Dag Pike finds shelter from brisk westerly winds in this
picturesque and historic Welsh harbour on the north coast
south. The harbour almost dries out at
low water, with the majority of mooring
buoys allocated to the local angling fleet,
so you are unlikely to find space here
even if you can dry out.
Instead, take a wide sweep around
Rhos Point where the Rhosneigr Buoy
marks the wreck of a paddle steamer,
and you can find an anchorage for the
night off the southern end of the harbour
breakwater. Give the end a wide berth
because shoals extend out, and there
is a partially submerged jetty runningL
ocated between
the major holiday
resorts of
Llandudno and
Colwyn Bay in
North Wales,
Rhos on Sea is a
quiet anchorage for
the night when the wind is in the west.
The town has a small harbour, but while
most harbours have long historical
origins based on commercial activity or
fishing, the harbour at Rhos on Sea was
only developed in the 1980s as part of
a flood protection scheme. Evidence of
the fish weirs that were used to funnel
fish into nets in the 13th Century are still
visible, with a P-shaped fish trap still
partly shown on the Ordnance Survey
map of the harbour.
The sea wall along the coast here is
quite low and in storms there used to
be a serious risk of the waves over-
topping the wall and flooding the
properties along the sea road. To
address this, a breakwater was built
some 300 metres offshore, with the
surplus stone from the construction
used to extend the groyne that runs
out from the nearby point. The result
is a harbour with a half-tide opening at
its northern end, with the breakwater
running parallel to the shore extendingout from the shore. Beacons mark both.
Keep well south to avoid the submarine
cable marked on the charts.
Your guide as you run in with the
echo-sounder is the remains of an old
pier on the beach at the southern end
of the harbour. Here you can anchor
in about 2.5m, about half a mile
offshore. This should be well sheltered
in south-westerly winds but you can
get some swell sweeping round the
headland if the wind swings to the west.
There is a slipway on the shore adjacent
to the remains of the old pier
for landing by tender.
Ashore you will find all the
facilities of a small, friendly
town with pubs and eateries along the
promenade. It’s busy in the height of the
summer, but if you want to escape the
crowds, it is well worth exploring the
Rhos on Sea Heritage Trail, which
takes in 25 historic sites in just
three hours. It includes St. Trillo’s
Chapel, reputed to be the smallest
church in Britain at Rhos Point, a
short walk from the anchorage.
The chapel can seat just six people
and is named after the 6th-Century
saint, St Trillo. Further inland, there
are the remains of Bryn Euryn, a
5th-Century hill fort that promises
stunning views across the bay.RHOS ON SEA
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RHOS-ON-SEA
Colwyn Bay
Submarine
cable
Rhosneigr
Rhos Point
N
0 3 cables
0 5nm
Llandudno
Rhos-on-Sea
Colwyn
Bay
Caernarfon
Pwllheli
WALES
Anglesey
Moorings are in short supply,
but you can anchor
in 2.5 metres