Prestatyn – Rhyl Walk – 26.06.2011

The walk started out in Gronant Dunes, although in slightly different part form where we walked previously. The part of the dunes where we were near is known as “Talacre Warren”. Talacre is a small village which nestles behind the sand dunes. The word Talacre is a combination of the Welsh words “tal” which means“end” and “acrau meaning “acres”. Talacre literally sits at the end of a Peninsula looking over the Irish Sea and the River Dee Estuary. Perhaps we can investigate this village fully another time

These dunes actually provide a variety of landscapes, probably as the sand has been quite literately “lifted and shifted” by the wind to form them. One particular sand dune was quite steep, in fact this felt like Ben Nevis to me, particularly as my knee was still healing.

As we reached the shore we were walking in parallel to the dunes, and we were now walking a new path which was also known as “Gronant & Gwespyr Circular Walk”. Unfortunately, I cannot find any specific information as to the length of the path or the route. Oh well looks like I will just have to revisit then! (unless someone can tell me otherwise?). The part of the path is quite flat as it runs between the dunes and the beach. It was not long before the route departs from the beach to pass a marshy / reedy area. I wouldn’t be surprised if Reed Warblers lived between these long grasses?

From 2011 – 26.06.2011 – Prestatyn – Rhyl Walk

It is here that the path leaves the reed beds behind and meets up with the path that we finished previously. However instead of walking along the dunes on this occasion, we took a shortcut through the Golf Course. I decided not to take any photos at this point because people were playing golf at the time and there were low flying golf balls! When we reached Prestatyn we decided to take stroll along the sea front. Little did we know it would take us all the way to Rhyl! (it was unplanned!)

The sea front seems to be endless and the beach just seems to goes on and on! With a view of sand and sea and a lovely coastline, it is no wonder just lost track of how far we were walking. There is a cycle path along the sea front too, which I can imagine would be just as good to use – but I think on lovely summers day I would much prefer to take it in my stride!

From 2011 – 26.06.2011 – Prestatyn – Rhyl Walk

We did eventually take a short detour from the front, as we thought about sitting down for some lunch. We had found “Ffrith Festival Gardens”. These gardens have been around since 1935. It was a gardens for holidaymakers and day trippers alike. All enjoying a day out at the funfair including enjoying ice-cream, candy floss and go-karts! The Gardens history has been changeable, since 2007, the gardens gained rollercoasters from Rhyl's closed down amusement park, only to suffer itself with bankruptcy at the end of 2008. As a result, it is sad to see the gardens are not maintained as they should be, it seems to have gone back to nature in some ways – is this a good thing?

Despite everything it seems that Ffrith fun parc is still in use, with ten pin bowling but there are no rides are no more. I would say this one thing, sad as it looks, there is absolutely fantastic potential in these gardens, with such a history and from what I have read, I cannot see why they cannot be redeveloped into something amazing to complement the wonderful dunes 🙂 Particularly as Ffrith is set such a great location –

From 2011 – 26.06.2011 – Prestatyn – Rhyl Walk

We left the gardens behind, to continue our walk along the sea front. It was not long before we came across a very large structure, which did not look relatively old. The biggest thing I noticed about this building, that it did not escape the sand! The outdoor patio area was swamped by it as were the fire exits – possibly the sand was trying to reclaim the land? In fact this large building was Rhyl’s pavilion Theatre.

Rhyl’s Pavilion Theatre was actually opened in 1990. It replaced the original theatre which was demolished in 1974. If you would are interested, the theatre is captured on film on “Holiday on the Buses”, which I mentioned in my Prestatyn blog! The Rhyl Pavilion Theatre which you see in the film was built in 1907, opening in July 1908. It was quite a striking bit of architecture, how different from the theatre you see today…

It was here that stopped for lunch, since we did not stop at Ffrith Gardens as we had originally intended. I felt this area was lovely and quiet, there were not many loud amusements, or perhaps it was quiet because this was a late sunny Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, we had not realised how late it was so we felt that it was time for us to leave Rhyl behind and end our unplanned walk for the day. It now seems that we need to go back to Rhyl and properly explore it!

To see the photos that I did manage to take on the walk

2011 – 26.06.2011 – Prestatyn – Rhyl Walk

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