A Local Lad

Rhyl skyline along the beach from Prestatyn

This was far from the most ambitious route of my journey, but it’s one close to my heart as both places have such strong connections for me. The earlier part of my life was spent in Rhyl and I went to primary school there. Later, I went to high school in Prestatyn and worked there into my early twenties. The Wales Coast Path follows the promenade that links these two rival towns.

When I was growing up, the balance of power had been very much in Rhyl’s favour. It was the bigger town with more attractions. It was a kind of scaled down Blackpool with a fairground and well developed seafront with lots of shops and arcades. There was still a number of features left from Rhyl’s rapid development in the rail age. Prestatyn was more genteel, the town is away from the seafront though it had entertainment centres like the Ffrith and the Nova as well as a Pontins Holiday Camp.

This time I was joined on my walk by my sister Debbie, who still lives locally, along with her dog Bodhi. Debbie had been providing logistics for me on some previous walks so it was nice that she got to come along this time. It was also very welcome that the weather let up from raining from the duration of our walk. There was a stiff breeze but it was coming from the South and so for most of the walk we had some protection. The WCP shares the route here with the cycle network and I cycled along it into a strong headwind once and it was harder work than climbing the local hills!

Our walk started at the Nova Centre where I had finished the previous walk. The drier and warmer weather had brought a few people out but the overcast skies and the breeze meant that it was mainly dog walkers and cyclists. Pontins is one of the survivors from my youth despite many changes of ownership. I first visited the site though when it was a trotting track in the late sixties. If you look at a satellite image of the holiday camp you can still see the circuit.

Like on the eastern side of Prestatyn there are still dunes along the beach although here they are screening the caravan camp behind. They also provided shelter for numerous and rather argumentative small birds in the Marin grass and bushes. Today they were providing a very effective windbreak for us.

The tide was out opening up the expansive beach area. The promenade gives the impression of being a straight line to Rhyl. You can see the Rhyl skyline and the hills behind Abergele and Llandulas beyond. Despite the annoying contrast-sapping haze (#photographerpethates) you can see to the Great Orme and Anglesey ahead and to Liverpool behind. Only a few were braving the beach beyond the protection of the dunes but it’s still not a bad place to enjoy your butty.

The promenade has a functional use as well as leisure one. It tops the sea defences along the coast and those dunes are not there to protect us from a southern breeze but from much angrier winds and seas. Don’t let the wide beach deceive you, the tides here can be high and the sea unforgiving. The poor people of Towyn just down the coast discovered this in 1990 when they were flooded. I will be passing there on the next leg.

Not sure what this sign means but it looks painful

Along the beach itself are breakwaters and groins which I presume are to make sure the beach stays put. The sea and wind are always moving sand around - either adding to the beach or stripping it. It’s a complex and dynamic system and if your town’s livelihood is linked to having a beach then it is understandable that you want it to stay put.

The beach was quiet enough to let Bodhi have his run of the beach for a while. This was still a relatively new experience for him. Despite this, he still managed to find the deepest, darkest and smelliest rock pool to lie in very quickly. Still, we still have a good few kilometres ahead of us for him to dry off.

Her word is my command, at least until she drops that treat she is holding!

The development along the coast means that Prestatyn and Rhyl seem to slide into one another in a continuum. Between the two is Rhyl Golf Club which runs in a narrow strip along the beach and the road. As we reached this point we found ourselves sharing the with what I believe to be called a “fun run” although, as I have stated before, I am yet to see anyone having fun. The event had several classes running different distances. Whilst I still don’t see the attraction, you had to admire the sheer determination that was on display. The path is wide here so there is plenty of room to avoid the oncoming traffic.

Runners on the outward leg of their course

Looking out to sea, it is hard to ignore the white forest of wind turbines out in Liverpool Bay. The aesthetic impact of these giants is in the eye of the beholder. The impact of the alternative sources of energy that I have seen along my route are no less distracting and their impact on the local environments is or was more profound. At least it is a local resource we are unlikely to run out of. There was certainly no shortage on the day! At first their pattern seems almost random but as you travel the coast the lines of turbines starts to resolve until they appear to merge into a single petal-like design turning in slow synchronisation.

We were reaching the edge of Rhyl proper and the path started too narrow. The last and least expert group of runners was hitting their turning point just as we arrived while the intermediates made their way past us. For a little while we were sandwiched between the contraflow. Fortunately, Bodhi stuck doggedly between us and there were no lead related mass takedowns.

The Rhyl promenade begins at Splash Point and the path doglegs around this area. In my working days in Prestatyn, a group of us used to frequent the club here of a Friday lunchtime for a pint, some food and a game of pool. Now the club has gone and some apartments are in its place. The residents were making the best of the warmth on their balconies.

I haven’t visited the prom or Rhyl in general since my life recanted around Chester in the 1990s. To be honest I had begun to find it depressing. The town seemed to be in a terminal decline. It had been caught in a perfect storm of changing holiday habits, demographics and closing industries. The more genteel Victorian attractions disappeared and the attempts to bring in new attractions were at best only partially successful. It even had a monorail for a while and that worked out about as well as it did in the Simpsons. One the last few years even the Funfair had gone leaving a space that no developer seemed able to fill. The large multiple stores stared to disappear from the high street and, worse still, re-establish themselves in Prestatyn.

However, I did feel a bit more positive on this walk. Since my last visit for the annual Air Show the old Suncentre has gone but the new Pavilion Theatre looks smart. A new Travelodge has popped up since my last visit. The Lifeboat Station looks smart and primed and ready for action.

As we followed the runners back to their finish point and the noise of the commentators PA started to reach our ears - the prom looked well cared for as did the beach. Rhyl's very own David Hasselhoff was busy on patrol. There was plenty of people gathered to cheer home the runners as they headed for the line and collected their participant medals. The beach itself could have been busier but it is still early in the season and the conditions weren’t ideal.

When the tides is out it is such a wide expanse of sand here. Add to that it being quiet and there is plenty of room for any beach related activity you can think of.

Leaving the centre of town and heading west towards the mouth of the River Clwyd at the Foryd which separates Rhyl from its neighbour Kinmel Bay. The fair may have gone but the empty space does now have new retail outlets with another set to open soon. Behind them is a true victorian survivor - the Marine Lake. In my younger days I was a member of the waterski club based here and its great to see it has survived. Even better, wisps of smoke and steam emanating from the engine sheds showed that the miniature railway that runs round its perimeter is also alive and well.

However, pride of place at the west end now is the new Pont y Ddraig pedestrian bridge at the river mouth, guarding the entrance to the marina. It’s got an innovative lifting design to allow taller vessels to pass through we didn’t get to see it in action.

Pont y Ddraig with the blue double arches of the Foryd road bridge behind.

The bridge, opened in 2013, carries both the Wales Coast Path and the cycle path over the River Clwyd. It also takes you across the county border from Denbighshire and into Conwy. When I lived in Kinmel Bay as a baby it was also the county line but it was in Denbighshire. When I moved to Rhyl as a toddler, I also moved into Flintshire. By the time I got to school, both had been swallowed up into the super county of Clwyd. Only FCC embossed into the school cutlery was left as a reminder. The super counties got broken up and the old names returned but not their borders.

Now at the end of our journey, Debbie and I could enjoy a spot of lunch and a coffee at the Harbour Cafe. There was a charity event on in aid of the Lifeboat and the DJ choice of music was perhaps a little energetic for a that Sunday lunch vibe. However, it was still a nice spot even though the breeze here had free rein. We all enjoyed the walk and I think it one we will revisit when time doesn’t allow for covering new ground on the Wales Coastal Path.