A circumnavigation of the Great Orme is a fun way to spend an afternoon, and thanks to Marine Drive, which runs all the way from the pier on North Shore to the beach at West Shore, it's a relatively easy walk of not much more than five miles. The climb is persistent a lot of the time, but not steep, and you find yourself easily ascending from almost sea level to 120 metres at the Rest And Be Thankful Café near the northernmost point of the road. After that, there's a gentle descent back to near sea level, at West Shore. A dry November day is probably a better time of year for the walk than midsummer, when the hill will feel a lot steeper in the heat.
It was something of a last minute decision to walk around the Orme; something we had been meaning to do for a while, and hadn't got round to. Since good weather and free time coincided, we decided to chance it and just go.
We parked on Abbey Road, close to the West Shore beach, where the view across the Conwy estuary towards Penmaenmawr and Llanfairfechan can be quite beautiful. Although this looks like evening, it was actually only 2pm on this winter's day. We arrived back at the car by a little past half past four. Allowing for a rest at the top the walk would take a little longer.
I had thought that this was the West Shore toll house, but according to BritishListedBuildings.co.uk, the toll house similar to the one at Happy Valley - the other end of Marine Drive - has been demolished. This is the lodge for the toll road, known simply as 'West Lodge.'
The West Lodge was built around 1878, contemporary with the building of Marine Drive. Tolls for this road - charged at the Happy Valley end - still exist to help with the upkeep of this exposed and largely vicarious road.
We decided against walking along the Llandudno streets to get to North Shore, instead taking the pedestrian path along the side of the Orme that leads you through Haulfre Gardens.
Although the path is a little steep in places, it's well looked after, but not suitable for wheelchairs. The easy alternative would be along the streets of Llandudno below.
The haze in the atmosphere made the mountains beyond Penmaenmawr stand out beautifully in varying shades of darkness.
Penmorfa (later known as the Gogarth Abbey Hotel) stood on this site until 2008, when it was demolished due to its bad structural condition. Restoration (the intention being to turn it into flats) was believed to be unrealistic. Penmorfa was designed as a house in 1861 by Rev Henry Liddell, the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and father to Alice Liddell, the inspiration for the Alice in Wonderland books and Llandudno's connection to Alice in Wonderland fame. The building has been seen as Alice's 'second home,' although Lewis Carroll, writer of the books, probably never visited the town, and the house had passed from the Liddells' ownership by 1873. The History Points site disagrees about Lewis Carroll, inferring his presence there from the Victorian photo below and a rather vague statement from Alice about Carroll not being able to visit before 1862 as they were not there then.
The planned flats still have not materialised on the site 12 years after the highly contested demolition. Presumably the 2007-8 global crash impacted the plans to rebuild.
The sweeping view of Llandudno's West Shore from the side of the Orme. The Fardre, site of Deganwy Castle, is in the background to the right.
After a portion of the walk along the Orme path you reach Haulfre Gardens, and this little pergola with vines growing on it.
It's a little surreal to pass from the gorse and grass flanked path to a stately path lined with benches and deliberate planting.
This carved statue of Tweedledum and Tweedledee, from Lewis Caroll's work, is part of a project of Alice in Wonderland sculptures designed and carved by Simon Hedger and placed in varying locations about the town. The White Rabbit in the Northwestern Gardens is the most impressive, and the Queen of Hearts in Gloddaeth Street is very striking. Alice herself stands on the corner of Vaughan Street and Augusta Street, and her sharp face is rather unheimlich.
If you're already in need of a rest, the path takes you directly past the Haulfre Tearooms. This is a Grade II listed building, and the associated gardens that we've just passed through were designed by Henry Pochin, who also designed Bodnant Gardens.
Looking past the plants of the Haulfre Gardens and over Llandudno, the Little Orme can be seen in the distance. While, from some angles, the Great Orme looks like a crocodile, the Little Orme looks rather like a baby elephant sinking its trunk down into the sea. The Norse word 'Orme' comes from the same root as worm, and means dragon or sea serpent. The Welsh name for the Great Orme is Y Gogarth, and Orme seems to be a more modern appellation.
We had thought that Llandudno had no free public toilets any more, but to our joy we discovered that these, next to Haulfre Tearooms, are free. (There are also free toilets up on the Orme near St Tudno's Church, although this is a bit of a hike when you're in need!)
The walk now took us through some of the older parts of Llandudno, where the buildings cling to the side of the cliffs above the salt marsh where most of the town now stands. This little street, Ty'n Y Maes Hill, isn't very steep or long, but has a curious warning sign at the top.
This is quite a strident warning at the top of a little street like this. Maybe part of the problem is the short street that comes out on a busier road?
The walk took us on along Cwlach Street, on our way towards Llandudno Pier.
As Cwlach Street turned into Llwynon Gardens we came across this rather impressive old building with a red plaque affixed to what, presumably, used to be the front door. The building, built in 1837, was the Llandudno Grammar School, formerly a chapel. One of the pupils was William Morris Hughes, who was sent from London to live with his aunt at Bryn Rosa on Abbey Road after the death of his mother when he was six. He stayed at school in Llandudno until the age of eleven, before returning to London for the remainder of his education, but emigrated to Australia at twenty-two. He kept ties with the town through his life.
Following his birth in London and upbringing in Llandudno, Hughes, known as 'Billy Hughes,' was Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923. Wikipedia sums up his political career rather succinctly. 'He represented six political parties during his career, leading five, outlasting four, and being expelled from three.'
A close up of the plaque commemorating Billy Hughes.
The gateway into the old grammar school, presumably now a private dwelling, has these rather lovely daffodils built into the design, beautifully painted in natural colours.
We passed the Orme tram Station - Victoria Station, named after the hotel that used to stand on the site - on our way to North Shore. At this time of year the trams aren't running, but through the summer they can be seen taking passengers up to the summit. The trams are actually cable cars, pulled up the hill by a cable that runs under the trackway. According to Wikipedia, the tramway is 'Great Britain's only remaining cable-operated street tramway, and one of only a few surviving in the world.' The tramway has been operating since 1902.
Another set of railings, at the 1864-built Stella Guest House on Church Walks, had these lovely coloured daffodils on them, leading me to wonder how many places locally have railings like this.
On our way towards the pier and the start of the toll road, we passed the imposing but rather run down Grand Hotel. The building was used during filming of ITVs The Forsyte Saga, shown in 2002.
A glimpse of the pier, which runs for a little way alongside the land and in front of the Grand Hotel, before jutting out to sea. The pier has two entrances, which is apparently quite unusual. This is presumably because the part of the pier that runs along the land is a slightly later extension. One entrance is from the promenade, and the other here just past the Grand Hotel.
Llandudno Pier was opened in 1877 and is Grade II listed, and the longest in Wales, at 2,295 feet. Previously a shorter, 242 foot, pier had stood there, built in 1858 (a picture of this can be seen in this interesting Daily Post article). The end of the pier has been used as a landing stage for the steam packet to the Isle of Man.
It's a very pretty pier, I think, and the silver-topped Pier End Pavilion always makes me think of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree.' Less romantically and more geeky, from above the pier makes me think of the neck of a Klingon battle cruiser.
The large glass and iron Pier Pavilion used to stand at the land end which, in its heyday, had a swimming pool, as well as hosting a band and anything from political conferences to performances by George Formby. The rundown building 'accidentally' burnt down in 1994.
We walked along Happy Valley Road towards Marine Drive. Happy Valley is a pleasant little area to the left created from a disused quarry, with lawns and planting and a statue to Queen Victoria, as well as a few more of the Alice in Wonderland carvings, including the Cheshire Cat. It's a lovely place for a picnic, looking out over the sea.
The Happy Valley Lodge and Toll Office, the pair of the lodge (and demolished toll office) already seen on West Shore, stand at the entrance to Marine Drive. The stone-faced buildings were erected in 1878 to facilitate charging those wanting to use the new Marine Drive, which is more a route for leisure than necessity. Today the road was closed to cars for all but access, which made the walk even more pleasant.
A plaque above the entrance to the toll house reads '- Great Orme Head, Marine Drive - Chairman Joseph Evans - Directors, St John Charton JP, Thomas Williams, James Nichol MD, Major J L Thursby, Secretary RS Chamberlain, Engineer A Foulkes. Erected 1878.'
Inside the Toll Office some of the original ironwork remains.
A better view of the ironwork inside the toll office. I'm not sure exactly of the function of this structure, mirrored on the other side of the pedestrian entrance.
Before the construction of Marine Drive the Orme had been circled by Cust's Path, a pedestrian route dating from 1858. The path had been commissioned by Reginald Cust, a trustee of Mostyn Estates, but by all accounts it was still a treacherous route. When Gladstone walked around the Orme while visiting the Liddells in 1868 he was so alarmed by the path that he had to be blindfolded before he was taken to safety.
On the left a little way up the road the limestone cliffs show impressive erosion, with a kind of walkway hollowed out under the overhang. The pair of men in the photograph were practicing at free climbing.
Looking up through the hollowed out walkway under the cliffs.
A happy little painted stone had been left on the cliff.
In many places the cliffs tower right up alongside the road, and it's not uncommon to see small pieces of rock that have fallen and scattered over the tarmac.
The Great Orme has been described as 'one of the most remarkable continuous outcrops of Carboniferous limestone sequences in the UK.' It lies just on the north-west side of the diagonal Aber Dinlle Fault, which runs along the coast of North West Wales a little on the mainland side of the Menai Straits, and divides the Great Orme from the Little Orme through Llandudno. The Orme's impressive bulk would have been laid down through the Carboniferous Era between 300 and 350 million years ago, at an entirely different longitude and latitude on our globe to where it is now. It becomes all the more impressive when you realise that these limestone rocks are composed of the bones of millions upon millions of creatures, compressed into stone. Deep time is deep indeed, almost incomprehensibly so.
In the context of the age of the Orme this World War II pill box is startlingly modern. In the context of our short human lives, it is old and crumbling into the ground. The Great Orme has what may seem like a surprisingly large amount of defensive military structures, but this is less surprising when one considers the Orme was the site of a WWII radar station at the summit, the Royal Artillery coast artillery school, and the Aerial Defence Research and Development Establishment. The area was also vulnerable because it sat near the route of the North Atlantic convoys to Liverpool.
Inside the pill box, the floor is scattered with remnants of the collapsing roof, and also stones from the cliffs above.
On the wood at the back of the pill box what is possibly an extremely rusted power connector still survives.
Viewing the pill box from the other side, one can see how precarious the ruin is.
The road dips down a little after a steady climb, but it's not long before it starts heading upwards again.
It's hard to imagine what the Cust's Path might have been like, before this road was built. The road feels treacherous enough at times, with the cliffs towering above to one side, and plunging to the sea on the other.
A glance up at the rock structure is always impressive. It's amazing to think of the amount of time it would have taken for these rocks to be laid down.
Looking over the wall to the sea below. The rocks would not be forgiving in the event of a fall.
Looking back along the route, the road can be seen winding about the edge of the cliffs. In some places the land is a little more gentle, but still very steep.
Approaching the junction with St Tudno's Road, the cliff is netted to help prevent rockfalls.
At this point the road splits. The right continues along Marine Drive around the Orme. The left is St Tudno's Road, which zigzags up past St Tudno's Church and meets the road to the summit. There used to be a little toll booth here to catch tolls from those joining the road from St Tudno's, but now that's gone, and you can drive around the road toll free by joining it here.
Looking back along the road, the gradual, persistent incline can be seen. The cliffs are less vertiginous here, though.
Two welcome buildings can be seen in this photo - the Great Orme Lighthouse to the right, and the Rest and Be Thankful Café to the left, which sits at the highest point on the route.
The Grade II listed Great Orme Lighthouse is now a B&B, but from 1862 to 1985 its light shone out from the cliffs to warn shipping of the danger of the rocky headland. Before the installation of the lighthouse many ships were wrecked on these pitiless rocks. The lighthouse was designed by G. Lyster, engineer-in-chief to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, and was his only complete lighthouse. The light (now displayed at the summit) was on the ground floor with the signal and telegraph room above, but since the lighthouse sits 325 feet above sea level, it was a perfectly visible beacon.
From the Rest and Be Thankful Café the walk is largely level, before starting to head downwards again.
This concrete road, usually open, leads up to a car park which was the approximate site of a building associated with the WWII Aerial Defence Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE). There was a three storey building which was completely demolished in 1956, but mystery and secrecy surrounds its exact purpose.
In the cove below is the Ogof Llêch or Hiding Cave, a cave containing a spring, which was said to have been inhabited by St Tudno, after whom Llandudno is named. Supposedly it was from here that he began to spread the Christian faith to the locals.
Further to the left is the site of Hornby Cave, so named because it is near here that the Hornby, a 280 ton wooden brig built in 1810, foundered on the rocks. The ship sunk on New Year's Day, 1824. The ship was sailing from (or to - accounts differ) Liverpool to Rio de Janeiro, but only made it this far. A contemporary account of the wreck from the Shrewsbury Chronicle can be read here, along with the names and sentences of some of the nineteen people convicted of plundering the wreck the next day. The goods the ship was carrying were valued at £60,000, a staggering amount for that era. The only survivor was John Williams out of a crew of thirteen, and two passengers.
The Shrewsbury Chronicle recounts that John Williams was 'ordered out to loose the jib to wear her; when finding himself over a shelf of a rock, he dropped upon it, and seeing no more of the vessel, nor hearing any noise, he supposed she had backed off, and did not know the vessel had gone to pieces till morning, by which time he had managed to reach the top of the cliff, where his story was for some time misbelieved, more from the impossibility they thought there was of his getting up the precipice, than from the way he mentioned being thrown upon a rock.'
Beautiful views of Ynys Môn and Puffin Island can be seen on the horizon as you walk the flat stretch of road around the end of the peninsula.
We got our first glimpse of the famous feral Kashmir goats at this point. The generally heard story is that the goats were given to Llandudno by Queen Victoria, but the full tale is a little longer. The goats are the descendents of animals imported from Kashmir to France, and then to England in the early nineteeth century. Moving up in the world, a pair was presented to King George IV, and the rapidly growing herd was inherited by Queen Victoria. Later, two of these goats were taken on by Major General Sir Savage Mostyn, where they lived in the grounds of Gloddaeth Hall (now St David's College, a private school just outside Llandudno). From there, somehow, they ended up on the Orme. If all of these goats sprung from a single pair given to King George (possibly with the addition of a pair given to Victoria by the Shah of Persia), and again winnowed down by a single pair being taken on by Sir Mostyn, it seems that they must be quite inbred.
Ffynnon Gaseg (Mare's Well) sits on the landward side of Marine Drive. Apparently the spring was discovered during the construction of the road and was used for watering the horses used to pull carriages of sightseers, hence the name. The Great Orme site also mentions that, in 1863, it was 'noticed as a site where pre-Roman miners had washed large quantities of copper ore.'
Normally, I would pick up litter I see on my walks, like this wrapper near the well, but I'm more cautious of this during the pandemic.
Over a millpond silver sea, Ynys Môn looks rather like a dream island hovering in the sea mist.
The light was beautiful on this winter late afternoon, as we continued on our way, looking down over the first bit of flatness: the Royal Artillery’s Coastal Gunnery School, which was relocated here during World War II from Shoeburyness in Essex.
The road continues to wind about the contours of the Orme, slowly descending now, past impressive layers of limestone. The Orme's uniqueness makes it a Designated Special Area of Conservation, with the 'finest example of limestone heath in the UK.'
Looking back, scree can be seen on the 45 degree slope.
The mouth of the Afon Conwy comes into view in the distance as you continue round the curves.
Walking along this section of the route you get an excellent view of Llys Helig Drive, an area, blending into the lower stretch of Marine Drive, known locally as Millionaire's Row. The road is home to a number of mismatched and occasionally garish mansions which have the distinction of being part of the most expensive street in Wales. From the grudging view of a decidedly non-millionaire, if I had that much money I would far rather live without so many close neighbours!
Llys Helig Drive is named after the area of shallow sea nearby, which, in legend, was once above sea level and inhabited, with Llys Helig (Helig's Court or Palace) standing on Tyno Helig, where the 6th century Helig ap Glannawg was prince. Read the legend of the area's drowning here. Archaeologists have discovered evidence that the land was once dry, in the form of tree stumps now underwater. The 'ruin of the palace' seen at very low tides is actually a natural rock formation, with a possible fish weir nearby.
As well as the evidence of tree stumps now under the sea, it is also likely that the Afon Conwy once flowed to the sea by a different route. Before the last ice age the river probably flowed along the course of Afon Ganol past Mochdre to Llandrillo yn Rhos, instead of into Conwy Bay. When the route became blocked during the ice age, the river changed its course. Are the legends of Llys Helig actually mixed up with a collective memory of this event?
We caught sight of a lot more feral goats as we continued along the road. The goats gained fame recently as they started to roam the streets of Llandudno freely during the Covid lockdown. Prior to that it was common for them to be found sampling the delights of gardens on the edge of the town. These ones, haunting Millionaire's Row, perhaps have more expensive tastes.
This is a rare sight. A two headed pushmi-pullyu goat. Perhaps having two heads makes navigating the treacherous slopes easier, although I could imagine it being confusing having two simultaneous points of view.
A juxtaposition of architectural styles on Millionaire's Row. The steep-roofed house at left centre is rather impressive, as is the more modern house to the right. The older house has what looks like a tower built right on the edge of the land, going down to the beach below.
We passed a little shelter at the side of the road with inscriptions which read 'In memory of Blair Gow, who died by accident when he was 16 while walking in the Welsh mountains he loved. / He has gone ahead a little while and waits for us upon a stile. / This shelter was built so that you too could enjoy this place where he grew up and knew so much happiness.'
There are two slightly conflicting reports about this online. An account written by the partner of a school friend of the boy says that he died in the mid sixties after slipping on scree on Crib Goch, a dangerous ridge in Snowdon, during a Rydal school Hill Walking Club outing. After he hit his head, he died in the arms of another pupil who went down to help him. A Facebook post in the group 'You know you are from Llandudno if you....' by Councillor Louise Emery, Gogarth Ward, said 'Alexander Blair Gow lived with his family on Llys Helyg Drive. Sadly, in February 1968, aged only 16, whilst walking and scrambling on Tryfan in Snowdonia with a school party from Rydal he slipped and fell. His family paid for the shelter to be erected in Blair's memory in 1969.'
This post, from May 25, 2020, spoke of the renovation of the shelter after it had fallen into disrepair. Although the shelter seems in good condition, it has sadly been used as a urinal by many people, meaning it isn't a pleasant place to sit and look at the view.
This large building on Millionaire's Row is the Old Abbey, previously a hotel, but since 1949 a convalescent home for British Rail workers. Originally the place was solely for convalescent female employees of British Rail but later was opened to all genders and people from other industries. The new wing was apparently built on the site of the old lodge.
Perhaps more interesting is the area to the left of the house, which was the site of the Gogarth Abbey, or, more properly, the Bishop's Palace. Coflein says little but has one old photograph of scant wall remains. Gatehouse Gazeteer has more to say. The building was probably built near the end of the 13th century by Bishop Anian, and may have been a gift from Edward I in return for Anian christening the first Prince of Wales. The building was burnt down, possibly as part of Owain Glyndwr's revolt in 1400. Much of the building has since eroded away.
This very-recently-built house up on Marine Drive appeals more to me than the crowded-in mansions on Millionaire's row, being a little higher and a little more isolated. I still wouldn't swap the fields up the valley for this, though.
Coming down closer to sea level, the view was still impressive, with the sea so still and clear.
This little building was opposite, and possibly connected with, a house on the other side of the road. Whatever its purpose, it had signs up warning of danger. I imagine when it was in good condition it was a wonderful place from which to sit and watch the sea.
Down the final stretch with the toll lodge in view, and again the cliffs are netted to prevent rock falls.
Finally approaching the toll lodge, once again we were almost at sea level.
Looking up as we left the Orme we saw this rather impressive cleft in the rocks.
The end of the walk gave us views of the Conwy estuary, the humps of the Fardre, and the sandy sweep of West Shore as evening drew in.
This was a fun and relatively easy walk (obviously this will depend on your level of fitness or ability), but could be more difficult in extreme weather conditions. It also didn't take as long as I thought it might. A good way to get a little wilderness so close to town, and full of fascinating history.
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