Llancolw two

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

As mentioned by previous reviews this was a lovely walk with lots of coastal views and some variations in terrain through woods with some occasional road walking. As Mary mentions, the route through the woods avoids some relatively dangerous stretches of road. Overall a very pleasant route which makes for a lovely day out which I would happily walk again.

I really enjoyed this walk. Because of proximity to the coast (and because of not studying the map in advance!) I expected to be looking out north over Llandudno and the sea, but actually views were all to the southwest and south east as we climbed and then descended. It was a great uncomplicated route on the ground, and would be good for a vigorous march or run between the two places, with the train taking just a few minutes to get you back to the start if you needed to.
Walking up out of Llandudno Junction gave views of rows and rows of misty hills, and Conwy river meeting the sea. And then the second summit was right by the Welsh Mountain Zoo which I'd happened to visit last year, entertaining kids while my partner walked local Slow Ways, so it was exciting to pass there on foot. Sadly didn't hear any creatures, but if you needed a stop-off it is a very friendly little zoo with not-too-miserable animals and bonkers views (looking down over Welsh winter coastline with flamingos in the foreground was great!).
As mentioned by previous reviewer Mary, who I was walking with, the paths down the hill run alongside the road in the woods, and are easy enough to see and navigate, and much much more pleasant that in would have been on the roads.
Look out for a tree in the middle of a road, very special. And we did also discover (too late as we'd got all the way down), that there is a pub with great food reviews amongst the woods too, the Pen y Bryn.

This route is a little sloppy in its plotting, but in general it is clear where you are meant to walk. The only bit that is not so clear is that between the zoo and Colwyn Bay town, it is possible, and preferable, to walk through the edge of Pwllycrochan Woods, and avoid the section of windy road with quite a few of cars in rush hour, poor visibility, and no verge. This is marked as Old Highway on some maps, and is from OS Grid Ref 839787 to 843787.
We walked this route in the late afternoon, starting from Llandudno Junction, which made for some nice views in the low sunshine of late winter. There were two relatively steep climbs and descents. The first one was up quiet roads then down through some sheep-grazed fields with stiles, and passing close below the Bryn Pydew Obelisk.
After bridging over the A55 we walked through Mochdre where the Mountain View Hotel does lunches 4 days a week. Then we headed up the next hill along the Old Highway, which was fairly quiet at this point. After passing the entrance to the Welsh Mountain Zoo, it was nice to reach the woodland footpath, by the next crossroads. Leaving the woods, there was a direct suburban road route down to Colwyn Bay shops and station.
This was a pleasant inland walk with some good views.

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