GET UP THAT ORME!

Last time, I left you in Llandudno town centre and that's where we'll start today. A guaranteed early opener is the Wetherspoons, the Palladium. 

Next stop, the Albert, with some good beers.

From there, it's a short hop to the Gresham, but it has no cask beer these days.

The Snowdon has been recently refurbished and remains worth a visit.

A less traditional pub, with good ales - the Cottage Loaf.

There's still one more pub to do, but we'll come back to that. Meanwhile, an interlude in the gardens of Happy Valley.

Crosville Wales became the main bus operator in Llandudno. 

Now, it's part of Arriva.

Llandudno Urban District Council, which became Aberconwy UDC in 1974, had a small fleet of buses to enable passengers to get up to St Tudno's church. Here's a good part of the fleet in 1975, in the town centre.

Now, a couple of the other buses in the Aberconwy fleet.

A local independent, Alpine, ran a few services in the town after deregulation.

Express Motors also reached Llandudno.

No, this charabanc isn't on service, just attending a local vintage vehicle rally, along with a Jowett Bradford van.

We must not forget that Llandudno was once connected to Colwyn Bay by a tramway - all gone now. Mostyn Street, where the photo was taken, still survives.

Llandudno has a railway station, the terminus of a branch from the North Wales main line. Here, a class 40 arrives, with a backdrop of Snowdonia.

DMUs ran most of the services in the 1990s, though the odd loco hailed working took place.

Back to that promised pub. The Kings Head is alleged to be 300 years old. It's vety handy for the lower station of the Great Orme Tramway.

The lower section of the Great Orme Tramway takes one through the streets of the town, then alongside the road.

Coming down the hill is a Llandudno UDC Foden PVSC6 (Les Flint).

A more modern Aberconwy UDC bus is seen at St Tudno's church in 1978.

Taking the coast road around the Great Orme, a couple of vintage lorries on a rally.

Back to the Great Orme Tramway, we've reached the halffway point. It's 1913 and we must change cars.

Another old postcard view, this time of the upper section.

A more modern view of car 6 on the upper section and at the terminus.

An alternative route up the Great Orme is by cable car, as depicted in this postcard view.

From the summit, there are great views over Llandudno's West Shore and beyond. That's where we'll head in the next post.

BAE COLWYN

Just along the coast from Rhyl is Towyn, not to be confused with the town on the West Wales coast. Passing here is preserved 46229 Duchess of Hamilton. 

Further west is Abergele and Pensarn station, where a Crosville Bristol Lodekka open-top bus is operating along the coast.

Just outside Abergele is Gwrych Castle, once the home of a miniature railway.

 Coed Coch, Dolwen, formerly Heronwater School c1960, a couple of miles inland.

Back to the coast and, at Old Colywn, we find the Old Red Lion.

Mr Google and Whatpub report that the Sun Inn at Old Colwyn is "long term closed".

Our next stop is down there.

Along Colwyn Bay sea front was a minature railway.

Colwyn Bay has a pier. It's suffered from various fires, but has been restored. Here's a 1950's postcard view.

Some more modern postcard views of Colwyn Bay.

Colwyn Bay railway station, up platform, by Noel Walley 2006 (Creative Commons License).

This 0-6-0T locomotive once resided on the other side. All gone now.

Crosville Wales was serving Colwyn Bay in 1993.

Colwyn Bay Urban District Council once ran a tiny fleet of buses on a town service. This angular Bedford was once found operating it.

The UDC also operated to The Zoo, where KJC90P was photographed. 

Time for a quick look at a postcard of Rhos-on-Sea.

If all this is confusing you, here's a link to the map. Anyway, just inland is the village of Glanwydden where we find the Queen's Head.

And so onwards to Llandudno. Here, we're looking back towards the Little Orme around 1970.

The east end of Llandudno Promenade.

An old postcard view of this area.

Mostyn Street, in Llandudno town centre, circa 1950 (Photographer unknown).

The town centre, sometime around 1968.

Back at the beach and the lifeboat is ready to launch.

Again, it's some time around 1970 and here's Llandudno Pier.

And it's "goodnight" from a postcard of the pier.

Next time, we'll see more of Llandudno and ascend the Great Orme.