A Spontaneous Drive to Rhyl

April 18^th 2018.

The weather was absolutely beautiful. Beautiful sunshine. Not a cloud in the sky. And yet, I spent the entire day indoors doing jobs and drinking tea.

 

April 19^th 2018.

The weather was absolutely beautiful. Beautiful sunshine. Not a cloud in the sky. I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity today.

The day started pretty mundanely. I drove around to my sister’s to drop off a lasagne dish and then booked my car in for a service at Arnold Clark. Whilst driving home and approaching Over Square roundabout, I impulsively decided to ignore Exit 1 leading back home, and took Exit 2 which would take me out of Winsford.

Initially I thought I might go to Delamere Forest, but at a set of traffic lights I decided to take a left-turn that I’d never taken myself on before. I reckoned I might end up in Chester, but again I decided to turn left and found myself on the North Wales Expressway.

Suddenly, the excitement started to build. I have been driving for just over 3 months, and in that time I’ve visited a fair few places – but always accompanied. I always try to convince others (and myself) that you should learn to love to live your life alone before enjoying it with everyone else, but the prospect of a long solo drive to a lonely day out always filled me with sadness. It was such a cool thing to do that I wanted to be able to share the fun and the memories with someone. I didn’t want my first trip to Wales to be a lonely one. And yet, here I was, on a whim, and I was well up for it! The sun was out, the sky was cloudless and my summery Spotify playlist was blasting out bangers as I blasted through gloriously green countryside.

It didn’t matter that I had nobody to talk to because I was too busy singing along to Frank Turner, HAIM and Dexys Midnight Runners. Kinky Kylie the Corsa reached her 10,000 milestone as I passed Broughton and suddenly had a decision to make. Seeing services up ahead, I pulled in and discovered this place at around 10:15.

There was a definite ‘Back to the Future’ vibe inside and my Nutella Nut Job milkshake was unbelievable. Between slurps I had to choose between heading for the Welsh valleys or the Welsh seaside. After 30 minutes I returned to the road and got thoroughly overexcited when suddenly the ocean was visible to my right. Choice made.

And now I was following signs for Rhyl. Some of my earliest memories of the seaside are of Rhyl. I remember catching two trains to the Denbighshire town with my parents and my siblings when I was very young. Years later, I had my first ever rollercoaster experience on Pepsi-Cola Loop at the now demolished Ocean Beach amusement park. It felt nice that Rhyl would also be the first time I ever drove to Wales, and the first time I ever drove to the beach.

I followed signs for long stay parking and ended up on West Kinmel Street car park; around the corner from Rhyl train station. Upside: £3.50 for 24 hours parking! Downside: my car seemed to attract seagull shit.

I had no bag, no sandals, no bucket & spade, no battery pack, no sun screen, no drink, no towel and not a lot of cash. BUT, what I did have was glorious sunshine and miles of empty golden beaches. The wind was a slight breeze and the clouds were not present in Wales, either. I walked along the entire beach and crossed one young family. No childish babble blotted the soundscape of the waves. Twas perfect!

With the tide almost fully in, I continued to walk along the beach in the direction of the River Clwyd, already feeling the sun, high in the midday sky, on the back of my neck. Little fishing boats were bursting out into the Irish Sea as I made my way to the footbridge. Isn’t it amazing how loose your phone and keys in your pockets feel when you’re crossing a bridge? On the other side, I found the sand dunes of Horton’s Nose Nature Reserve. Being fond of sand dunes and salty air, I walked out onto the gangway, where again, there were just a couple of other people. The signs suggested I look out for little lizards basking in the sunshine but alas, I did not see any reptiles!

I lay down on some no-as-uncomfortable-as-they-look pebbles beside the ocean. By this point, my Instagram and Snapchat stories of the day were prompting reactions amongst my fans (haha, friends*), some of whom were in work on this beautiful Thursday (waaayyyyy). One lass who wasn’t working was Katie, and she decided to grab her doggo and drive down from Manchester to join me. Suddenly this solo trip wasn’t so solo! After a 30 minute snooze on the beach, I had to return to my car to charge my crappy phone. I jumped into the back seat and continued reading Jurassic Park (lucky I had it in my car, otherwise I would have been sat there for 90 minutes with literally nothing to do, unable to leave the car with the key in the ignition and my phone on charge).

At around 3pm, I left the car, taking with me my emergency hoody from the boot. I came across this church, which for some reason reminded me of buildings I saw a few summers ago in Bretagne. Thoughts? Does it look French?

I really needed a wee now. Back on the promenade, I looked around for a place with a bathroom, but there were no pubs whatsoever on the seafront. I was hoping to find a big one or a Spoons, so I could slip in, use the toilet, and not feel guilty about not buying a drink. But alas! I entered the arcades, but again, no toilets. Perhaps Welsh people didn’t use toilets? Or it was perfectly acceptable here to go straight to the ocean and pull your bits out? When I did find some toilets at the Tourist Info Centre, I was HORRIFIED to discover it was 30p for a wee! WTF. I was not aware I had teleported to London. I’d rather hold it in, and anyhow, my search had to go on hold because Katie had arrived with her dog.

The tide was out now so the three of us went for a stroll onto the empty beach again. Eventually, I succumbed and took off my shoes and socks to get some water and sand amongst my toes. You’ll be utterly astonished to hear that the water was freezing. We stopped by an ice cream stand ran by a very pleasant old couple – the lady was on the phone to someone about the till, and the gent was trying to serve me around her. It was very nana-and-grandad-ish, but the vanilla & strawberry ice cream on a waffle cone was very delish.

We carried on walking along the beach and mentioned to Katie how few places there were for a seaside resort. Really, it baffled me how everywhere had closed before 5pm! When you’re at the seaside, it’s THE LAW that you have fish and chips for tea; AND YET there was not ONE CHIPPY on the promenade. I ventured a few times down streets and all the chippies were closed! I know it’s only April but come on, Rhyl. Have a word with yourself.

Eventually we ended walking to the Asda at Kinmel Bay and I FINALLY went for a wee before buying some more water to add to my system. The weather was still perfect and the sun was starting to sink closer to the mountains to the west. It would have been nice to continue walking west towards Towyn, but I was well aware I had blasted work in the morning at 6am. With a heavy heart, we decided to walk back towards Rhyl.

7pm came and it was time for Katie (also in work early in the morning) to return to Manchester. I really wanted to stay and wait for the sunset, but I was starting to get cold in my hoody and shorts, and I really wanted some effing fish and chips. The photographer in me got in a hump as I left the beach and returned to my car.

Whilst exiting Rhyl I found (AT LAST) a chippy – Aslan’s Fish & Chips – a godsend for my stomach. It was a delicious haddock and chips. The sky turned steadily pink as I jumped back onto the A525. I was deffo feeling the regret for not photographing the sunset – but I had to go home! Work in the morning!! </3

And so, I was back on the North Wales Expressway and heading home, driving into cloud that was spilling over the hills. It was an incredible sight (again, why do I always see vistas when I’m driving?? Need to install a HD dashcam or something…) and the fog was dense when I reached it. It was amazing – I’d basked in sunshine and not seen a cloud all day and now, all of a sudden, I was plunged into dark gloom. Twas like entering Mordor. Eventually I arrived home and went straight to bed, absolutely cream crackered!

I presume it was still the off-season in Rhyl, but I was a little saddened that there wasn’t really much to do in Rhyl. The Sky Tower doesn’t operate anymore and the theme park closed in 2007 and has been replaced by a massive car park and a few shops. Unless you like arcades (who doesn’t, tbh?), there really ain’t much to do on the Rhyl promenade, which is a shame. Looks like I’ll have to come back in summer, and just learn to cope with all the extra bodies.

Oh btw. The off shore wind farm. Doesn’t bother me at all. It’s 2018, people. You could even say they look like flowers on the horizon 🙂

Next up, a lads lads lads holiday…

in the Lake District…