Conwy to Colwyn Bay (23km/14miles)

I resumed the walk on this more coastal stretch where at each end it's hardly any distance from the railway station to the Path.

Starting from Conwy, I had hoped to cross the river on Telford's Suspension Bridge but I was too early - it is only open from 11 (details here). Nevertheless, it was a chance for a good look while walking over the newer road bridge, and to admire the way the Castle has been hardly spoilt by its construction: the chains seem to pass through the castle wall. Although the bridge is the main feat of engineering, I did reflect as I walked that building the embankment across the rest of the estuary to the Deganwy side was also an achievement.

Coming off the embankment, I followed the Conwy Estuary Trail, which at first passes round the shore side of the sea wall that the protects the Conwy Tunnel east entrance. The Trail and the North Wales Path then run together, following the shore line. This makes it easy enough to follow, although in fact I didn't see a North Wales Path sign between Conwy Castle and the side of the Great Orme.

Path, railway line and road are parallel for a while going towards Deganwy. I was struck by this 'White Cottage' on the road, just before where the B5115 turns off the A546, so much older than surrounding houses - maybe even 18th century? I haven't been able to find out any more about it.

 

Next we pass by Deganwy Marina. Most marinas this way have been developed at old quarry ports or fishing ports and this is no exception. Across the river is Conwy Marina which has a different story - the basin was formed to build the sections for the tunnel which were then sunk in the mudbanks and pumped out. The basin left over became the marina. 

The view of the river now has passed away from the town of Conwy and looks across the estuary towards Penmaenmawr. Ysgol Aberconwy's modern buildings in pale yellow here have round towers which rather succesfully echo the town walls further back.

The Path continues along the shore, as the road and rail pass away inland, the other side of the North Wales Golf Club. Apparently, golfers are dangerous here!

Part of the proper path was closed here for repairs, but I could walk along the beach instead. 

The Path then reaches Llandudno's West Shore. The town was laid out in the 1860s on flat marshland. Being developed at all once and with little topography to worry about meant they could have straight roads and this impressive Gloddaeth Avenue: the picture shows only one side but the view is straight through from the West Shore to the Promenade. The circular building on the left is the former tram terminus.




Going on, the Path at last reaches the side of the Great Orme, joins Marine Drive, and begins to ascend the side of the limestone cliffs.  A private road, Llys Helig, named after a mythical kingdom lost under the sea here, has expensive looking houses with fine views, below Marine Drive, which acrries on upwards. The Great Orme is a prominent landmark from much of Snowdonia, so it's no surprise how much I could see fom here - Conwy valley to my left, Snowdonia ahead and up the east coast of Anglesey to the right. The picture takes in most of the North Wales Path I've done from the beginning.

Passing round to the North side of the Orme, the view changes. It was too hazy to see very far at sea, but I expect the Isle of Man must be visible on the clearest days from here. There's a popular cafe open here, although I didn't visit this time, then the lighthouse (also a Bed & Breakfast) is to be seen below the Drive.

I took a small diversion off the Path, to walk up the hairpin bends of the road to the summit of the Orme. I didn't go all the way to the top, but stopped to visit St. Tudno's church.  It is this church which gives Llandudno its name - in fact Llandudno was properly the name of this place, when the marsh between the Orme and the mainland was known as  Morfa Rhiannedd or St. George's Bay.

It was possible to visit inside the church, some of which dates back to the 12th century. The cemetery is fairly impressive too, with an attractive Arts & Crafts style chapel (but not open to go inside). 












Resuming the path, continuing eastwards, Llandudno pier and the Little Orme come into view.

Wild goats live on these steep cliffsides.








The Path now continues downwards along Marine Drive, past its tollgate, towards the Grand Hotel and the pier. The pier was very busy when I passed, and among its stalls were record shops publicising their wares  - the tones of Jim Reeves and Johnny Cash were to be heard over the waves long before I got there. I walked along the short stretch of the pier which stands in fornt of the hotel. Between the Grand Hotel and the Promenade, behind some pier amusements, is the remains of the old Pavilion, burnt down in  the 1990s, but some of the Victorian ironwork survives.





And here's Gloddaeth Avenue from the other end.







The walk now continued at a brisk pace along the arc of Llandudno's Premenade, passing Victorian hotels and guest houses. There follows Bodafon fields, a little gap in the built-up area, before a little suburb called Craigside. These seemed rather upmarket houses to Llandudno, many Victorian but some more recent. And in their midst, this splendid piece of Art Deco architecture.

This is Villa Marina (also known as Condover House), designed by Harry Weedon, dating from 1936 and well renovated.

Carrying on up the road, I began to think that maybe I had missed where the North Wales Path turns off  - but, no, it's not until the brow of the hill, more or less opposite the Craigside Inn, where the Path turns left into the Rhiwledyn Nature Reserve. Here it climbs a little, and there is a potential diversion here to the summit of the Little Orme. I didn't take it, and shortly the view changes again to look eastwards along the next stretch of the Path towards Colwyn Bay and beyond.

The Path descends into on old limestone quarry, passing down an incline at one point, towards still-eroding cliffs. Having come suitably equipped, I paused to collect some blackberries.

The route soon goes down some steps in to an estate of nondescript bungalows, then drops down to the beach for a while where there is no sea wall and private properties extend right down to the shoreline. After that, it steps up to a sea wall. Past Penrhyn Bay and another golf club. the sea wall gets well above the road behind it. This is believed to be the old course of the Conwy river before the Ice Ages. Then a glacier dammed up the river so high that a lake formed behind and cut through  a new channel between what are now Conwy and Deganwy.





The walk now joins the Rhos-on-Sea Heritage Trail.   Here I visited St. Trillo's Chapel, a miniscule but genuinely ancient chapel on the site of celtic saint Trillo's hermitage, which stands over a well. The building is anything from 6th to 16th century.




Shortly after this, a surprise was to find a second hand bookshop, Rhos Point Books. I quickly found two books I needed, and vowed to come back.

I walked up to Colwyn Bay pier, involved in recent controversy. Despite several signs along its side claiming it is still open, it isn't.  It is in very shabby condition and the supports underneath don't look very robust. Opposite the pier, an underpass to the railway took me quickly back to the railway station to complete my trip.

Verdict: This walk is so much more urban in character than the last two stages. In summer, you could buy ice-creams several times over on this walk, and even in October I could have had a few. It's more of  a walk for looking at buildings than for looking at wildlife, but then the Great Orme has a lot of rugged scenery to offer, and would make good winter outing on a very clear day.

Llanfairfechan to Conwy (15km/9miles)

At Llanfairfechan I retraced my route from the railway station up the valley to where I had left the Path last week, except that this time I mostly followed the eastern bank of the river before crossing over at Nant Y Felin Road to walk up the steps to Terrace Road. Llanfairfechan has some fine old houses - more than you would expect from just passing through on the main road.

So I rejoined the path at Terrace Road, heading up the valley on the western bank along a country lane. It's obvious at this point that Path needs to cross the river, also that it needs to continue rising, so when it comes to a road junction, where to go left would take you across the river, and to go straight on, past a No Through Road sign, would go up, I had expected to see a sign to tell me which way to go. Although the North Wales Path has been generally well marked, there was no such sign at this point, and (after getting lost once last week) I had to get my map out to make sure - it's up. Shortly afterwards, there is in fact a sign which tooks me leftwards across a foobridge at Nant y Coed Nature Reserve.

The path now rises up the side of the valley. There's a farmer here who keeps alive the old tradition of stringing up the bodies of rats, as a deterrent to others. Looking back across the valley, last week's descent into Llanfairfechan can clearly be seen.

The road here is Newry Drive, approaching a grand house which used to be called Newry, now Plas Heulog. The lodge here, at a hairpin bend in the road,  is a splendid building, an early work of Llanfairfechan architect H. L. North, whose distinctive style can be seen in a number of houses in Llanfairfechan and a few in the wider area. The house itself is set back from the road and not so visible.


Passing on, the road reaches a back entrance into Penmaenmawr Quarry then ceases to be a public road. But it does follow the line of an old coach route, and for the next few miles it is very clear from the style of the track that it is following a line which was made as a road for vehicles, even down to the ruts left by wheels over the centuries. It is also very easy to follow, as it climbs away from Llanfairfechan.

Here we pass the site of Graig Lwyd, an axe factory from the third millenium BC. although there is not a great deal to be seen. Stone axes from this rock have been found all over Britain and even on continental Europe, and, over the hill, Hanson's quarry continues the extraction of this rock, now mostly for roadbuilding aggregate. Continuing along the old road, the Path passes behind the quarry massif, and suddenly Penmaenmawr village itself comes into view below, with the Great Orme and Llandudno behind.


I took a short an interesting diversion from the North Wales Path here to visit the Druids' Circle. At a point where the Path is signposted along a slight left fork, taking the right fork rises slowly towards a ridge, where, helpfully, one of the standing stones can be seen from below. The circle is not the first group of stones, but stands on a small plateau a little further on. This is really impressive, far more so than the more modern imitations, because of its setting.

The Druids' Crcle is the most distinctive and obvious feature, but is not the only monumnent here. Because I has taken with me my copy of Frances Lynch's 'A Guide to Ancient and Historic Wales - Gwynedd', I was also able to find the ring cairn.








Rejoining the path is easy enough here, and I continued eastwards, where now it drops to the right of higher ground, losing sight of the sea to the north as Conwy valley comes in to view.

This is still folowing an old road, even at one point an avenue lined by Scots pine. Shortly after this, the North Wales Path turns off the road to the right, to become more of a footpath.   It crosses fields, then Afon Gyrach over a footbridge, and wanders on down towards Sychnant Pass.  There are multiple paths here as we approach Sychnant, and signage is a little confusing, but a clear view ahead and a sense of direction took me on and down to Sychnant.

Joining the road at Synchant. The conical gateposts are distinctive of the Pensychnant estate. This is now a nature reserve.

The North Wales Path now goes towards Conwy Mountain. Again, there are many paths that could be followed, and our signs take a particular route, first going over the top to look down at the foreshore and the old quarries on the shore side, then crossing again to look down on Conwy.

I then got the opportunity to divert off the path again to visit the later prehistoric hillfort, which is well signed by an interpretation board on the Path. This is referred to as Caer Seion here and on my OS map, although Frances Lynch (reference as above) refers to it as Castell Caer Lleion. On top of the hillfort, it is clear why it was built here: it commands strategic views in every direction, with little to block the line of sight. It was a windy day when I visited, which meant that on the very top I had to fight to stand up at all. I found a hollow in a hut base to take my lunch break.

The picture shows a round hut base, one of many.



Rejoining the Path, this now follows what feels like an old quarry road, maybe even an incline, down to Cadnant Park on the outskirts of Conwy. It leaves the modern estate road to pass down an old track towards Waen Crossing over the railway - a footbridge now, but evidently once a level crossing. It then crosses at A547 at an attractive former toll house on the corner of Morfa Drive, and passes Ysgol Aberconwy. It swings right behind the school to a coastal walkway, into the walled town of Conwy.


When we did the Anglesey Coastal Path, being very much along the coast, there were things to say from time to time about the oacassional pub, cafe or shop along the way. The North Wales Path is also meant to form part of the Wales Coast Path, but so far it's been very different in character. Suffice to say that, 25 miles or so from Port Penrhyn, the quayside at Conwy was the very first place actually on the path where it was possible to buy anything.

I won't say too much about Conwy because so much has been written elsewhere. On the quayside here is the smallest house in Britain, and the Castle is the main attraction of course. The town walls are the best preserved in Britain and it is possible to walk almost a complete circuit. Plas Mawr is well worth a visit, and in my view the best attraction in Conwy if you only have time to visit one. Train timetables meant I didn't stay for any of these, but headed back.


Verdict: A nice little walk, perhaps a little heavy on the prehistory, but with some views that gave a very different angle.

Bangor to Llanfairfechan (25km/15miles)

The Path starts on the outskirts of Bangor at Port Penrhyn, at the mouth of the river Cegin. Port Penrhyn was where slates were exported from Bethesda all over the world in the heyday of slate quarrying. The first few miles of the walk will follow the influence of the Penrhyn family, who owned the quarries and estate, expropriating most of its value, and who built Penrhyn Castle around whose estate the walk skirts. Like many old ports, traffic at Port Penrhyn is now mainly for leisure, although there is also a thriving mussel fishery here, and piles of sand at the quayside are brought in from Traeth Lafan sandbanks by dredgers.

(Getting to Port Penrhyn from the station requires a walk down Bangor's High Street, reputedly the longest in Britain, adding about a mile and a half.)

The walk begins through a railway arch under the road to Penrhyn estate on Lon Las Ogwen, a cycle track which follows the line of old quarry railways up the Cegin valley. There were two (at least) lines this way, the older narrow gauge track, and a later standard gauge line connected to the national network. At first, the track is in the bed of the standard gauge line, but the remnants of its predecessor are to been seen alongside (picture). 

After ducking under the A5 at Pont y Marchogion (Knights' Bridge), the path of the standard gauge line is seen to fork off to the left where ultimately it was to join the main line, while the cycle track follows Y Lein Fach alongside the river. As we pass the bottom of the Llandygai Industrial Estate on the left, there is a crossing of the river at Bishop's Mill. No mill here now, but if there was one, the Bishop of Bangor would probably still have the right to run it. It may be here that the poet Dafydd Ddu Eryri was drowned in 1822.

I found this stretch of cycle track quite busy this early morning, with cyclers and dogwalkers, in contrast to later parts of the walk.

After passing under Stephenson's viaduct of Old Red Sandstone, which carries the main railway line, the cycle track goes through a brick-lined arch under a minor road. The cycle track continues to Bethesda, while the North Wales Path leaves to join the minor road, doing what is ultimately a left turn. But first it is worth a quick look at the river crossing, which for vehicles is a ford.

Turning our backs on the ford, we continue along the minor road until the pavilion of Bangor Cricket Club comes into view on the left, and a clump of trees to the right of the road. Just before this covert, there is a kissing gate which takes us rightwrds in to a path at the edge of a field which now contains a newly-developing (but still empty) industrial estate. At the time of my visit the public footpath signs here were broken and there was no sign of a North Wales Path sign which generally marks this entire route - but this is the way.

Passing round the trees, the path passes a turreted tower to the left, the smoke stack for the Llandygai tunnel of the railway. There are identical stacks in the St. Deiniol Golf Club on Bangor mountain, above the Bangor tunnel, and at the back of Coleg Menai's Friars building above the Belmont tunnel. For this path, it marks the watershed between Cegin and Ogwen valleys. The path crosses the A5 again here and very quickly arrives down at the former line of the A5, the road built by Thomas Telford around 1820, close to an old smithy (pictured).

Now there's some ambiguity here about which way the North Wales Path should go. My Ordnance Survey map shows it following the old roads including the 'Everlasting Bend' round the village of Llandygai, and the signpost near to the smithy did suggest I went that way. That's a crazy way to go, walking along an unpavemented road without much visibility, when there are nicer alternatives.

The way I chose to go I used to know as continuing the path of Llwybr Ugain Munud (Twenty-Minute Walk) a circular walk around the village of Llandygai. This is also the route shown on the Long Distance Walkers' Association map. I crossed over the old road at the smithy, went down the slate steps opposite to join a track past Penlon Mill Cottage, where the old mill buildings are being exposed to view.  Here the railway comes out of the tunnel, and the path after the mill dives to the left under the railway, to pass terraced cottages of Pentrefelin before joining the old main road again just below Llandygai village.

(There's another alternative route as well if, instead of turning right before the trees at the point where the signs were broken, I had carried straight on towards Llandygai village. This is a 'model village' built in the 1840s to house Penrhyn estate workers in a picturesque style.  The church is worth a visit if open, if only for the monument to the first Lord Penrhyn by Richard Westmacott. The lane between the churchyard and the school then rejoins the main road opposite the place I arrived at above.)


Back on the path, here there is an attractive (former) drinking fountain, of Penmon limestone, dedicated by Lady Dawkins Pennant (one of the Penrhyn family).

Then the Path carries on along the road, crossing the river Ogwen, turns right into the village of Tal-y-bont, passes under the railway once more, then takes first right. Passing out of the village, a right turn down a lane with grass down the middle takes us below the A55 dual carriageway towards the river.

Here I decided a minor diversion was warranted, following the public footpath to the footbridge known as Shakey Bridge. The view towards Cochwillan Mill weir here appears in a fine oil painting at Penrhyn Castle by F. R. Lee :  my photograph doesn't really compare.

Doubling back, the North Wales Path passes through the gate of a property who have made an admirable job of respecting but separating the path from their access. It climbs away from the river here along the edge of a wooded bluff, passing along the right field edge through a series of kissing gates towards Cochwillan Farm.

Cochwillan Old Hall here dates back to the fifteenth century, built by William ap Gruffydd, and was in the 1620s bought by John Williams, who was to become Archbishop of York. The building was later used as a barn but has been brought back into use as a residence in the twentieth century. Apparently it is possble to see the interior by prior appointment, which I hadn't made, so I carried on.

The North Wales Path now follows a minor road, which rises towards Llanllechid, and here I began to notice the climb. After a little dip and a bridge over a stream, a path on the left through scrub and fields takes the North Wales Path to a roughly parallel road to Llanllechid where, apparently perversely, we go left and downhill. But this is only a short way and shortly it turns right past a ruined building, across a slate slab over a stream to a field.

Now this where I went the wrong way. Going through a kissing gate to a track which skirts some woodland, I carried on to the left, going clockwise round the wood. This seemed the obvious direction at the time, but after a while of walking downhill towards a house called Tan-y-Marian, I though this didn't seem right, checked my map, realised my mistake, and doubled back. And, yes, there was a signpost to tell me which way to go but it was sort of behind me when I came up, so I didn't actually see it. Resuming the right way,  I carried on anti-clockwise round the wood until the track took me to Plas-uchaf farm buildings (warning: barbed wire on gate).

The Path turns left along a road and soon forks right to continue eastwards along the brow of the hill. Leaving behind the winding climb through woods and famland, now it seems to have become what this walk is all about - a long open vista over coast and sea. I was fortunate not only in having fine warm weather, but also in the tide being in, so the views over the Menai Strait and Anglesey were at their best. I had left the road and railway behind too; after passing and repassing these, they too were now way down below and no longer noisy. Up here, though, there is one other North Wales trunk route - the humming 133kV National Grid line.



This picture shows the OS map 'homestead' at SH648717.










Later, my map still shows the wooded cross shape which once was a distinctive marker on this slope, but which were felled three years ago. The local myth that this was a memorial to a wartime air crash was debunked by Bangor University then: it had in fact been a long-term agricultural experiment. The conifers are now gone and there is mainly bracken here now among the tree stumps, but still a pine smell lingers, even in the breeze.

With the village of Abergwyngregyn in view below, the Path now swings to the right and begins the descent into the Aber valley towards the falls - the more well-known Rhaeadr Fawr to the left and Rhaeadr Fach to the right. My picture doesn't do them justice because, being North-facing, they are always in the shade. I stopped for my lunch at a quiet spot by Rhaeadr Fach. The topography and orientation of this valley is such that the brief mobile phone coverage was from the Isle of Man.

Aber Falls is always a popular spot, and in the warm weather that day, there were many families out here. There's a pushchair/wheelchair-friendly path here down the valley to the car parks, passing a hut circle which was being excavated when I came this way in 2009.

The car parks for the falls (£2 in coins required) are another convenient access point to and from the North Wales Path – but I was pressing on.

After my gentle stroll down the valley,  unfortunately this now required a long ascent. This starts off up a narrow road, of the sort which in a car requires first gear for the steepest bits, and an eye for passing places.  This was not a particularly comfortable walk so soon after lunch and in the heat of the day. At the top of the road, above the treeline, there is a small parking area, enough room for half a dozen vehicles (no charge) and a good start for walkers aiming to go higher still.

The ascent continues from here up a clear track. I took a little detour off the path in search of Carnedd y Saeson, a round cairn from the second millennium BC, where apparently a cist or grave can be seen. Despite having a sketch and map of what I was looking for, I regret I didn’t find it. One rock looks much like another up here among the heather and gorse, and although I thought I detected some patterns of the right shape and size, there were none that, when I got close up, I could be sure that I was there. I will need to come back when vegetation has died back a little (or I have more time).

Back to the Path, which now joins the line of the Roman Road from Deva (Chester) to Segontium (Caernarfon). No fewer than three Roman milestones have been found on this short stretch of road.

After climbing nearly to 400m above sea level, we come to a crossroads of paths. Straight on continues along the Roman Road through Bwlch y Ddeufaen (pass of the two stones – which do indeed still mark the way) to Rowen. Turning right takes you up the track to the summit of Drum, one of the lesser Carneddau peaks. My route took the left turn, towards Llanfairfechan. This was a continuous descent down grassy slopes. As I went, I began to reflect that this can’t be that easy coming up, as there is no respite from the slope. Continuing down, and as Llanfairfechan village came into view, it became more acute, one of those descents that punish the knees, and almost certainly steeper on the way down than it was on the way up.

After walking over grass, the Path eventually heads down between two dry-stone walls,  joining a road at a pink kissing gate.

This was where I left the North Wales Path to head for the railway station. This essentially involved just heading down all the time, following steep steps to a lower road, then down the river valley until I crossed the village crossroads over the old A55. Heading down Station Road, under the A55 and railway, took me to the railway station where a train wasn’t long. (This adds about a mile and half to the distance along the North Wales Path.)



Verdict: This was a long walk for me, fifteen miles along the path and, together with the links to the begining and end, and one or two detours, I must have walked twenty. There is lot of up and down and this is one of the most strenuous parts of the North Wales Path. I was fortunate in the weather, except that the late September heatwave was a challenge to some of the uphill stretches. A good deal to see, and varied.