We have done the Great Orme many times and decided to so the Little Orme, Llandudno, for a change of scene.
If you’ve been following my blog, you will know that Jit and I have an absolutely crazy love for Llandudno for some reason. Nothing to do with our favourite chippy, honestly! We tend to visit when we are returning to my parents’ house on the way back from a camping trip or Welsh holiday, but we have started making the mission just for fun, being that it is under two hours from Manchester.
During our stay at my parents’ house a few weeks back, we decided that we would visit Llandudno again, but for the Little Orme instead (and the chippy!) The Little Orme is on the Conwy side of Llandudno – to the opposite side of the prom to the Great Orme. It is a great opportunity to see the lesser trodden parts of the prom and to enjoy looking at some of the beach side houses (where you can dream of being a millionaire to own one)
Parking up
Once again we parked in the Train Station car park as it is usually pretty quiet, is near to the centre of town and is also very cheap to park for the day. If you’re not wanting to walk all the way down the prom, you might want to find somewhere towards the Conwy side – there are usually places on the prom that way.
Within minutes of arriving we were cornered by a seagull and it’s babies checking what we had for them. They are cheeky little things always hunting out something. I love seagulls though as they remind me of being at the seaside as a child or in Liverpool on the docks. For some reason, these memories never evoke sunny days thought – perhaps that is just from growing up in the North West! Happy days all the same,just not roasting hot and sunny.
And off we go…
After faffing around with the seagulls for a while, changing into our boots and deciding how many layers to take with us in our back packs, we headed into town towards the promenade.
The thing about Llandudno is that it is the best place for people watching and for letting the world just pass you by. It kind of slows the world down (not only because there are lots of older people in the area) and makes you feel more relaxed. It could be the older people, it could be the water and expansive sky, but either way, I love it.
The length of the prom
The walk down the prom is a lot longer than it looks on the map! It is not challenging, unless you walk on the pebbles and then it works muscles that you didn’t realise you had. We were surprised at how much you can see from the seafront on a clear day too – having always been driving when we come to the point where we can see the Great Orme in the distance.
Being nice and bright and early in the morning also meant that there were few people to be in the photos so I obviously took the opportunity to get snapping!) It is really rare to be able to see the majority of the area without hoards of people milling around, so it was something I wanted to savour.
We even discovered that they still have the original paddling pool! And the great news is that they are doing up the area and toilets around it, so it looks like it’s here to stay too! I was worried that it might be decommissioned as that seems to be the right of passage for most.
Despite optimistically thinking I might have a little paddle on the way back, I did succumb to the fact that it was much too cold for it!
Up the hill
Even when it seems like you must be near the entrance gate, you still have another part of the hill to climb. It passes by some absolutely gorgeous beach side properties that get the most fantastic views.
All you need to do is persevere a little bit longer and you will come to where the road levels off. That is where you will find the kissing gate (and hopefully someone nice on the other side – I had Jit so I was in luck!)
The Little Orme
Once through the kissing gate, you will see that there is a path going both ways around the Orme. Take the one to the right and this will naturally take you quickly up the ascent and towards the summit. Although they call it the Little Orme, it is still pretty steep and a good challenging walk if you go off the beaten track and meander around the sheep paths.
Spectacular views
As you go up the Little Orme you will realise just how special the views are from each part of the walk. You get sneaky peeks of the sea, glimpses of the Clywdd mountains and sights of the Great Orme in the distance. The walk is enjoyable, weaving through sheep and around gorse bushes to bring you to the rocks at the top near the summit.
Trying out the selfie stick for videos!
I’m looking to add more videos to the blogs so have been giving it a go with the selfie stick (yes, I know!) What do you think? Would you like more factoids? More scenery? More from me? Let me know in the comments as I’d LOVE to get some feedback!
Tummies grumbling
After we had hit the summit, taken loads of pictures and a video, we both noticed that we were feeling rather hungry. It was now 13:00 so the right time to head back down for some food (not before we dropped off the lost fleece and car keys, that we found on the ascent, in to the Police)
The way down that we decided on was much more challenging than the way up, with very little path ways and some precarious drops. Probably more of a sheep route in places than for human beings, which was evident by the number of sheep we met on the way!
We reached the bottom pretty unscathed apart from a few bramble scratches and a nettle sting. Heading back to town don the hill was much easier than the way up, which we were thankful for being that we were now ravenous and ready for our chippy lunch.
However much I would like to tell you about the rest of our day, I’ll save it for another time and link back to here. We had our lunch at Barnacles, the only place to get vegan chippy options and you can ready my review over on my food blog, Susty Meals.
If you haven’t been to Llandudno, I do hope that you will! It really is a lovely place to visit, with modern mixed with old, great food mixed with a relaxed atmosphere and lots of walking to do too – both easy and challenging! If you need that little bit more inspiration, check out my other post about the Great Orme here.
Now I feel like planning another Llandudno trip into our calendar! How about you?
Have you been to Llandudno? What was your favourite thing about it? If you haven’t, where is your favourite place near to where you live?
I’d love to add some new places to the Bucket List, so please share in the comments.