Great Orme walk, Llandudno

 

Off message - Normally Gill and I would go walking most Sundays but due to Council elections I have been out campaigning this Bank holiday weekend. So I will post instead on another marvellous North Walian walk from Easter. 

We have done this short 3.5 mile circular Pathfinder walk a couple of times before but this time we decided to making it longer by tracking the peninsular coast for longer. The weather was pretty good, so this helped. 

The "Great Orme" is the massive headland to the left of the Llandudno, the beautiful Victorian seaside resort. You can get a tramway, bus or a cable car to the top (the cable car was not working when we went) or walk or drive up. It is pretty steep. 

There is a private toll road (see main picture cost I think £3.50? but free to walk) where you can take a drive around the Great Orme coast but we started the walk next to the visitors centre at the Country Park & tramway station (bit of a scary drive up). 

There are superb views from the get go (assuming good weather). We wandered off the suggested route to take in the views to the south then dropped down past the Bronze age mines (must visit one day) to cross the tramways and make our way uphill to the north and enjoyed the views of Llandudno and the pier. 

Next we followed a high coastal path to reach the isolated St Tudno church, which was founded in the 6th century.  I am not religious but the views were spectacular and you could sense that this had long been a special place. 

Next a little climb (during which we saw some of the Great Orme famous wild Goats) we had a bracing walk alongside a long sheep wall to the visitor centre. The views on the way of the Conwy Estuary and Snowdonia were fabulous. 

After the walk, I did not have my traditional pint in a local pub but we changed in the visitor centre toilets and went for a meal with our niece, Holly, her partner Mike and their smashing family in Llandudno. A lovely end to a lovely day. 

Check out other photos on my Facebook page

Council Housing in Llandudno - Municipal Dreams

If you want to know more about the history of Council housing check out these posts

"Council Housing in Llandudno: Part I, to 1939" and "Council Housing in Llandudno, Part II Post-1945"  in the Website "Municipal Dreams".

Picture is of the first Council houses to be built in Wales (in what was called "Council Street").  They were built in 1897 and cost £210 each. 

Many of the early high quality homes with excellent space standards are still in use and highly sought after. 

Llandudno is one of my very favourite places but I had no idea of this social history. I must find out more about Newham's Council housing history. 

UNISON NEC elections 2019: Black Member's Conference

Great picture from a chilly Llandudno, North Wales this morning. UNISON black members conference is taking place here. Members were out leafleting delegates as they arrived for conference.

NEC branch nominations last until 15 February. 

Deputy Mayor Robbins

This elected municipal thing is catching. Belated congratulations to my in-law, Greg Robbins, who was made the Deputy Mayor of Llandudno District Council for 2010/2011 (and I assume will become Mayor 2011/2012?).

Greg is on the left hand side of the picture wearing the bicorn hat next to my very proud sister-in-law Debbie.

It is a very grand looking traditional costume and pendent that he is wearing.

You never know perhaps wearing red for the next year or so will help Greg “see the light” and leave the Welsh Nationalist Party Plaid Cymru and join Labour?

:)

Centre stage at the Llandudno Plalladium.

Off message - but last week a family visit to North Wales meant spending the day and night in the picture post card perfect "Queen of the Welsh Resorts" Llandudno. This kicked off with a lovely walk along the pier and then enjoying a cup of tea while taking in the views of the purpose built Victorian promenade and the limestone "Great Orme" headland. Glorious warm sunshine helped - of course it never rains much in North Wales.

There was predominately English accents about - Liverpool, Manchester and West Midlands - whose families may have holidayed in Llanddudno for generations.

That night we went for a meal and a few sherbets and ended up inside the recently restored Edwardian built "Llanduno Palladium". Alas, not restored as a musical hall any more but now a pub run by the ubiquitous Wetherspoon chain. The restoration does seem to have been done well and to a high standard. I sat on a table on what would have been the site of the theatre stage drinking beer in front of the stalls which in previous times the ancestors of those on the Pier would have been sitting enjoying live music and theatre.

The Palladium was quiet that night. Just people chatting and occasional pearls of laughter. It is also ironic that Wetherspoon is one of the few pub chains that doesn't usually have any bands, juke boxes or any background music playing.

BTW - The chain also apparently claims that many of its features "such as quiet bars and reasonably-priced lunches, are influenced by George Orwell's essay The Moon Under Water, in which Orwell described his concept of the perfect pub. Several Wetherspoons-owned pubs bear the name "The Moon Under Water".

A Plaid Cymru Councillor in the family

At the New Year’s family meal I posted upon yesterday I had a long chat with my niece Holly’s step-dad, Greg Robbins, who was elected as a Plaid Cymru Councillor for Llandudno District Town Council last May.

Greg is enjoying being a Councillor and is active in the Plaid Cymru Party. I must admit that I was surprised that Greg hasn’t experienced any “problems” being a card carrying Welsh nationalist. Greg looks “Welsh” and speaks with a North Walian lilt but he was born in England and his mother is English. His Dad did have family in North Wales but Glen admits he is only “technically” half-Welsh.

Interestingly, Greg also does not speak Welsh either. In the best traditions of British (and Welsh) local government when he was elected councillor he was appointed as a governor of the only Welsh speaking school in Llandudno. When he attends school governor meetings he therefore has to rely on the interpreter who also translates for the 4 or 5 parent governors who are also non-Welsh speakers.

Greg said he has never experienced any difficulties in the Party over his background and lack of Welsh. I am astonished by this since in the past I have come across “some” (not all by any means) Plaid Cymru activists who frankly put the BNP to shame for their views of the English (and anyone else they deem to be non-Welsh and therefore “sub-human”). Nowadays such views are now seen as being clearly racist. When I lived in Scotland, “some” Scot Nats were just as bad.

Greg said that Plaid had changed and there was a new face to the Party that welcomed English migrants who believe in self determination for Wales regardless of their origin or the fact that they speak Welsh or not. He reminded me that there is a Bengali Plaid Cymru deputy mayor of Colwyn Bay!

I have now lived longer in Newham than Wales so I really don’t know what Welsh nationalist sentiment is nowadays. I hope Greg is right. I do have my doubts. While I think independence for Wales would be a disaster (not only for Wales but also the rest of us) I hope my fears are wrong.

Picture is from the Llandudno Plaid Cymru website attacking the expansion of local offshore wind farms. Which I think are a good idea!

Waiting for news from Afghanistan

On New Years Day we went out for a meal in Llandudno, North Wales with our pregnant niece, the lovely Holly, her partner Mike and family. The meal started out a little tense since Mike’s brother is in 45 Commando, Royal Marines in Afghanistan and his Mum had just rang Mike to say that the TV had reported that there had been a further combat fatality that day but they were not releasing any names.

Mike handled the news very well. 45 Commando had suffered a number of casualties that tour and he obviously had gone through this awful waiting period before.

Mike had to leave the table during the meal to take a mobile telephone call. However, he came back to the table to tell us that bizarrely a very close friend of his had just won £50,000 on a lottery scratch card! His friend had texted a photo of the winning card. So good news!

A little while later Mike had another text to ring his Mum and he left the table suddenly. A short time later he came back with a big smile; his brother had rang his Mum from Afghanistan, and was safe and sound. Big cheers from everyone at the table.

We were a happy family who enjoyed their meal but I think we were all aware of those families who did not have good news this Christmas or beforehand. Our thoughts are with them all.

Our thanks to all British forces personnel who are putting themselves in harms way. Hero’s everyone of them, Per Mare Per Terram (or Air).