To Conwy

August 2, 2022

In a fairly recent change in plans we’ve decided to take the train from Ulverston down to Conwy, Wales where we’ve booked ourselves for a five night stay. The ride down this part of the coast always looked like the least interesting part of the plan and we were ready for a longer stay somewhere so we decided to skip over it. Conwy, a well preserved Welsh fortress and market town on the threshold of Snowdonia National Park looks like an exceptional place for a longer stay, and without this change in plans we wouldn’t have been going there at all. In addition to Snowdonia and a scenic coastline it has multiple other attractions - a UNESCO-cited castle and walls, a suspension bridge, and last and least it claims to have the Smallest House in Britain!

So this all sounds wonderful to both of us but first we have to get there. It’s just a little confusing teasing out the train connections in the UK, partly because there are just so many of them but also because there are so many train lines. It’s not like France, Italy and Spain where there’s a single national rail service with an integrated network that goes a zillion places; and it’s not like the good old US of A either, which has its own national rail service that goes pretty much nowhere; and when it does go somewhere it’s usually at an inconvenient time and frequently late.

Anyway, I figured it out and found the best option: a direct train from Ulverston to Manchester Piccadilly on the Northern line, connecting with a direct TFW (Transport for Wales) to Llandudno Junction just across the river from Conwy. Easy.

Easy, but not without the usual stresses. One was with Northern, which advertises that they allow bicycles free of charge on any train - but they only advertise space for two bikes per train and it’s first come first serve since it’s not reservable. Worrying obviously, since if you can’t reserve space how do you know you’ll get on so you can plan which connecting train to book for?

TfW is much better - they have a limited number of reservable bike spaces (for 10£ per), but recommend that you book well in advance. (A correction, as Polly Low pointed out. Bikes travel free on TfW, and I was mixing this up with a train reservation in France I made about the same time. France charges 10 euros per bike on the TGV.)

So we put these facts together and decide that we’ll book the 3 PM train from Picadilly to Llandudno (out of the half dozen that run throughout the day). Their website doesn’t support reserving bike space so I call an agent. At first I have no idea at all what’s been said and think I’ve called the wrong number in the wrong country; but then the message is repeated in English rather than Welsh and I’m advised to select 2 if I want to continue in English.

The plan for the train from Ulverston to Piccadilly is different. Once again there are multiple choices, with trains departing for Manchester nearly hourly throughout the day. Our thinking is that we should try for an early departure so we still have a few alternatives if we aren’t allowed to board the first one. We want to talk it over with an agent though so we swing by the station on our way back to the hotel after our ride around the Furness Peninsula.

An aside: we’re never coming back to Ulverston, as fine as the nearby cycling is. Maybe we’d get the knack of it after a few more days, but in our experience it’s an awful town to bike through - the worst small town for this that we’ve found in England. Don’t ask me why. I just thought I’d write the fact down to remind ourselves someday.

Anyway. The very helpful agent advises catching the 9:07 and doesn’t think we’ll have any problem boarding with our bikes since Tuesday is a relatively quiet day. Later departures would require an additional transfer somewhere, so that’s out; and the next direct line doesn’t depart until 2, which is too late. So we’re booked, and hope for the best.

Morning comes. We’re down for breakfast early and out the door by 8:30, leaving us over a half hour to bike the 0.9 miles and find our way to the platform. It’s still raining, but not badly. We’ve mapped the route on the Garmins so we don’t get lost; and because of our good planning we arrive in plenty of time and aren’t nonplussed or panicked to find that the Ulverston station has no elevator and we have to lug our loaded bikes down to the underpass and back up to our departure platform. Just the normal inconvenience we’re conditioned to expect and plan for by now.

The train arrives, on time to the minute; and departs one minute later, which doesn’t leave us much time to get our bikes and bags on board. Once there we’re relieved to see that the slight bay with just room for two bikes is unoccupied. We’re in!

Pretty minimal bicycle accommodations on the Northern line.

Northern doesn’t have a great bike policy, but other than that they get high marks. Fast, comfortable, on time. The two hour run to Manchester goes fast, especially with being charmed by the delightful young girl across the aisle who is constantly in motion - interacting with her tablet, slyly buzzing her neighbor across the table with her plush bumble bee, beaming at us or her mom, or taking a break and propping her feet up.

Piccadilly Station is huge. Fourteen tracks, trains constantly arriving and departing. It’s an impressive facility with a comfortable lounge area, free WiFi, a good selection of food choices, and elevators! We’re there for three and a half hours but it goes much faster and more comfortably than we had been anticipating.

Right on time, our carriage for Llandudno Junction arrives and departs a minute later, ourselves on it.

And busy! We’ve been waiting for our departure to Llanando to come up on the list and it finally shows up less than a half hour before departure. It’s taken that long because there are so many departures. Trains are coming and going constantly.

While we wait, let’s look across the street at the impressive London Street Fire Station.

Built in 1906, the London Street Fire Station building originally housed the fire station, a police station, an ambulance station, a bank, a coroner's court, and a gas-meter testing station. Now it’s being renovated and converted to a multi use facility.

Here’s ours. It’s a small one, two cars (as you can see if you zoom in on the very informative departure board) so it will be easy to find the bicycle car. Also of note - we arrived on the platform fifteen minutes early, and two other trains arrived and departed while we were waiting.

Here’s what you reserve if you call ahead.

Northern was fine, but TFW is even better - rocket fast, comfortable, and they even have free WiFi! Which we need as a diversion since there’s not the antics of a cute young girl to entertain us for the next two hours. We arrive in Llandudno Junction on time to the minute, and only ten or fifteen minutes later we’re outside the small station and on the street after finally managing to find the exit. There’s an elevator, but for some reason it’s barricaded off; so there’s one last round of shuttling bikes and bags down and up the stairs to be endured first also.

We stop off at Lidl for groceries on the way to our apartment in Conwy across the river. The less said about this experience the better, but we’ll just say we’re surprised to find out that so far it makes Ulverston’s streets look pretty reasonable and safe by comparison.

Conwy though - wow. This is going to be wonderful. We’re stunned by our first sight of the castle, walls and harbor as we bike across the bridge. We find and check in to our apartment, tucked into an alley in the heart of the old city inside the walls, go out immediately for dinner at an Indian restaurant and then walk down to the waterfront for a look around before coming back to our room to settle in.

Five nights in this place!

High Street, Conwy. Our apartment is about halfway down, tucked up into a side alley.

Tempting. Rachael eyes the carbs but I want one of those little toy boats as a tubby toy.

It’s a beautiful harbor, full of colorful boats, the dock draped with ropes, crab pots and nets. We’ll probably be seeing a lot of this harbor before we leave Conwy.

And there are gulls. Gulls everywhere. They sing to us at night, they wake us in the morning.

And walls. This is the gate that enters onto High Street, our street. We’re about a four or five minute walk from the waterfront.

Our place, the Gallery at Bull Cottages. If you rated accommodations by the number of pillows, this one’s off the scale. A twelve pillower.

And there’s a tub! This will be perfect for that toy sailboat I’ve got my eye on. In the meantime though we’re happy that there’s a shower too.

Oh, that’s right. What’s the plan for the rest of our Tour of Britain then? It looks like this:

The road map for the next six weeks: Conwy to Plymouth

Today's ride: 3 miles (5 km)
Total: 1,523 miles (2,451 km)

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Steve Miller/Grampiesp.s. Your picture shows 20 coloured segments, for 6 weeks. What do the segments correspond to?
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Steve Miller/GrampiesThose are the only travel days. We’re staying most places for 2 days with a few longer stays mixed in. It’s working really well as an approach for us.
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2 years ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Scott AndersonAh, got it. So you are showing 20 transfers from place to place. Are you devising those 20 transfers as 20 individual journeys, or for example out of Liverpool is it NCN 5, until it isn't? Just curious because we are actively plotting UK routes right now.
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Steve Miller/GrampiesEach segment is an individual day ride from one overnight stay to the next. Also, they make liberal use of the NCN network but use it as suggestions and just a place to start. A fair amount of the time we’re off on minor roads or paths that aren’t part of the network.

If you want to, you can see them all on RideWithGPS. They all begin with UK6, UK7, or UK8. For example, UK8A Chester is the first segment, from Conwy to Chester.
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2 years ago