Gwynedd – Coastal Road Trip

Day 07 – Colwyn Bay to Preston

We started day seven of our trip by going back west a few miles to Llandudno before continuing east out of Wales into England. Some typical and some not so typical British seaside sights today.

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, Crosby Beach, Antony Gormley's Another Place — Crosby Beach

Llandudno

Coastal Road Trip, Llandudno Pier — Early Sunday morning at Llandudno Pier, eerily empty. Everyone was clearly still in bed, as they knew the heavens were about to open.

Coastal Road Trip, Llandudno — Colourful hotels at the end of the Llandudno promenade. The start of the Great Orme hill and headland behind. We then drove around the Great Orme Heritage Coast loop, would have been great views if it it hadn’t been pouring down with rain.

Colwyn Bay

Coastal Road Trip, Colwyn Bay — We looped back to Colwyn Bay where we stayed the night before. The promenade and road along the sea front was closed off due to an ongoing waterfront improvement project. In the distance we could see the pier, which looked in a sorry state… hopefully that is part of their improvement project too.

Prestatyn

Coastal Road Trip, Prestatyn, Lifeguard Board — The lifeguards were having a peaceful day at a very quiet Prestatyn Beach. Wind turbines off shore in the background, which became a surprisingly common sight on our coastal journey.

Talacre Lighthouse

Coastal Road Trip, Talacre Lighthouse, Point of Ayr — The Talacre Lighthouse at Point of Ayr. Abandoned, but looked great, even on a stormy morning.

Flint

Coastal Road Trip, Flint Castle, Julian, Jarno — Flint Castle with impressive views over the River Dee. We bumped into a lovely Canadian family that had also been staying at the same B&B as us near Cardigan, we had also bumped into them at Cilgerran Castle three days earlier… small world.

Flintshire Bridge

Coastal Road Trip, Flintshire Bridge — Crossing the River Dee over a rather striking Flintshire Bridge, flanked by electricity pylons. Blue sky starting to peep through the clouds…

Leasowe Lighthouse

Coastal Road Trip, Leasowe Lighthouse — The now disused Leasowe Lighthouse, not the most attractive lighthouse, but still striking with the blue sky behind.

New Brighton

Coastal Road Trip, New Brighton — The view from New Brighton out to the lighthouse and beyond to the cranes on the other side of the River Mersey.

Crosby

Coastal Road Trip, Crosby Beach, Antony Gormley's Another Place — One of the one hundred Antony Gormley’s ‘Another Place’ statues, submerged in Crosby Beach. A bit spooky but very striking. Very cool to see in person.

Coastal Road Trip, Crosby Beach, Antony Gormley's Another Place, www.coastalroadtrip.com — A bit of beach marketing.

Formby

Coastal Road Trip, Formby Point — A lovely clean beach backed by sand dunes and pinewoods at the National Trust’s Formby Point. They’ve clearly struggled with beach erosion though, this looked like an old road or building that had collapsed in the beach and sea.

Southport

Coastal Road Trip, Southport, Ice cream van — A Mr Whippy ice cream van finishing work for the day at Southport Beach.

Coastal Road Trip, Southport Beach, Weather Vane Fish — A striking looking weather vane style fish sculpture on the Southport Promenade.

Marshside

Coastal Road Trip, Marshside, View to Blackpool Tower — On our way to Preston for the night, we passed Marshside, with views across to Lytham St Ann’s, and Blackpool Tower ghost-like in the distance. A sneak preview of our trip tomorrow.

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Day 06 – Porthmadog to Colwyn Bay

After beautiful weather on day five, day six started rainy and windy and continued most of the day. As today’s trip included Anglesey, the weather matched our expectations for the wind swept island… but we had fun nevertheless.

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysiliogogogoch Station — Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Caernarfon

Coastal Road Trip, Caernarfon Castle — Welcome to Caernarfon! Impressive castle but the verdict is out on the rest of the town. Though we did have a good coffee.

Coastal Road Trip, Caernarfon Castle, Carousel — And the Merry-go-round Carousel in the market square brightened things up a bit.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Coastal Road Trip, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysiliogogogoch Ticket — It had to be done, first visit on Anglesey was to the the town with the longest place name in Europe and second longest in the world: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Which means even the train tickets have to be extra big.

Coastal Road Trip, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysiliogogogoch Station — …and the train station signs… etc etc… you get the idea 😉 Secretly I (Julian) was excited to visit, I had always wanted to since a kid. Check.

Plas Newydd

Coastal Road Trip, Plas Newydd — Next stop was Plas Newydd House & Gardens. The impressive interior is home to the largest canvas painting in the UK. We did take a picture of it, but we couldn’t get the whole painting in the shot, so best to just google it!

Coastal Road Trip, Plas Newydd, Garden — A bit of colour on a grey day in the Plas Newydd Garden.

Anglesey, west coast

Coastal Road Trip, Anglesey west coast — Most of the west coast of Anglesey looked like this, wet, windy and stormy.

Trearddur Bay

Coastal Road Trip, Trearddur Bay — Struggling to get out to sea at Trearddur Bay, we watched a little longer, he capsized a minute later and gave up.

South Stack

Coastal Road Trip, South Stack Lighthouse — The rain stopped by the time we arrived at South Stack Lighthouse on Holy Island, also a RSPB bird sanctuary. We also tuned in to Irish radio and our mobile phones started trying to connect to Irish networks, you then realise how close you are to Ireland.

Coastal Road Trip, South Stack Lighthouse — Great views of South Stack Lighthouse over some pretty severe cliffs. We walked a bit further on to also try and see North Stack Lighthouse, but the weather closed in and all we got was pictures of sea mist.

Beaumaris

Coastal Road Trip, Beaumaris Castle — Following the northern and eastern coast of Anglesey, we ended up at Beaumaris Castle. Seemed one of the nicest towns on the island.

Coastal Road Trip, Beaumaris Pier — Beaumaris Pier, with seagulls hovering in the wind, almost in formation.

Conwy

Coastal Road Trip, Coastal Road Trip, Conwy Castle — Back on the mainland we passed through Bangor to Conwy, and its grand 13th century Conwy Castle, before heading to Colwyn Bay for the evening.

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