63. Conwy to Bangor

Today I would be continuing on from where I completed a short section of the WCP some 2 years previously as part of a charity walk.

I parked in Bangor at a free car park off Beach Raod and walked back into town to the railway station. I caught the 08:02 to Conwy and as this was a request stop I had to ensure the conductor knew I wished to alight there (I had had already bought my ticket at Bangor). The train was bang on time and by 8:20 I was walking towards Conwy Castle.

The weather this morning was beautiful and sunny, with hardly a breath of wind. I walked along the quay, passing a house reputed to be the smallest in Britain. Also known as Quay House, it was lived in until 1900.

I pass a new built marina development, before crossing the A55 for what will be the first of many times today. The path swings out towards the Conwy estuary before turning west following Conwy golf course before re-joining the A55. The A55 or North Wales Expressway, will be with me for most of my journey today. Where I re-join the A55 the road passes through its second tunnel, (the first was under the Conwy River). This second tunnel, called Penmaenbach, is a wonderful piece of engineering, where road, rail and footpath vie for space around the rocky headland, that juts out right to the sea. The west bound carrigeway has its own double lane tunnel, while the east-bound route clings to a rocky ledge together with the WCP. The railway has its own tunnel. The whole process is replicated a few miles up the road at the third tunnel, the Pen-y-Clip.

I proceed around Penmaenbach and carry onto Penmaenmawr where the WCP crosses and re-crosses and crosses again the A55 by a complex series of bridges. I emerge around the headland of Pen-y-Clip and head down into Llanfairfechan. Anglesey, meanwhile, has got considerably closer and I can make out the small town of Beaumaris just across the Menai Strait.

After Llanfairfechan the path gradually moves away from the A55 and it is nice to have a bit of piece and quiet. At Aber Ogwen the WCP makes a large inland detour to get around the National Trust property of Penrhyn Castle. I will not get back onto the coast until I enter Bangor and I feel rather aggrieved that the NT does not allow the path to follow the shoreline……I am a member you know! The walk around Penryhn is made easier by the availability of some lovely tasting roadside blackberries. I rejoin a main raod into Bangor, which has a good footpath

I complete the 18 miles in 5 hours.

 

 

 

 

Distance today = 18 miles
Total distance =   940.5 miles