Llechwedd Slate Caverns and Betws y Coed

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Friday October 12 - We woke up and had breakfast at 8am. They cooked a full English breakfast and we rolled out of there 45 minutes later. The weather was crap, as we knew it would be. There was a large storm called Callum attacking the UK, especially Wales, with lots of rain and high speed wind gusts. We knew walking was out, so we planned last night to visit the Slate Mine Cavern in Llechwedd. We booked a tour at noon and arrived about 20 minutes early. There were several people on the tour before ours and after ours, but we were the only ones for the noon tour, so we got ourselves a private tour for two for an hour and a half. Not bad. Our guide was also one of two guides who used to work in the mine, which closed in 1977, so that was quite cool as well. It was quite a good tour - informative about the horrible conditions the men used to work in before health and safety, with interesting video as well.

From the mine, we drove towards our next airbnb, stopping for an hour in Betws y Coed, a small town that is a popular base for people in Snowdonia National Park. All of the buildings are made of stone and the town is along a river, so it is all quite beautiful, but the rain drove us away. We drove another 45 minutes to get to our airbnb and the rain and wind really picked up. It was like hurricane-force winds when we arrived, and I was almost knocked over more than once getting to the door.

We’re staying in a church that was auctioned off in 2010 and is in the process of being turned into some kind of coworking space in the shape of a pirate ship inside. It’s weird, but even weirder than I thought. Our room is almost tall enough for Jeroen to stand up in, and is just slightly larger than our bed. It is so much smaller than I’d figured, and we are here for three nights (!). It’s rather dark and gloomy inside to boot. We almost decided to leave, but it was so windy and unsafe to drive that we decided not to. It’s also rather cold in here, but our “room” has a small heater which is enough and the kitchen is heated. We decided to have the host cook us dinner, and she made a spaghetti squash pasta bake with a salad, which was rather nice. We spent the evening in the kitchen and then headed to bed when they had their dinner around 9:45pm. Another couple checked in around 10pm, and they are staying in the room next to ours. It is only separated by a thin piece of plywood, but they were quiet, so it was fine.

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