In excellent news, my younger sister managed to have her graduation ceremony at the end of March!! She was supposed to graduate early, but COVID-19 pretty much paused that. But since the UK lifted restrictions, her university held a graduation ceremony for her cohort and I managed to find some time to join her and my family.

The details about the ceremony are not mine to share, but we did manage to take a day trip to Conwy the day before the graduation and I thought it was too lovely not to talk about! Well actually, I just want to share photos of the town.

Conwy is a small, charming town in Wales that isn’t too far from Manchester by car. We decided to drive up to see Conwy castle, which was built by Edward I in the late 13th century.

The castle is basically a ruin by now; the structure’s there and you can climb up, but don’t expect to see furnished rooms. What this means is that when it’s 7 degrees (which it was when we visited), it can get really, really cold. We were told that if we wanted to, we could leave to warm up and then go back to explore the castle – just make sure you have your ticket! We managed to finish walking around the castle so we didn’t have to do that, but it’s nice to have the option.

Also, please enjoy this photo of a seagull with no fear (if there was any fear, it was on my part because I think a seagull who is not scared of humans is dangerous).

I didn’t really read up on Conwy before going so I wasn’t sure what else there was, but I did see that the smallest house in Great Britain was located there! It was closed when we went, but just standing outside made me feel tall – I don’t know how the last inhabitant, who was apparently 1.8m (6ft) tall managed to live in the house!

Since we didn’t make any reservations, we just wandered around town when we were looking for a place to eat. The town center seems fairly compact, so it’s easy to walk around, and we eventually ended up at 2 The Square! I tried a Bara Brith and really liked it – it reminds me of a fruit cake – of course washing it down with some tea. My family had the jacket potatoes and really liked that, and we had a good lunch there.

If you’re driving to Conwy, look for the long-stay parking less than five minutes walk from the castle. There is a car park right next to Conwy castle but the rates were much higher and I don’t really think it’s worth it. We found the car park by following the signs – basically, we drove across a bridge into Conwy and followed the signs and turned left. You’ll go through a fairly narrow road next to the castle, but the car park itself is spacious and it was easy to find a spot.

I wish we had more time to explore Wales but this was a good day trip out!