The Great Orme

[Blodyn]

The footpath work is now underway and it's looking good.  Even the Ffynnon Powell end of the path to White Farm seems to have been cleared, as it was easy to make my way through there this morning. 

Nemesis, I don't blame you for avoiding the Pink Farm path over winter.  It's been particularly wet this year and Frizzy certainly wouldn't have been a white dog afterwards - I pick up enough mud myself.  The day after I'd washed the last lot of mud off my waterproofs I managed to throw myself full length in the mud - anyway it's supposed to be good for the complexion, isn't it!  After a year of walking around with a piece of Duck Tape over the tear to my jacket (not a very big tear, to be honest), I've finally invested in a Gortex repair kit. 

Micox, re. paradelia and the Rorcharch Test, I used to enjoy making those ink blot patterns as a child but I can't remember seeing any pictures in them.  I'm now worried what a psychoanalyst would make of that - does it mean there's NOTHING in my mind! 

[Nemesis]

Mud and I are not a good pair-- I managed to slide backwards down a path near the mine just before Christmas-- on my front! I arrived home looking like nothing on earth.
Got my come-uppance for being nosy this morning, instead of turning off at the half -way station I continued to the summit following a fantastic pale blue Bentley Convertible-- thought it might be someone interesting -- it wasn't, but I decided to walk Frizzy at the summit instead of lower down. Came home reeking of smoke, as there was some clearing and burning going on and it was blowing everywhere.

[Blodyn]

Well, Nemesis, I'm glad I'm not the only one who goes in for mud baths!   

I suppose that the burning and clearing is going on in patches all over the Orme, as I saw some yesterday too.  It's good to see the gorse and heather being managed to allow regeneration.

[Blodyn]

I'm pleased to say that the work on the footpath between Pink Farm and St. Tudno's has now been completed and the path is a great improvement for walking on.   

The first photo shows what was the worst bit before.  It looks rather bleak at the moment but I'm sure it will look better when the vegetation starts growing back.  It's a shame that the gravelled part ends in a sea of churned up mud - the second photo doesn't show how bad it is.  Still, I suppose one can't have everything.   

[Nemesis]

What a shame -- Yeuk--but the new bit looks great.

[Hugo]

The end bit by the farm was a mess when I walked there yesterday but it's a working farm after all and you have to expect these things.
I don't know why but I was expecting all the footpath to be improved and this section is small in relation to the total length of the path, do you know if they are doing any more work on the rest of the footpath?

[Micox]

  Sad, Sad, Sad, IGNORANCE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I see the Council is stuck in the middle of the twentieth century or earlier. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the Equality Act 2010 make it a duty for public bodies to take account of disabled people, especially when new improvements are made to old access routes. The designers of the new path should be made to try to use a wheelchair on gravel. That would make them even redder in the face than they usually are. 

Mike.

[Blodyn]

Hugo, it isn't the farm which made the mess of the path, as the muddy section was fine until the mini diggers started churning it up.  I know that they were working in pretty wet conditions but it would have been better if they'd just smoothed out the last bit behind them.  I suspect that they've done all the work that they're going to. 

Micox, I'm afraid that that path is not wheelchair accessible at all, with three kissing gates and some steeply sloping or rocky bits.  The gravelled section is not at all typical of the rest of the path! 

[Nemesis]

OMG just tried to walk the 'new path', but turned back before the farm. White dog and all that churned up mud. Oh no ! He only had a bath last Friday. As Hugo remarked-- shame they couldn't have tidied up a bit-- the new part is very good.

[Blodyn]

There seems to be a bit of disagreement about whose fault the mud is.  Apparently the contractors say that they tidied up after themselves and the mess was caused by the farm vehicles.  However, before the work on the new path started the farm vehicles could travel along there without such a problem, as their wheels fitted in the stony ruts.  The farmer told me the other day that 20 tonnes of stone chippings went into the new path, carted along 1/2 tonne at a time in very wet conditions.  So, the contractors may have cleared up but by that time there was probably so much mud spread around that the farm couldn't use the track without redistributing it a bit more. 

On a more positive note, there's a new, seagull-proof litter bin by the parking / picnic area between the Halfway Station and St. Tudno's.  It might not sound much to get excited about but that area's been crying out for a bin and I hope it reduces the amount of litter scattered around there. 

[Nemesis]

Oh Wow that's smart! Could do with one at the top of the concrete track as well, unless one has appeared there as well ! The amount of discarded bottles and tins after a weekend would make a re-cycler weep!

[outlawowl]

Yes, good to see the litter bin in place....just hope people use it instead of dropping cans, bottles and picnic rubbish in the parking area above the church

[Blodyn]

Here are a few views from the Great Orme this afternoon.

[Blodyn]

It looks as if nothing has happened on the Great Orme for ages, so here's a photo from Sunday, when the sun was shining and the wildflowers were blooming. 

[Nemesis]

I must have walked this path dozens of times, but never before noticed the odd shape of this rock. Also the fact that it has a deep fissure in the side !
Looked like some strange animal's head from the angle I viewed it.