It’s been a busy time for me, and I was recently released from some responsibilities that were tying me to Manchester a little bit – so what better way to relax than get away to the coast for a few days? I set off from a busy station, and after finally rendesvousing with the hotel landlady (The Astonwood – highly recommended!), I went off to do a bit of limited exploring. Limited, because I have a busted knee from running, and was not up to much walking.

In any case, Llandudno on this day was cold, and very wet. At least the rain did stop, but it was very dark and grey and both Ormes were shrouded in mist! Check out the pics!

I had been wanting to see this Cromlech since I had visited Wales’s largest burial site, Tinkinswood in South Wales, earlier that summer. I’ve never been one for maps – I prefer to just explore, so on my first trip to Llandudno and the Orme, I had failed to find the Cromlech! However, on my second trip, in October 2006, I was to strike lucky.

The day I arrived I had witnessed a very lovely sunset on the West Shore, and the weather was incredibly mild and pleasant for mid October. In fact the next day, the 13th, was like a perfect midsummer’s day, so warm I had to remove my coat as I hopped off the tram at the half way station, and set off for more exploration. I first wandered over to St Tudno’s Church and the graveyard, my camera in hand before I realised the graveyard was fully functioning – as evidenced by recent flowers and a pair of gravediggers! In any case, I had a look around, and saw one of the great Orme wardens unloading stuff from one of the vans I see roaming over the Orme. He was a very pleasant Kenyan chap, and when I asked him where the Cromlech was, he told me, then kindly offered to give me a lift as he was going over that way. So off we went, and I found out he was a student from Kenya on work experience for his conservation degree – wherever he is now, I wish him well! Anyway, he dropped me off at the end of Cromlech Road (that would be the one!) and I walked down, climbed over the wall, and beheld the Cromlech at last!

Here are some of my
pictures of the Great Orme Cromlech and I was also inspired to write a poem about my experience there, for it was a quiet, summer’s day, insects were buzzing, and I sat down and quietly reflected about the people who had built the tomb, and what there lives and deaths may have been like. It’s here at my poetry blog, but depends if you have a taste for poetry or not (although there are a few more poems about Llandudno there too, which I will mention in due course)

On the way back to my hotel (the Kensington) I spent some more time walking along the Llandudno promenade and taking in the sea air. The beer had given me a taste for some more alchohol (I rarely drink, but for some reason I often enjoy a drink when spending time in a new place). The hotel bar was quiet, albeit populated by some friendly Scottish folk who appeared to be visiting Llandudno as a coach party. I had a few pints and then had a few whiskies, and watched people coming into the hotel and the darkness falling.

After a good few drinks, I felt like revisiting the sea, and asked an astonished porter to let me out! I enjoyed a stroll to look at the waves in the dark, I think it was the first time I had been on a beach at night since my Swansea student days, and the experience brought back a lot of memories.

My evening was slightly tarnished when, on the beach, I decided to eat the after dinner sweet I had been given in Mamma Rosa – and I was promptly chewing not only the sweet, but a disintegrated filling! The tooth itself was quite jagged which would make it uncomfortable for the next few days, but nothing could dent my spirits as I headed back to the Kensington, and got to my room for some sleep (cut short by the unaccustomed sea gulls crying from 4am onwards!!)

At first I wandered, getting my bearings, enjoying the warmth of the sunshine, the fresh cries of the plaintive gulls, the bustle of the people on Mostyn Street and environs. I remember asking a traffic warden for directions to the Kensington Hotel, where I had a reservation, and then I made my way to the promenade, heard the strains of Flanagan and Allen’s “Underneath the Arches” played by a band, and saw the two headlands of the Great and Little Ormes, an expanse of beautiful blue sea, and fell in love with the place…

I have always felt the sea calling me (I did my undergraduate degree in Swansea, and have fond memories of beach walks and parties from those days!) – and now I felt at home for the first time in years, and my first walk was unplanned, sporadic, spontaneous – exactly how I have always liked it! I strode off along the pebbly beach, swift to find some balance, with sunglasses and my Lancashire cricket hat to keep off the sun (I remember a boy cried after me that he recognised the crest, and that he knew I was from the same place as him), and off I went walking, and walking, inhaling the scent of the sea air, filling my lungs and mind with the freshness and beauty of this new experience, observing the people, enjoying the steady, gentle warmth of the sun.

In the distance was the little orme – I decided I was going to scale that beast! I only had a small amount of water with me, but noted a pub for emergency use as I made my way up Colwyn Road, looking for a pathway up this Little Orme! And for sure I found it, as I navigated a gateway and saw a sign pronouncing Rhiwledyn and off I trekked up steep paths and clambered over rocks and through brambles, until I stood more or less on the top of the Little Orme. The wind up there was incredible, and I feared for my hat (and my life!) as I tried to stay steady enough to take a few snapshots. I could just about make out the windmills of the offshore windfarm through the heat haze!

And so I gazed out and saw the beautiful sea and the sunshine, and the larger Orme out over the bay, and I could hear some commotion up above me, and wondered if it might be some sheep or goats but it was a couple with their dogs! Parched by now from my climb (and general lack of fitness!) I rested on a rock meditatively on the way down, and greeted the couple and their dogs as they passed. All in all my first few hours spent in Llandudno were a splendid awakening, with such glorious weather, such novelty – and I knew that a piece of my heart would remain here forever! I walked back to my hotel for a drink with a light heart and a thirst to drink in more of what this wonderful place, Llandudno, had to offer

Click here for more photos of my first LLandudno walk, the first of many beautiful walks North Wales would offer me!

To be continued…