Enough of this nonsense - what happened ?
Well, basically, things went wrong shortly after Conwy. I was merrily taking the coast path, when I realised that I deeded to be on the foot / cycle path just a few yards away. That doesn't sound too bad, but the path I needed to be on was above me, and there was no way I could have scaled the sheer cliffs to get there. When the coast path ended not only going along a stony beach, but leading to where the sea met the cliffs, there was no way I could have gone on. I hated to have to admit it, but the only thing to do was turn back. At that moment, I felt utter despondency, which lasted in one form or other for the rest of the day. Indeed, I thought that if I had to go all the way back to Conwy, I would call it a day and come back another day to do the walk.
Fortunately, I did not have to go right back to the start, and when I saw where I could correct myself, I realised that even if I didn't get to Bangor, I could perhaps get to Penmaenmawr or Llanfairfechan which would at least be a few miles in the right direction.
The proper path took me alongside a busy dual carriageway. I hated this. Ok, it was a bit different from simply walking along the pavement in one's own locality, but all the same, the feeling of the open countryside was a million miles away. Things did get a bit better as the path moved away from the road, but for the next 6 miles, I was never far away from busy traffic.
To get to the point on the proper path which was above the place where I had turned round took 3/4 hour. There was no way I was going to make that sort of time up, and whilst I did have the whole day to myself, my planned order of events had gone right out of the window.
Anyway, I pressed on and reached Penmaenmawr just before 12. My spirits were lifting a bit now, and I decided that a spot of lunch might fortify me for the rest of the day. Nothing elaborate, just a nice cafe where I ordered beans on toast washed down with a cup of coffee - pretty good value, and as I sat and rested, I began to get the feeling that perhaps things were not so bad after all. No, this would not be where I ended the day's walking. Onwards to Llanfairfechan and assess the situation from there.
The foot / cycle path was yet another amazing feat of engineering. "I'm walking in the middle of the A55" was one of the thoughts that passed my mind as I headed onwards. Indeed I was, but a good, safe distance above the carriageway. Shortly afterwards, the path led to the left and into Llanfairfechan. That was a huge sense of relief, as not only was I finally away from the dual carriageway, but also the route now was either town or something that was far closer to my idea of a footpath - or so I thought.
Yet one question still buzzed round my mind - as I had already walked further than I had needed to, and as Bangor was still a good 9 miles or so, should I press on, or call it a day here ?
I have just finished reading Bear Grylls' autobiography. In that, he talks, amongst other things, about his SAS selection and what he had to go through to pass that. A lot of that took place in far more rugged Welsh terrain than I was on, in far worse weather than I was experiencing today and in altogether more unpleasant conditions. Was it something of his spirit, or just a determined / stubborn streak in me that caused me to decide to press on and get to Bangor today come what may? Whatever, off I set, along the sea front, past some fantastic nature reserves, looking over the water to the island of Anglesey which was looming ever nearer, and also Pernrhyn Castle, whose outline was appearing on the horizon. The map looked simple - continue along the coast, over a bridge, through the castle grounds and then on the final straight to Bangor. Was it that simple? Was it heck!
I realised that there was to be another problem when history repeated itself, and I saw that the bridge I needed to cross was above me, up a wall to my left. I could have cried. Attempts to find the path proved uncuccessful, so there was nothing for it but to head back to the road (a series of smaller roads this time rather than the A55) and follow them to get to Bangor. Feeling utterly beaten, at Tal y bont, it was very tempting to get the bus into Bangor and come back another day to finish things off, but a sign for the cycle path cheered me up, I followed it and soon came to the mile marker which informed me that there was just 1 mile to go to Bangor. OK, so I am going to finish it after all. Shortly after that I passed the city boundary marker, and was cheered up no end by knowing that whatever else happened, I was in Bangor. At this point, despite all the difficulties and set-backs I had encountered today, I couldn't help but start to sing *that* song by Fiddler's Dram http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMNrrLBdhuM To be fair, all told, the day was far closer to that than the Jasper Carrott alternative http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKpuU2k1zD0 ! Enjoy !!
The walk ended at the town clock. It was here, 22 years earlier that I had set out to walk to Cardiff. I was 19 then, I'm 41 now ! Since then, I have indeed walked the length and breadth of the land. Yet despite everything today, this is the end of the easy section of the walk round the Welsh coastline. No longer will I simply be able to get the train from home, get off at the other end, walk and then get the train home again at the end of the day - at least, not until I get to Borth, and as well as there being a lot of walking to do before I get there, the train home from there, and from other points further down the coast, offer a much longer journey than the north Wales line.
So, the next stage of the walk - Bangor to Caernarfon - well, I have already done it, it was the first stage of the walk to Cardiff all those years ago. Before heading to Caernarfon to tackle the Lleyn peninsula, I plan to spend a day on Anglesey, whose coastline is not part of the walk, but I do want to cross the Menai bridge just to acknowledge where I am.
It has been a fantastic journey so far, and although it has, in more ways than one, brought me back to where I started, in other ways, this is just the beginning.
To be continued......
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