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From
Abergele station we walked west along the head of the shingle beach where
there was again a rich plant assemblage like yesterday, including seaside
centaury. On our left the railway ran
close beside the path. We came across
a single specimen of pale flax. Ringed
plovers ran around here and down the bare beach to the surf. Offshore were again a number of sandwich
terns. The shingle top gradually became
narrower and less productive with coarser plants like slender thistle, hoary
cress and fennel, which was usually shorn of its bushy branches (harvested by
the locals to accompany fish dinners?).
At sea a grey seal held its head above the waves motionless for as
long as we watched, steadfastly observing the shore and not diving. Soon the beach was entirely bare and
interest reverted to the bank on the other side of the path (now a tarmac
road) where there was damp turf with calcareous plants like glaucous sedge,
fairy flax, bloody cranesbill, yellowwort, pyramidal and common spotted
orchids. This was shortly replaced by
scrub, including harsh downy rose. A fox
suddenly ran across the road, disturbed by a cyclist. It scampered over the coast defence rocks jumbled
at the top of the beach and returned across the road further up. Where it had run out we discovered a rabbit
lying on its side still pulsating in the edge of the scrub. We presumed the fox would soon return for
its spoil, although we saw other rabbits still eating unconcerned
nearby. The sea defence rocks provided
a stratum on which the occasional rock samphire could get a hold. At the edge of the path were also frequent
plants of wormwood. Some mugwort had
red blister galls on their leaves and stems, distorting them. At Llandulas there was more turf and
vegetated shingle with a little sea rocket and blue fleabane, but the most
noticeable plants were dozens of Italian eryngo, longer-headed than sea
holly. There were many young rosettes
of its distinctive leaves, so the colony appears to be expanding. This is apparently the only place in Britain
where this plant is truly naturalised.
River Dulas here comes to the shore and the path follows its southern
bank where it cuts off a narrow shingle spit. Here we saw a number of chamomile
shark moth caterpillars feeding on sea mayweed. A wooden bridge shortly allowed the path to
return to the edge of the shore, across the river which is bordered in places
by Indian balsam. The path ascends a
little above where an industrial railway line used to run along the shore and
there are disused jetties and remains of quarrying. On both sides are the jumbled rocks of
sea-defences and the dominant vegetation all the way along was buddleia and
red valerian. At Penmaen Point some
rocks allowed us to find a place to eat our lunch among rock sea-spurrey,
whose flowers were just beginning to open as the sky started to brighten for
the first time. From here we joined
the road into Colwyn
Bay and the sun emerged
to continue for the whole afternoon. The
vegetation was largely made up of introduced plants like seaside daisy,
although there was a stand of great horsetail on the cliff slope at one
point. Victoria Pier was desolate and
in disrepair, left to the cormorants sitting on rails at its outer end. There was little of the usual seaside
commercial paraphernalia along the esplanade.
At Rhos Point there was a small harbour with boats protected by an offshore
breakwater. We bought some iced
lollies here and ate them in a small well-planted garden overlooking the sea,
by a sculpture representing "Catch of the Day". Further round the point we passed the site
of St Trillo’s chapel, although the current building, supposed to be the
smallest church in Britain,
is obviously a reconstruction. We then
passed along the edge of Penrhyn
Bay and actually had to
descend to the head of the beach to bypass housing reaching right to the
edge, rather than take an inland route up the hill behind. Only a narrow line of pebbles is left above
high tide. Eventually there was a path
up between the houses and we walked along the street behind them as far as
the Little Orme reserve. This
limestone headland has a good flora, especially among rocks at the far Trwyn
y Fuwch point, where we saw lots of rock-rose, bloody cranesbill, thyme, ivy
broomrape, dropwort, harebell, burnet-saxifrage and pyramidal orchids. We then followed the coast path up a very
steep grass slope to a higher platform of the headland. Here the path was inadequately signed and
we lost some time following an apparently more obvious and wider path too far
south. This went through sheep fields
and bracken, but brought us to a rather good rock outcrop where we found lots
of white horehound, field and wild madder, three old dwarfed bushes of
hawthorn shaped by the winds and even an old yew hardly recognisable as such
- a small compact dense tangle of twisted wood and vestigial leaves. We had to return to find the far from obvious
correct route nearer the top, leading down the other side through turf thick
with rock-rose, thyme, eyebrights and small-leaved cotoneaster. The path leads to the road going along the
front into Llandudno, unexceptional except for some wild clary in grass
bordering the beach. In Llandudno we caught
a bus back to Abergele. We returned to
Llandudno and St.Tudno’s Hotel, where we stayed 20 years before. It was celebrating its 40th
anniversary under current management and last year also the anniversary of
the stay here of Alice Liddell, the Alice
in Wonderland. It is very convenient
for the coast walk.
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Italian eryngo
Chamomile shark
caterpillar
"Catch of the
Day"
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Victoria Pier, Colwyn Bay
Little Orme ahead
White horehound on Little
Orme
Rock-rose on Little Orme
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Seaside centaury
Rock sea-spurrey
Stunted yew on Little
Orme
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