Woolly says – Our household of singles had decided to celebrate Valentine’s Day, well that was until we read the weather forecast and realised that going a day earlier would mean some sunshine instead of torrential rain. Being ever flexible we headed off to celebrate the day before the most romantic day of the year.
Being on the edge of the Snowdonia National Park does ensure tonnes of beautiful scenery as the car raced along the winding roads, we got extra time to admire the mountain views having to pass through 6, yes 6, sets of roadworks all working with convoy vehicles to take traffic through, so an average of 5 minutes per wait good job we are all patientish!
Finally passing the main town of our visit we headed for the Handsome Jack centred part of the day, a walk on the beach. We have no idea if Corgi features has been to the seaside previously, so I was looking forward to his reaction and they didn’t disappoint as having been released from the car he zoomed across the miles of empty sands. Black Rock Sands name comes from the area to the west of the beach dominated by a large, multi-coloured headland rock, low-tide caves and rock pools, an area rich in marine life. Natural history is also a feature of the local sand dunes, which have been declared a ‘Site of Special Scientific Interest’. With the mutt finally coming to a stop we piled back into the car and drove the three miles back to Porthmadog.
It was years since I had spent anytime in the small town but way back in the 80’s it had been one of our biker destinations for one very simple reason and it wasn’t to do with the beach, a lovely run to the coast from our area in the midlands would allow us to enjoy the delights of some vinyl!
Woolly says – Porthmadog (spelt Portmadoc until 1972 and known locally as “Port”), is a coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, Wales. Porthmadog came about after William Madocks built a sea wall, the Cob, between 1808 and 1811 to reclaim much of Traeth Mawr from the sea for farming use. Diversion of the Afon Glaslyn caused it to gauge out a new natural harbour deep enough for small ocean-going sailing ships, and the first public wharves appeared in 1825. Quarry companies followed, with wharves along the shore almost to Borth-y-Gest, while slate was carted from Ffestiniog down to quays along the Afon Dwyryd, then boated to Porthmadog for transfer to seagoing vessels.
Porthmadog flourished as a port, its population rising from 885 in 1821 to over 3,000 by 1861. Mining started to reduce in 1867 along with the opening of the Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway, and completely ended by the First World War, when the lucrative German market for slate collapsed. The 19th-century wharves survive, but the slate warehouses have been replaced by holiday apartments and the harbour is used by leisure yachts and it is now known for tourism.
Parking up in the town centre we headed towards the Cob which proved to be a lovely area with small boats bobbing around in the harbour and a lovely backdrop of some of the Georgian houses the town has.
The small Maritime museum was closed (for once we knew that everything would be closed) so we merely paused to admire the last standing warehouse from the towns hey days in which the museum is housed before spending some time chatting to Dixie the Dragon who was looking forward to seeing visitors for the summer months.
Just past the Cob was three stations for one of the towns three railways, the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways which had been established in 1832 to bring slate from the mine in Ffestiniog to the port for shipping. The small trains still puff away today during the season taking tourists through the lush mountains and back again.
The station was lovely and so well maintained sadly of course there was no engines to admire but it did give us a chance to enjoy the scenery that ran alongside the tracks.
The human was getting figetity and I had spotted the reason why just across the road was the reason for all of her visits so many years ago, the famous Cob Records shop. The rise to international fame of Cob Records, began in 1967 by selling ex-juke box singles at 1/6d. (7½p) each as a back-room side-line in conjunction with an existing Cob business. It soon became apparent that there was a demand for current LPs and Singles as there was no record shop in the area. Accounts were then opened with all the record companies and the whole basement of the existing business was fitted out as a record shop. By 1971 business was booming and they were sending records to over 50 countries world-wide employing about 25 staff members. Now days it still sells online but far fewer people arrive in person.
The bell pinged as we entered and it was like stepping back in time as the display cases still looked identical and the whole shop still had the smell of mustiness that I remembered, sadly our first view was of CDs not albums that had covered the place. Happily, further into the shop we found the vinyl and enjoyed some time leafing through the records as I had in my twenties, I can still remember buying a Janis Joplin and the Big Brother Holding Company albums there which I still have, happy days.
Before the human started to get too emotional, I dragged her back outside and we continued our walk along the main street peeking into the independent shops and admiring some of the buildings that lined the road.
Arriving at the bottom of the town we spotted a church spire peeking above the trees and headed over the road to have a look, passing a wonderfully colourful signpost on route.
St John’s church was built between 1873 and 1876 to designs first of local architect Thomas Roberts, then by Axmann and Perrott of London, with the tower being added on in 1898. Obviously, the church was closed but we had a short look around the exterior and stood admiring the views across to the Snowden Mountain range.
We started our walk back on the other side of the main road where we found a small park with its water fountain and a lovely slate monument that celebrates the history of the industry from the town. Only one thing left to do and that was in the small restaurant next door, fish and chips of course, I mean it’s the law isn’t it to have fish and chips on a day by the sea.