Date walked: 12th August 2015

Distance: around 11 miles

Map used: OS Explorer OL 17: Snowdon and the Conwy valley

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Paul was joining me today, driving up from his home near Swansea; another good excuse for a lie-in and a leisurely breakfast of  Elizabeth’s scrambled eggs. He was there when Ian and I arrived around 11am, so after a brief introduction (far too brief as it turned out that Paul hadn’t a clue who Ian was), we parked up and made our way into town.

Llanfairfechan had already made an impression architecturally and in crossing the town we passed several other interesting buildings.

Pre-cursor of design for space rockets?

No more Masons in Llanfairfechan?

We were taking the “official” alternative mountain route to Conwy – a few miles  longer (John, please note) than the route which hugs the coast (and embraces the A55), but likely, I thought, to be much nicer.

Just so that you can see that this was official!

 Yesterday, after I had finished the day’s walk I had explored The Close – where most houses were designed by The Arts and Crafts architect Herbert Luck North , but I did not think we had time to deviate from our route so soon to take Ian and Paul up there.

Street sign

I didn’t feel too bad at depriving them of  seeing The Close, as we passed yet another building of great individuality.

Sorry, didn’t record the name of this one

It was a warm and sunny day and as we walked up the steep little lane I was already glad of the shade.

Paul striding forth

We were climbing the flank of Penmaen Mawr, and the elevation soon gave us a splendid panorama over the bay and to Anglesey.

The lane was dotted with several properties, one last one echoing the Arts and Crafts style that we’d found in some of the other buildings in the town.

This one called Plas Heulog

We passed the entrance to a disused quarry and then took a farm track…

Looking back

…. Ian pointing out the interesting wedges that had been used as gate-closers.

For splitting slate?

The view inland was wonderfully empty, save for a few horses and sheep…

and a string of electricity pylons

We passed several reassuring waymark posts – this alternative route of the Wales Coast Path sharing the existing North Wales Path. Paul found something of interest in the post.

I don’t know about taking pics with your sunglasses on

At around 1300 feet the path flattened out, but we were high enough now to get views out to sea, making out through the haze the massive off shore wind turbine installations….

I feel quite positive about off shore wind turbines but still doubt they make economic sense

…..and the peninsular of the Great Orme that Paul and I would walk around the next day.

Hope it stays fine for tomorrow

We made a brief stop for lunch and a sit (and a renewal of sun barrier cream) . Whether it was the heat of the day, the unfamiliarity of the assembled company or a reverie created by such engaging landscape, but none of us seemed to have much conversation.

A wild horse and its foal stirred us into a brief speculation as to whether the foal was afflicted with something, its coat patchy and rough in places and why its mother was so thin.

What do you think?

Up there in the open moor, there wasn’t a lot of shade to be had. A small farm had a welcome avenue of trees…

Ian making an admirable foreground object

I felt guilty that we had to disturb a group of sheep that were enjoying the cool shade of one of the high dry stone walls that lined our track.

Bet they are wishing someone would come and shear them

The path headed north and would have taken us around the hill called Foel Lus and then down to the settlement of Dwygyfylchi, but none of us fancied losing the altitude only to have to make it up again.

it’s a very nice path, I’m sure but not for us

Instead we headed east, taking a clear path down to the clear stream called Afon Gyrach.

It seems that it is only a couple of miles in length

It was difficult to resist cooling off our feet in its twinkling water.

It’s fed by a reservoir a bit higher up

According to map there was evidence of several ancient settlements, though none were apparent to us. The mountain was sparsely populated with farms, noticeable where clumps of trees had been planted to create shelter.

Sometimes the farmstead had been abandoned and the trees contained their ruined walls.

The views out to the blue sea were set off perfectly by swathes of purple heather.

Slightly bleached out in the pic by the sun

We  were beginning to descend gently now……

….passing a sign attached to one of the tall stone walls for the Pensychnant Nature Reserve.

The path drops down to the Sychnant Pass. We passed a cyclist coming up from there, Ian and I agreeing that this would not be our idea of fun on such a warm day.

A small car park at the pass did not, sadly, include an ice-cream van.

We re-joined the official alternative route here.

We crossed the road and found a network of tracks and for the first time in the day, several other people.

This last couple of miles followed the edge of the Conwy Mountain, which hid views below of holiday parks and golf courses and provided instead a better view of Great Orme and the Conwy Sands.

Spot the para-gliders

The descent to Conwy was a delight, giving us a constantly improving view of the castle that sits on the edge of the river.

There’s an ice-cream down there with my name on it

The path was steep in places, but not so much so that we had to watch our feet or strain the knees.

A little building in a field to our right created a surge in speculation as to whether it was a chapel, folly or a mirage. Pausing to try to locate it on a map got us nowhere and it would be too insignificant to show up in a picture; I really shouldn’t have bothered mentioning it!

The path took us over the railway line…..

… and then after a meander through some back lanes of the town we entered the town through the impressive castle walls.

Clever of them to anticipate how wide cars would be

Conwy was bustling and immediately struck me as a really attractive town. We found the Castle Hotel easily enough, where Paul and I were staying. Opposite it was a fabulous ice-cream parlour and Ian treated us. Paul and I had time to check in and have a quick shower before Elizabeth arrived  to pick Ian up. We found “probably the best fish and chips” in north Wales, and had a long wait to find that it probably wasn’t, but we enjoyed it nevertheless, sat by the river, fending off the seagulls. Then Ian found Conwy’s best pub – The Albion– and we had a couple of much-needed and excellent pints.  Definitely one of the best days.