Llandudno Day1

After 3 days here, I still can't get the correct pronunciation! 

Llandudno is a lovely seaside town on the north-west coast of Wales, a little further north then the Isle of Angelsey.

It took more than 6 hours of bus travel, but it was a lovely drive though the lower section of Snowdonia and along the coast. I also got to see some Welsh ponies and lots of sheep. 

I was greeted warmly by Chris, who owns the apartment, shown around then left to settle in.

As I had been sitting for hours, I really wanted to stretch my legs, but I also needed to get my washing to the laundromat. Fortunately the lovely workers there were happy to transfer my 'self-service' load across to the dryer, allowing me a couple of hours to go exploring. I was at the Great Orme end of the promenade, near the 'longest pier in the UK'.  Great Orme is a large hill (small mountain?) on the promontory at the far end of the town. Their is a funicular tram way and also a cable car which will take you to the summit. As I had to get back to collect my laundry before they closed, I chose to go up the funicular, then I did some walks around and ended up walking back down to town.

A view of the other car coming down while we were going up.


Great views from the summit

There are remains from the bronze age there - including an amazing copper mine (more about that in another post). There is also a church, St Tudno's,  named after a 6th Century priest.although the actual building dates back to the 12th century,  and part of the path to reach it is called Monk's path.

Apparently Llandudno means 'lands of the church of Tudno'


This grave caught my eye - making good use of the family plot




From there I walked along part of the nature trail The gates around here all have hanging weights to ensure that they close. I was walking along a narrow section with sheep all around, when I disturbed a ewe . She starting bleating quite loudly - it turned out that the three lambs were further along, and although I move a little off the path, they were too scared to pass me. Then a walker came from the other direction -- lamb panic ensued. Fortunately there was a gap in the hedges for me to go into and I could shoo the lambs back down the path.

The directions said 'when you get to Ski Llandudno'  turn left ...

I wasn't expecting this! You can't see, but there are a huge number of the skiers all lined up at the top of the hill to go down this artificial ski slope.

I detoured at this point, watching my time, so I followed the path up and over to the other side. I was looking for an ancient barrow. I ended up on a lane near where it should have been but couldn't locate it. A local dog walker had no idea what I was talking about but suggested that I ask at the mine. The lovely receptionist there was able to point me in the right direction - we could actually see it, but I had to go around several little lanes to access it.



Then it was down, down, and around, and back into town.


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