Summer holidays just went out with the tide

So, it’s a ritual on this side of the hemisphere to go to the beach over the festive season.

Flights booked to Durban (coast). Managed to book a place right across from the beach for 10 days.

Was looking forward to a blissful sun kissed holiday on white Sandy beaches, enjoying the warm Indian Ocean current and visiting with my mum and sister.

But, then the torpedo was let loose. Beaches closed on the busiest days. Soft lockdown since we’re approaching a second wave.

The wind just went out of my sails. There I was in lalaland building castles in the sand.

Ah well, at least I get to see my family. It’s been over a year since I’ve seen them. Lots of sundowners to drown our sorrows.

What is your fondest seaside memory?

Re: Summer holidays just went out with the tide

Used to spend many a happy summer as a child on Penmaenmawr beach (this being the town my mother was born and brought up in). Lovely huge and safe sands, never overly crowded. Only needed to avoid swimming in the waters near the end of the old quarry jetty ( quicksand concerns) and take care to avoid the jelly fish.

All ruined now since they built a new section of roadway along the front together with the only new promenade to be built in the 20th century. Loss of some of the beach, coupled with concrete/tarmac atrocities, as well as the noise from the road making this nowhere near as attractive a place as it once was.

PS - on the map in the link, if you want a really nice walk up to some waterfalls along a good path, enclosed so it's safe for dogs, there's one at Abergwyngegryn. Highly recommended. About 1.5 miles each way.

Re: Summer holidays just went out with the tide

Shell Island was an interesting place, may go back one day, just for confirmation.

Re: Summer holidays just went out with the tide

I've gazed at that beach from the top of the Great Orme and across the mouth of the river on loads of occasions Dex, during our annual break in Llandudno... Have missed it so much this year....

Re: Summer holidays just went out with the tide

So you've missed your annual trip down the luge

Have you ever walked over the Sychnant Pass from Penmaenmawr to Conway (or vice versa)? Used to be doable, but not sure about how frequent the buses run to get you back.

Edit - next time you drive back through Pen (as the locals call it) towards Conway, lookkout for a little cycle/footpath that goes round the cliffside of what is now a tunnel. It used to be the main road, which my mother used to have to take the bus along when she went along the coast.

Re: Summer holidays just went out with the tide

Thanks Dex, I'll look out for that path, I always wondered if you could walk along those hills. Isn't there a quarry somewhere up there? Mrs Fox and me love the walk along the beach from West Beach at Llandudno to Conwy. Parts of the path are sometimes covered by the wind blown sand. We also like to walk the other way over the Little Orme and down to Rhos on Sea where we find a charming little cafe' for lunch....

Re: Summer holidays just went out with the tide

Hi Minx you are not alone, many here have missed holidays this year including me . My twin grandsons were 3 year old this year and my son had rented a house overlooking the sea in Wales in which we were all going to stay. They will never be that age again and I am sad to have missed it.

There will be other years not everyone can say that and I am grateful I can.

We didn't have holidays when I was a child but I have had some lovely holidays in the past few years too numerous to mention.

Re: Summer holidays just went out with the tide

Easiest way for the Sychnant Pass is to start at Penmaenmawr, mainly because by the time you get to Conway, you'll be able to find somewhere to sit down for a well earned cuppa and some food before getting the bus or taxi back to pick up your car! Will send you a map closer to next time you get over there.

Used to walk all around the quarries as a kid. But you do need to know when and where they are blasting.

There's also a nice walk around the Jubilee path, which is the tallest mountain you see (on your left, when standing on the beach). The last part of the drive up there will test your car skills, but the view alone is highly rewarding!!

You know the lighthouse near Puffin Island? I also know of a nice place to get as close as possible to it (bit of a trek, as you need to cross over to Anglesey and drive a quarter of the way round anticlockwise), which is good for a picnic if the weather holds. Took my daughter and her friend there a few years ago, and we made a nice little fry up on a camping gas stove.

Re: Summer holidays just went out with the tide

Wasn't Boozecruiser from that neck of the woods?

Re: Summer holidays just went out with the tide

Eh? Not sure about that.