Three Bridges

It was a good trail along the coast. If the whole Welsh Coastal Path was as good as this, I thought that maybe I should put it on my Venture list. Across the Strait I could see the concrete statue of Nelson on his plinth. I remembered walking up to that on my Anglesey Coastal Path Venture (see Britannia And The Concrete Nelson). As I approached the Britannia Bridge the noise of the traffic rolling across it got louder. Just before reaching it I came across a large rectangular section of iron with a small section of a railway line on it. An information board told me that this was an original section of Robert Stephenson’s tubular section railway bridge that originally spanned the Menai Strait. The views of the Britannia Bridge were partially obscured by trees, but despite this, it was still impressive.   

The tide was in and the strong currents in the Menai Strait were very evident. In the middle of the channel was the island of Ynys Gored Goch, with its collection of buildings. I wondered what it would be like to live on the island. How would you get a plumber to sort a blocked toilet? I bet Tescos wouldn’t deliver to it. The path drifted inland to a splendid looking tree that had more branches than Greggs. I tried to digest the background about it from an information board, but I got continually distracted by a kerfuffle that was going on behind me. Two women were walking their dogs and one of them had a shite. One of their dogs, that is, not one of the women. The dog then insisted on standing in it, much to the chagrin of the owner. Once she bagged it, she walked over to a nearby dog litter bin to dump it and found it to be full. She dropped it next to the others near to the bin. ‘It’s a lovely tree isn’t it?’ she muttered as she walked past me. I had to agree, the Luscombe Oak was very impressive.   

I followed a road that took me by a collection of small industrial units and a kids nursery of all things. I escaped the surrounding trees to find myself at the top of the mainland side of the Menai Bridge. At one time, this used to be the longest suspension bridge in the world. Those huge chains supporting the suspension cables, as designed by Thomas Telford, are still going strong. Well, that was the bridges out of the way. My next target along the coast was Bangor Pier.

Tir Na N-og

The area around the Menai Bridge still seemed more rural, rather than the outskirts of a city. There were still plenty of fields and woodland about. To say that Bangor is a city, I’ve found the location of its centre to be quite elusive. The A55, the main route along the North Wales coast and to Holyhead, bypasses Bangor as though it doesn’t exist. The Bangor Premier Inn where I was staying seemed more rural than city based. In fact thus far, the busiest place I’d found in Bangor was the Tescos Extra, but that seemed to be based in a rural location too. Anyway, I followed the coast road in the hope that I’d see something that resembled a city. There were plenty of Bangor University buildings and sports complexes squeezed between the road and the coast. One of the buildings was called Tir Na N-og. Believe it or not, I am somewhat of a self proclaimed expert on Tir Na N-og. The name represents a Celtic underworld and means 'Land of youth', which seems quite appropriate for a university. Back in the early 1980s, I bought a computer game for my ZX Spectrum that was called the very same name. The game consisted of navigating your character through a maze of burial Celtic chambers for some unremembered mission. It kept me entertained for at least three and a half minutes, maybe less. It put me off computer gaming for life and so that was probably a good thing .    

Bangor Pier

I passed the Bangor City football ground. There was still no sign of a city yet though; just fields, woodlands and the university buildings. The Welsh Coast Path signs directed me back towards the coast, where the path split at the Nantporth nature reserve. I took the slippery undulating path, near to the shore on my outward journey and the more pleasant, flatter and grassy path, alongside some fields, on my return. I climbed a road into an area of housing. This wasn’t your Barratt’s Estate. Some of these houses were huge and a few looked like they were used by Bangor University. I walked into a park area that separated the houses from the coast. There was a row of beautiful Cherry Blossom trees. An information board told me that they had been gifted to various parks from Japan in a quest for world peace. This reminded me of when I’d come across something similar at a park at Elsecar in South Yorkshire (see Elsecar By The Sea). The trees in that case were taken from one that had survived the Hiroshima bombing. There was no mention of Hiroshima for the Bangor plantation, but the sentiment was the same.   

I followed a narrow road that hugged a steep drop to the coast and this gradually descended to a collection of houses. Then, Bangor Pier came into view. It was a splendid thing, but you had to pay £1 for the privilege of walking along it. To be honest, I couldn’t be arsed to take my rucksack off and get my wallet out and so I satisfied myself by just taking some photos outside its entrance gate. It was certainly a marvellous view. I could see Beaumaris on the other side of the channel, where I started yesterday’s walk (see Exit The Dragon Along The Menai Strait). I continued to follow the  Welsh Coastal Path signs through some streets. Maybe this was the outskirts of Bangor City, I thought. No sooner had I thought that, then it delivered me to a rather posh promenade with what looked like a marina across the bay. It still didn’t look like much of a city to me. 

Hirael

A Welsh Water company was busy building a stormwater catchment facility next to the promenade. A notice indicated that this would prevent raw sewage being flushed straight into the sea after a heavy downfall. Another information board told me that this area was called Hirael and was in 1855, '...the biggest slate port in the world.' The locals in Hirael are nicknamed ‘sibols’. Sibol is the welsh word for spring onion, and a good slate was said to split like a spring onion.   

Just a little further along from the promenade was a small grass area which had a heavily cut back tree surrounded by a fence. There was an information board next to it and I couldn’t resist making the small detour to find out what it was about. During the war British troops had been camped in this area. These were later replaced by American troops, that included the boxer Joe Louis. Once the Americans left, then Italian PoWs were placed here. Apparently, relations between the Italians and the locals were very amenable. During this time a fig tree was planted along the sea wall, and this stump of a tree surrounded by a fence, was supposed to be that very same tree.  There didn't appear to be many figs on it. I looked around to see if I could see any pizza establishments, but there weren't any.

Penrhyn

I followed the Welsh Coastal Path signs to Porth Penrhyn. It had a pretty little harbour and marina. My plan had been to enter the grounds of Penrhyn Castle from here, but the signs on the entrance gates indicated that the area was private. I wondered if I could get into the grounds by following the coastal path further around. I tried this for a quarter of a mile or so, but the Penrhyn Castle estate was all barbed off. It looked like I’d only be able to get into the estate from the coastal road. I decided that I’d come and visit the castle tomorrow. I’d also be able to spend more time looking around the grounds too. My time hadn’t been wasted walking along this extra stretch of the Wales Coast Path, the views out to sea were excellent. It was time to make my return now though. 

Return

As I returned to Hirael’s promenade from Porth Penrhyn, I noticed a large, old building a mile or so away, up on the hillside over to my left. There were also other buildings around it too. I wondered if this could be Bangor Cathedral and that I’d at last found the elusive city of Bangor. I looked at my OS map and it seemed feasible. I didn’t have time to investigate further now though and so I'll have to leave exploration to future expeditions. I continued with my return journey.   

The sun was out now and I’d forgotten to bring my sunhat. My face was burning. At Nantporth woods I came across a female bird spotter in full winter gear. She must have been roasting. ‘Spotted anything?’ I asked. ‘A couple of Buzzards and a Kite’ she replied.  

I’d noticed that I’d only come across young females (presumably female students) walking or running around the Bangor campus area. It seemed a bit odd and I researched it later; Bangor University does have around 62% of female students, which is higher than the national average.

After the Menai Bridge I welcomed the return to the shade of the trees. It felt more like July than March. The tide was on its way out now and the water in the channel didn’t look as turbulent. I sped past the Mausoleum in Vaynol Woods and survived to the grassy field on the other side. As I made my way back through the industrial estate, the fine ridges on the high mountains of Snowdonia came into view. I’d have to get some walking done up there at some point. I arrived back at the Premier Inn carpark to find Herring Gulls fighting over the debris spilling out of some discarded polystyrene trays. I’d noticed kids walking  through the carpark, to and from school over the past couple of days. Obviously the Premier Inn carpark was their dumping ground for any dinner they didn’t want.    

It was quite an interesting walk today with plenty of historical interest and some wonderful views along the Menai Straits. I now wished that I’d paid the £1 to wander along Bangor Pier, but there again, I did end the day a little richer. It was a shame I didn’t get to see Penrhyn Castle, but I’ll go and visit that tomorrow. I believe I now have an idea where Bangor City centre is situated, but the exact location still has to be confirmed by future explorations.