Travel in North Wales

TRAVEL around North Wales

A map always comes in handy. There are many sources on the Net but I have found some awful errors with maps having no relationship to reality. One site which offers excellent UK maps is streetmap.co.uk

Our holidays in 1998, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008 were in Llandudno, and there are a lot of things to see and do, with plenty to explore. Unfortunately most of the relevant web sites fail to offer text navigation, relying on image only or even flash or javascript.
Therefore, the pages below may fall below the standards I set for the other pages I link to, and will not be checked for dead links regularly. This page is more or less "as is" to help you investigate North Wales before you visit.
Helpful note- it is best to ignore the Welsh Tourist Board star gradings for accommodation- they have little resemblance to the comfort and quality you are likely to find. It looks as if they use a standard tick box form (fridge- tick) and an oddly balanced way of adding them all up. I disagree strongly with their ideas of welcome, comfort and quality!

Travel by bus is easy and economic- in 2002 it cost just GBP 4.80 to travel all day on the buses (using a Red Rover) in Ynys Mon, Gwynedd, and Conwy (but no farther East than Llandudno). Not bad value. (by 2006 it was GBP 4.95). If you only travel by the Arriva buses, a weekly ticket for 14 pounds (1996 price) covers all Wales and North West England.
Gwynedd buses | Yns Mon busses | Fflint busses | Great Orme Copper Mines | Theatre in Llandudno now called Venue Cymru.
Conwy and Llandudno

Welsh Highland Railway || Ffestiniog Railway.

We also had a short stay in one of the nicest bestest guest houses we have stayed in. Again I disagree with the Welsh Tourist Board gradings - this one, The Melbourne, Rhyl deserves five stars.
Whilst at Rhyl (Sun Centre- closed. Sky Tower- Closed. Land Train- not running. and so on...) we enjoyed a brief visit to the lovely St Asaph with its friendly St Asaph Cathedral. We enjoyed walking around Denbigh with its splendid castle.
Rhyl is mostly very run down, apart from the sea front, which has in the last decade been badly redeveloped (underground paddling pool?) with the sea invisible from the marine road, and not easy to get to from the marine walk, which is reached with difficulty due to a long prison like concrete wall... but we did not find Rhyl quite the ghetto that some web comments indicate. We did find a very nice Welsh shop, with Welsh books and music - Siop y Morfa, where we learned about a pleasant local walk...
We had a pleasant walk along the River Clwyd from Rhyl to Rhuddlan, where the church was closed, and the castle was closed. We did however climb the motte - Twthill Motte.

CADW, Welsh Heritage (Castles etc) | Wales National Museums || Lovely walking around Trefriw, some of the paths are rugged! || Trefriw Wells Spa home of an iron rich supplement (highly recommended- better than pills)

Bodelwyddan Castle Denbighshire. | | Beaumaris || Try a side trip to England- a train to Shrewsbury then to Ludlow, a splendid market town full of ancient buildings, you can climb the Church Tower and the Castle Keep. The castle is in private ownership but usually open - as is a nearly secret place, Castle Lodge - you won't find it in the tourist guide but it seems to be mostly open, has excellent panelled walls, and the owner may consider a worthwhile offer if you like it that much!

Data Wales for lots of Welsh info. | The Mabinogion is THE classic ancient Welsh collection of stories. 585k text file from Gutenberg.
BBC Radio Cymru- real player stream in Welsh. || Radio Acen.fm Streaming mp3 Welsh radio for learners.
The National Library of Wales has much to offer from its web site, with initial textual summaries leading to images of its extensive collection, through its Digital Mirror offering. The Manuscripts section includes many rare titles including the Black Book, The Law of Hywel Dda, the White Book and much much more, whilst the Photographs section also has the photographic images held on the Gathering the Jewels web site., which has additional none photographic content. For the overseas Welsh communities, there are specific sections dealing with the Welsh in Ohio, USA with English summaries of some Welsh documents, and in Patagonia. In addition to the photographic section there is a section on pictures, mostly paintings, but also a collection of cartoons by Illingworth and to accompany the manuscripts section there is also a Printed material section contain for example the Blue Book and also a search engine for the Welsh Biography. Lots of great material to browse.

The Welsh Language Board has an interesting web page on using computers and Welsh

Links to UK preserved railway lines are at UK Heritage Railways

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