|
Photo Album-North Wales
Rowen and up
(and even more up)
| The end of June 2002 saw me in North Wales. The weather was
autumnal rather than summery, but I decided to explore the roads on my
bike off to the west of the Conwy valley. Rowen is a pretty little place,
much loved as a place to live by TV and sport personalities, so I am told...
|
| Click on this map to see the route I took from
Llandudno, via Conway and Rowen, then climbing to about 1400 feet
before a dramatic descent to Llanfairfechan and back along the coast
road. The pictures below were take on two
separate visits to Rowen, March 2007 and June 2005. |
 |
Hi, Mike!
I found your website as I was searching for the Ty Gwyn. I will be in
Rowen in Oct/Nov.
Thought you might be interested to know that I'm an "American" whose
grandfather was born in the house/store that you pass at the
"crossroads" as you come in from Conwy. That was the Davies family home
for a very long time, but sadly it was sold in the 1960s or 70s.
One of my siblings now works for a firm in Llandudno and lives in Rowen.
I have visited the village, and my aunt and cousin, several times over
the past 4 decades. Of course I love it and feel very much at home
there. Your photos brought back many wonderful memories.
Thank you very much! |
JD (Jerald) Reece
California and New Mexico, USA |
Mike - I have just found your web - site, and enjoyed
looking at your photos of the village of ROWEN.
I lived in Rowen from 1988 until 1996 - work bought me to North Wales,
and I rented a cottage in the village for most of that time.
Everything fell apart in early 1996, and I left the area. I have never
been back.
I go back to North Wales occasionally, but usually to Porthmadog (for
the Ffestiniog Railway ) but have never been back to Rowen.
Your photographs bought back many memories, and the place doesn't seem
to have changed much since that day when I drove away for the last time
after my farewell "bash" in the Ty Gwyn. I wonder if the same crowd of
locals still prop up the pub bar every night, or have been chased out by
the weekenders and the holidaymakers ?
I was actually searching the web for a trace of an old girl friend who
lived in Rowen, and with whom I lost touch in 1997. I found no trace of
her, but it was nice to see the village again through your photos.
I lived in a cottage called 2 TAN - Y- CELYN, up the village a bit from
the Chapel.
Thank you for bringing back so many memories - all good ones !
Diolch yn fawr y chi. |
COLIN MARSH |
|
Hello Mike,
I have just looked at your very nice
site, and would like to ask if you stayed in Rowen? The reason I
ask is because I have a very beloved little cottage there which I
rent out for most of the year (except May, when I visit it). I
especially intended it for hill climbers and people like yourself
who take to the hills and enjoy them. It only has one big bedroom
(double bed plus single bed plus all the bedroom furniture, and a
view over the rooftops of the village below me). So it is not
suitable for more than a couple. I have night storage heaters which
are great, plus a convection heater in each room, so no reason to be
cold. It is number 6 Rose Gerlan Cottages, Rowen, and is in a row of
terraced cottages which used to be for the miners when there was
mining up in the hills. The original solid granite walls are about
a foot thick. Only one of the other cottages is lived in year
round, all the others are "week-ender" private second homes.
I have modernised the kitchen and
bathroom, and the sitting room has an open fireplace. The sun porch
at the back looks out onto the hills. There's a washer and dryer,
and at the back there is a minute patio. At the front is a small
garden.
Anyway, if this is of any interest to
you or any others you may know who like the countryside and the
hills, please visit the site of my agent, North Wales Holiday
Cottages.
I live overseas so they deal with
everything. And yes, I have authorised short lets, like a weekend,
because I want people to enjoy what I love, sharing makes everything
worthwhile. It's a lovely little cottage, and the hill walks are
amazing all around that area. I used to live in Llanbedr y Cennin,
just a few miles away.
For some reason or other, people like to
go to the cottage over Christmas and New Year's, as well as the
summer. I like to think it is because it is a welcoming cottage; it
is certianly cosy.
May I wish you many more happy days of
exploration with your bike. You are lucky to be so enduring - I can
only manage a few miles a day with my own two feet! Then it's nice
to come back to the peace and serenity of my cottage.
|
Carolyn. |
|
Hi
Mike
Just about to book a holiday cottage in Rowen for Easter. Googled it,
and came up with your site. Definitely selling it to me. I am
definitely taking my mountain bike with me to check out the Roman Roads.
Regards |
Hillary, Rotherham,
South Yorkshire |
 |
Rowen is a gorgeous little village just a few
miles from the River Conwy's western bank. Lovely stone walls, a quiet
lane, a pub, and a satellite dish. |
 |
I stumbled across this typical Welsh Chapel,
now used as a museum and, I think, a nursery. |
|
This is the inside showing the pews and the
typical windows. In north east Lancashire, as a child, I went to a similar
chapel: Zion Independent Methodists. |
 |
 |
 |
The roof had a number of ornately decorated
panels. This was one of them. |
 |
 |
|
Some other buildings and views I saw in
this eclectic little village... |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The gravestone of one Huw T Edwards, a well known
Trade Unionist. |
 |
 |
|
The Ty Gwyn, a well known Gwesty of
these parts. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Needless to say, it's early spring with daffodils
giving a bright splash of yellow. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
There's usually a bit of rusty iron in my
photographic forays... |
 |
| |
|
