A Llandudno circuit

In summer, the Great Orme is teeming with visitors who arrive by car, by Victorian tramcars, and by cable car. But there’s another side to the Great Orme. It has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), for this is a limestone promontory with diverse vegetation, ranging from marine grassland to acid heath. There’s also history around every corner, with Europe’s only Bronze Age copper mines that are open to the public; an Iron Age fort; caves that were inhabited in the upper Palaeolithic period; and St Tudno’s Church, with origins in the 6th century. It has been said that Lewis Carroll was inspired to write Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland after a visit to Llandudno and, after seeing the caves, rabbit warrens and captivating scenery of the quieter corners, you can believe it.

You could start from the summit car park, but that would be cheating, so the route description begins from Llandudno Pier. Rounding the corner on Happy Valley Road, you get a glimpse of the cliffs, but almost at once you head uphill through the ordered gardens of Happy Valley. As you emerge above these onto more open slopes, it’s worth a brief detour off the path as you’ll see a great view across the pier and Llandudno Bay, to the town and beaches, which yawn out to a second limestone promontory, known as the Little Orme.

The white summit building with a tower and verandas has a chequered past. Built as a hotel with an 18-hole golf course, it has had many owners and suffered a big fire. The RAF used it as a radar station during World War II, then champion middleweight boxer Randolph Turpin became licensee. He suffered financial difficulties and in 1966 committed suicide. The golf course has gone now, but there is still a Randolph Turpin Bar. The nearby visitor centre is open between Easter and October.

On the Great Orme’s marine grasslands many of the well-known limestone species are present – wild thyme, bloody cranesbill, common and hoary rock roses and the pretty sky-blue spring squill. Later in the walk you pass bare limestone pavements, where a different range of plants inhabit the grikes, or cracks. The pink-flowered one is called herb-Robert. Some grikes contain tiny thorn bushes, dwarfed even by domestic gooseberry bushes. You can also wander (carefully) out to the brink of the cliffs; these are colonised by many seabirds, including fulmars, kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills.

The white summit building with a tower and verandas has a chequered past. Built as a hotel with an 18-hole golf course, it has had many owners and suffered a big fire. The RAF used it as a radar station during World War II, then champion middleweight boxer Randolph Turpin became licensee. He suffered financial difficulties and in 1966 committed suicide. The golf course has gone now, but there is still a Randolph Turpin Bar. The nearby visitor centre is open between Easter and October.

From the pier, walk along Happy Valley Road for about 100yds (91m) then turn left up steps to enter the Happy Valley Gardens. From the far side of the lawn, beyond the stone circle (dating all the way back to 1962!), follow frequent ‘Summit Trail’ waymarkers along a zigzag, surfaced path climbing through the park.

At the top of the gardens go through a gate and follow the path above a little limestone valley that has been filled by a dry-ski slope and toboggan run. The buildings include a pleasant Swiss-style café. Having lost its tarmac, the path continues uphill beneath outcropping limestone onto high grassy slopes.

Above the head of the valley, the path divides. Bear left across the grassland, following a signpost for the summit. Pass under the cableway and descend slightly to the tramway’s halfway station. Bear right here, following a grassy path on the near side of the tramway. After crossing St Tudno’s Road, the path climbs more steeply to the summit complex.

Go round the right side of the summit complex to the cable-car station, then go right on a waymarked footpath descending the grassy hillside overlooking St Tudno’s Church and graveyard. Join a level gravel track which branches off St Tudno’s Road.

Follow the track beside the wall surrounding Parc Farm. Past the rocks known as Free Trade Loaf, the path turns left, still following the wall. You can also follow a grassy path which forks right just to the left of the boulders, rejoining at a right-angle bend. Just beyond this, the wall-side path passes an area of limestone pavement.

Turn left again at a cairn-like formation. You have now rounded the Orme onto the south side. It’s worth a detour from the wall to see the cliff edge and the view across to Conwy Bay, backed by the great Carneddau. When the little cliff path runs out, return to the wall and follow it high above the cliffs to a corner.

Ignore the well-used path going left for the summit complex, and instead bear half-left past an old quarry to a dip in the skyline. Just beyond this you meet the summit road.

Turn right and descend alongside the road. On reaching the copper mines and the halfway station, either retrace your steps across the high fields, back through Happy Valley (the pretty way) or continue down the road by the tramway into Llandudno (the short way).