great room and sea view.  Then to town to see them setting up the fun fair and building the rides and gallopers etc for the forthcoming weekend Victorian Extravaganza!   Some rides and stalls were over 100 years old!   Hazel was fascinated by the galloper being constructed in sections- the parts being lifted from the lorry and the lorry itself being used as  scaffolding to turn the roundabout every so often to fix the awnings and guilded and beautifully carved wooden sections.
A delicious shared seafood pizza in an Italian resturant and then a walk along the prom as the sun went down.

The following day we had fun at the Oriel Mostyn gallery building towers and domino effect thingys with all the bricks the artist  (who's name escapes me )  laid out in one of the big white rooms.   A mad child ran amok at one point and knocked everything over including a lovely model of the Acropolis someone had taken ages making!  I wanted to film this destruction but Hazel forbade me!
Took in all the side shows and rides now working in the main streets of Llandudno. Lots of roads blocked off - music blaring - quite a cocophony with two or three loud rides pumping out old rock 'n roll and disco hits!

Also did some shopping. Bought some cheap DVD's in the Poundland - Rocko's Modern Life and Monsters animations from the 90's that Archie and I used to enjoy when he was a nipper. Hazel got some things for her blog in a nice antique shop down one of the back streets - also some postcards and old birthday cards.
I found one of Marine Parade in Southend from 1919.

In the evening we ate a nice curry at the Bengal Dynasty which was packed but we managed to find the last two seats. The whole town was packed for the weekends festivities - hardly any parking space and all the hotels and B&B's booked up months in advance  ( we booked up before Xmas )

It was very windy and cold along the sea front despite the sun and so once we had to nip back to the B&B for our thicker clothes!   Needed them too when it rained briefly at the Vintage Car and vehicle fair and auto jumble along the prom at the edge of the town.  Brrrrrr!   Cut short our wanderings to jump on an old bus that was carrying visitors to and from the site for free ( donations to charity )  .  Good to see a number 40 to Poplar that I used to ride on quite a bit back in the 80's when I lived in Stepney!   I will add some more about our trip to Wales tomorrow...........