North Wales Pilgrims' Way (Stage 7 Bangor to Waunfawr)

Cathedrals usually come a bit bigger than this!

Well isn't it funny how time slips away!    After a few weeks of cross country, half marathoning and Borders Leagueing I finally got back to getting moving again running along the Pilgrims' way. And guess what? There are now leaves on the trees and I'm wearing shorts. Vicky dropped me off where I left off previously and I shuffled into Bangor - here's the comparatively modest cathedral. This is dedicated to St Deiniol. Deiniol is a name that I was already familiar with as there was a young footballer named Deiniol Graham who was one of Alex Ferguson's rising stars at Manchester United. He was going well until he broke his arm and never played again for United. I suspect he lives somewhere round here (in the Prestatyn area) as he recently got a mention in the local newspaper in relation to a motoring offence! Apparently the reason that the cathedral has such a short stubby tower is that the locals didn't want it to be visible from the sea - at the time Viking raiders were on the prowl looking for booty and it didn't pay to advertise your presence! Just after I took this photo I was hailed unexpectedly in the middle of Bangor by our friend Lynne plus daughter and friend who had also come over from Prestatyn to walk a section of the Pilgrims Way. 

We'll walk down the avenue till we're there!

They'd selected a fairly gentle start to their day as in the early stages out of Bangor, after an initial climb, the trail then follows Lon Las Ogwen which is a lovely cycle route built on the old Penrhyn Quarry railway line. For about 4 miles Skip and I followed this fine avenue of maturing trees feeling strong on this pleasant morning.

This was a great opportunity for me and Skip to get well ahead of the girls and we galloped along at a brisk pace. Leaving the old railway line we found ourselves at Pandy Farm, a large circular enclosure with farmhouse. This aerial photo shows what it looked like at one stage but it's rather overgrown now. If you imagine this as a clockface, Skip and I were having a breather in the stream by the trees at about twenty past; refreshed we carried on but made a serious error. About a mile further on I realised I'd left his lead by the stream. We trudged back to be met by Lynne and Co who'd caught us up! So retracing our steps we went up and up through the forest, onto the open moorland and over into the valley where sit Llyn Padarn and the busy town of Llanberis.

All the villages we've been coming through possess at least one chapel, churches though are thin on the ground which is very much a reflection of the former strength of non-conformist religion in this part of Wales. Nevertheless just before we reached Llanberis we found a rather grand church rather by accident. Here's Christ Church in the small village of Deiniolen (pop. 2,000) overlooking the lake. Coming off the mountain trail I'd lost my bearings for a minute or two, Deiniolen is riddled with public footpaths, a legacy of the slate industry, so it's easy to take the wrong route. A lofty church spire beckoned us however and we ran down a narrow path at the back of the cemetery and took this snapshot. Looks a bit more imposing than Bangor Cathedral I think,  although it's not an old church, it was built in 1857. In other words it doesn't have much in the way of pilgrimage connections! 

And so we continued down to Llanberis, past the railway station where a nice looking steam train puffed to a halt disgorging its load of tourists and round the bottom of the lake into town. A familiar  voice from behind us announced the arrival of Matthew on his bike. Matthew is an old running friend who lives not too far away and it was a nice surprise to bump into him and have a brief chat. Glad of the few minutes respite we set off on the final tough leg of the day's journey up and over to Waunfawr. That final track seemed to go on forever - 32K of yomping had certainly taken it's toll on our legs