river ride

Magical mystery tour on Friday led by Mike, exploring the Welsh side of the River Dee and all those places I've gazed across at from the Wirral all my life but never been to before.

First off was the lovely ancient town of Holywell with it's great High Street

 ahh - Mountain Ash - reminds me of the Ash Grove (Llwyn Onn) we sang at school . .

and so to the well in Holywell!! St Winefride's Well - a place of pilgrimage in Wales since the 7th Century - and quite amazing it was.  But we couldn't presuade Mum to take the waters!!

and this was the pile of ancient discarded crutches in the museum - waters worked then!

 Then near Mostyn Docks we came upon the wreck of the Duke of Lancaster

 fabulously decorated with street art

and finally the jewel in a pretty pefect day - was a visit to Talacre Beach and Point of Ayr lighthouse, which we can see from the Wirral so clearly (and by the way that website I've found for the lighthouse is quite amazing - worth a diversion - Abandoned playgounds)

and as well as natterjack toads, these beautiful dunes are now the habitat of rare sand lizards recently released from Chester Zoo - read more here

 so onto the beautiful beach

and first sighting of the Point of Ayr lighthouse which the Wiki article says was designed by RL Stevenson's grandfather - well well well.  And it's not tipping like Pisa - it's my photographic efforts to get those amazing waves in the sand.

and looking the other way you can just see West Kirby and Hilbre Island over the estuary - just where we were driving only a few hours before.

Here's the lovely old lighthouse itself, pointing out into the Irish Sea

Was mighty hard to drag ourselves off that beach - the sun was warm, the wind gentle and the sand perfect, but it was onwards to the end of our quest - the northern tip of Offa's Dyke on the beach in Prestatyn which we'd been curious about ever since staying in Montgomery this summer in a farmhouse in the middle section of Offa's Dyke.  This is the monument on the seafront.

We ended the jaunt with the bestest Fish and Chips at the friendly little Crispy Cod in Prestatyn and this is my washed collection of shells back home in landlocked Sheffield.

I MUST go down to the sea again . . . . .