Woolly says – With days and days of constant teeming rain all I had been able to do was count my nuts along with the raindrops that constantly slid down the window panes. Today however was the start of our next mini adventure and as if the weather Gods knew of our intentions the downpours had ceased and a watery sun guided us towards the North Coast of Wales. The journey seemed to take forever as we drove through much more industrial areas, no country lanes and stunning scenery to be seen but as I caught my first glimpse of the sea my level of excitement increased.

His level of excitement resulted in him bouncing right onto Alfie the Dog’s head which woke him from his slumbers and meant that he started to get over excited as well, happily I was able to pull up and release the two of them from the car.

Woolly says – Having sorted out our accommodation I raced straight onto the promenade and took in the sights around me.

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Llandudno is a Victorian seaside resort in Conwy County on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea and is the largest seaside resort in Wales. With settlements on the famous Great Orme since the stone age the development of the town didn’t begin until 1848 when Owen Williams, an architect and surveyor from Liverpool, presented Lord Mostyn, the owner of the land,  with plans to develop the marshlands behind Llandudno Bay as a holiday resort. By 1861 it was being called ‘the Queen of the Welsh Watering Places’, I gazed across its beach of sand, shingle and rock and realised that it wasn’t going to be in Alfie the Dog’s top ten of beaches as there was hardly enough room to swing a cat on the sand let alone run a dog.

Known as the North Shore, which stretches from the Little Orme on the right of the town to the Big Orme on the left, with a most pleasing wide curving promenade of grand Victorian buildings. The road, collectively known as The Parade, has a different name for each block and it is on these parades and crescents that many of Llandudno’s hotels are now situated.

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We wandered onwards along the front admiring the large statue of the Mad Hatter, the town has a number of Alice in Wonderland figures as a tribute to Alice Liddell who spent the long summer holidays of her childhood here from 1862 to 1871.

Although I’d failed to tell my small friend that I had actually been to Llandudno on a number of occasions I drew a blank on the memory of these statues so either I had consumed way too much alcohol …unlikely …or they had been erected in the last 15 years or so.

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Woolly says – Eager to check out the pier I raced towards the impressive structure. Built in 1878, it is a Grade II listed building and was extended in 1884 to provide a new and much wider entrance for all of the visitors. This increased the pier’s length to 2,295 feet (700 m) making it the longest pier in Wales. In the summer, Professor Codman’s Punch and Judy show (established in 1860) can be found on the promenade near the entrance to the pier, but today being the winter months the pier is ours to use alone. As Jo refused to buy me a big dummy and a stick of rock at the only shop that was open, I had to content myself with admiring the quaint buildings at the end of the pier and the sea as I padded along the wooden footway.

It was a fine pier and having walked to the end and back we headed into the town centre for our next port of call. The War museum website had told us that it was a fully immersive experience which could include the mutt as well and both Jo and I had been looking forward to seeing it. It was easy to find and as I hurried down the small side street, I came to a skidding halt outside its green shutters. I looked for another entrance but none was to be found instead I had to accept defeat and yet another website that was inaccurate (the opening times were displayed so it should have been open to Mammoths), I was not a happy lad.

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Turning away in disappointment I followed Jo along the main shopping streets which were not overly crowded as they would be in the summer months. Many independent shops lined the route along with a large number of known brands, I kept my eyes peeled for more statues from Lewis Carroll’s enthralling works. We’d walked miles and miles and my stomach had thought it was on starvation rations as we finally entered a warm and snug café adorned with pictures of Alice and the Cheshire Cat and sat happily in front of our first Christmas tree of the year consuming a delicious plate of Welsh Rarebit whilst looking at the map for tomorrow’s outing.