North Wales Pilgrims' Way - Stage 6 (Llanfairfechan to Bangor)

Let's try again Skip!

Well what a disaster, so I thought; I got out of the car at Llanfairfechan to set off on our latest leg of the Pilgrims' Way and realised that we'd left Skip's lead at home. The only thing for it was for me to set off solo up and over the tops and down to Abergwyngregyn (fortunately this was part of the prescribed route). Vicky managed to nip into Bangor and buy a new collar and lead for the boy. This she did with aplomb and thus, an hour later, I set off again with Skip in tow (or was he towing me?) It had been curiously lonely running without Skip for the first time on our trek.

Where's the whisky>

Off we trundled up to the Aber Falls, which in the rainy season (much of the year up here I think) is quite spectacular and my photo of the main drop doesn't really do it justice. A torrent of water hurtles down the steep cliff - where were the thousands of visitors come to watch this force of nature?We did however come across a lady at the foot of the waterfall who seemed to be simultaneously taking a video and chatting in an Asian language; she was apparently unaware that she was missing the chance to interview a champion international mountain runner and his dog. Gosh we could have been featured on Japanese prime time TV! We didn't see the Aber Falls Whisky Distillery which according to the website "sits at the foot of the famous waterfalls" - it's actually back in the village on the north side of the A55, after being a slate works the distillery was a margarine factory for many years! It all adds to the taste. That's a slightly unfair comment because we haven't tasted Aber Falls whisky yet - but if anyone wants to buy us a bottle...!

I'm not jumping over one of those!

Much of today's route was into a fierce wind, at some points I seemed to be running on the spot against a howling gale. But we gradually made progress and the going was good - much of it was on what was clearly an ancient track on the mountain running parallel to the A55 which we could see far below us. Puffin Island was off in the far distance! There wasn't much else to see up here but as we headed down on the last leg there was more to entertain us. Having been a part time dry stone waller in several locations over the years, I'm always interested in the different techniques that wallers use from place to place. This is generally dependent on the materials at hand, I've built walls with limestone and gritstone in the Derbyshire Dales and I've marvelled at wonderful durable walls made of stone but no mortar in various parts of the UK, Ireland, Tasmania and the North East US. Snowdonia wallers over the years have come up with innovative fencing solutions using local slate - this photo taken a couple of miles above Bangor says it all!

Nice pick-up, didn't have those in 1465!

On the tracks heading downhill to our end of run rendezvous, I spotted what appeared to be an ancient converted church. Having not seen much in the way of churches today I thought I'd take a photo and investigate when we got home. It turns out that this wasn't a church at all but a medieval manor house dating from the 15th century called Llys Hynafol Cochwillan. It's recorded that this was originally the home of the sheriff of Caernarfonshire and was subsequently owned by a number of notables including the Duke of York! It then fell into decay and was being used as a hay barn in the 1960's before being restored - it now looks to be quite a nifty upmarket dwelling!

So that's another stage completed - in an ideal world we'd have finished at Bangor Cathedral to round things off nicely. But it was after lunch, I'd not made any butties to pack in my rucksack and I was glad to finish at Llandegai just short of Bangor to meet Vicky who very kindly met me with a  tasty sausage sandwich. Very prosaically she had parked by a good sized industrial estate and she'd guessed that she might find a reliable cafe; and indeed she found one staffed by a couple of middle aged local ladies who, just after 2 pm, owned up to still being open for her.