Day 47: Llanddulas to Conway

This morning I treated my leg by applying Voltarol, strapping it up with tape and taking ibuprofen tablets. I also changed my shoes from my Hokas to walking shoes. I hoped that would get me going for the day.

Jane from Bearsden messaged me last night to say that she’d run a yoga class, the last one of the year and instead of receiving payment she asked people to make a donation. This combined with Jackie and Alex’s very generous donation was fantastic and it almost knocked us over the £16,000 mark.

Alex dropped me back off at Llanddulas Beach and I walked along the cycle path which was initially a sharp up hill stretch.

It was not long before I entered Colwyn Bay and every 50 m there was something embedded into the promenade to do with sport. Initially it was a start line, 100 metres was Usain Bolt’s will record and this carried on for sometime for different sporting events.

Rhoda saw my Instagram post this morning and immediately called me concerned about my leg. I reassured her I was ok and we had a nice chat.

As the tide was out I decided to walk along the beach see if that helped a little bit. It was softer on the sand rather than the hard surface of the promenade. I made good progress. I passed through Penrhyn Bay and then onto the Little Orme before heading into Llandudno.

The offshore wind turbines looked like soldiers standing to attention. The blades were only rotating slowly today as the wind is much calmer at the moment.

It was a little bit of an unexpected steep climb up Little Orme but the views were worth it. The red roves of the houses in Penrhyn Bay stood out in the sunshine.

As I descended rapidly back down to sea level at Llandudno I passed a field that had two very sad looking donkeys in it.

Jackie and Alex were on the seafront and we had a cup of tea and a sandwich in the car. We tormented a family of seagulls as they eagerly awaited some scraps of food. Then the decision has to be taken! Should I walk around the Great Orme or miss it out and just cut across Llandudno. I reapplied the strapping on my leg and decided I should go for it.

Llandudno must have been very opulent in it’s time with huge Victorian villas lining the seafront. The buildings here are very well maintained in beautiful neutral and pastel colours traditional to British seaside towns, in this instance Welsh seaside towns.

However, there appears to be only a little bit of sandy beach here the rest is made up of quite large pebbles.

There were lots of pebbles on the promenade that obviously had been thrown up by the storm last week. I’m pleased I wasn’t around then.

The Grand Hotel was dominant on the horizon, although it appeared to be deserted. However when I went round the back there was a large dining room open and serving food.

The pier had suffered quite a lot of damage from the storm last week. Some of the little huts had literally been blown off their standings and some have lost their roofs.

Apparently, there’s a winter sports centre on the top of the Great Orme. I wasn’t going to visit that today.

The road around Great Orme is a tourist route and you have to pay a toll to travel on it, obviously not when you’re walking.

It’s a very dramatic rock formation and the size of it gave me a sense of disorientation. The wind died down as the shear size of the rocks protected me from the headwinds that have been present all day. All that could be hear was the sound of the nesting gulls on the cliff.

I’ve just been thinking how excited I was when I saw my first seal way back in Scotland. I’ve not seen much wildlife for ages when I came across a whole pod of seals, some basking on the rocks, snorting and some swimming in the sea. I stood for a while watching them and taking photos.

The goats here are very hardy and acrobatic as they are walking along a very very steep rock face with ultimate ease.

There was a beautiful building perched on the cliff side. It’s called the Lighthouse built in 1862 and now it’s bed and breakfast and it was full tonight.

There’s a lovely wee coffee shop called the rest and be thankful right on the end of the peninsula. I popped in for a drink of juice.

As I came around the headland a whole vista opened up in front of me. The hills of Snowdonia and the island of Anglesey and as I progressed further round I could see Conway Castle and the bridge across the river.

The hills of Snowdonia looked quite dramatic as the sun was behind them and the hills were in silhouette looking quite dark and fierce.

I was in an extremely joyous mood today. The sun was shining and I had fantastic views. What a beautiful day.

I met Jackie and Alex again for a drop of soup before carrying on to Conway.

The wind had picked up to gusts of 50 mph and was so strong I had to bend forwards into it to make any progress at all. The gusts whipped up the dried sand and sandblasted my face. At one point I couldn’t even see in front of me. I tried to shield my eyes and just look down at my feet. It was very painful on the skin of my face. I felt like I had a skin peel. Sand was in my eyes, my ears in my mouth and it felt like I had been eating it. Obviously progress was very slow along that stretch.

Finally I skirted the marina when two guys whizzed past me on motorised skateboards. I have never seen that before. The smell of weed followed them..

All that was left to do was cross the bridge into Conway. The castle was absolutely dominating the landscape. It truly is a magnificent piece of architecture. I took lots of photos.