Rhyl at low water, photographed by harbour master Arthur DaviesArthur DaviesDestination guide
Rhyl life
I
n the autumn, yachtsmen
from Conwy, Anglesey and
beyond can be seen making
their way en masse to Rhyl.
On a clear day, harbour
master Arthur Davies can see
them 12 miles away rounding
Llandudno’s Great Orme and
arriving, a few hours later, at
Rhyl’s futuristic lifting bridge,
which spans the River Clywd at
the entrance to the inner harbour.
Why, with its mountain-fringed
coast, historic towns and quaint
anchorages, does the Menai Strait
not keep these boat owners over
winter? The answer is simple: cost,
convenience and shelter. Rhyl is
like a second home for boats; it’s a
convenient bolt-hole for the north-
west cities, a pleasant location to lay
up for winter chores, and the rent is
reasonable. But even in the spring,
when the cruisers return to their
deep-water moorings, Rhyl’s drying
harbour attracts dinghies, trailer-
sailers and motorboats, whose
owners rent caravans for the season
and launch from the slipways at
the harbour and Rhyl Yacht Club.
Built by Edward I to supplyRhuddlan Castle by sea, Rhyl
Harbour is over 700 years old. Even
the yacht club dates to 1880, when
the town was a vibrant holiday
resort with a shipyard and railway
that crossed the harbour with a
swing bridge, its train timetables
scheduled around tides. These
days the harbour is considerably
quieter and a popular spot for
cyclists, walkers and birdwatchers.
‘The harbour’s amazing at lowwater,’ says Arthur Davies. ‘You can
see half a dozen white egrets,
curlews and oystercatchers, as
well as turnstones feeding around
the banks on the flood.’ Adjoining
the harbour is Horton’s Nose
nature reserve, one of the last sand
dune systems on the North Wales
coast, which is criss-crossed with
boardwalks and marram grass.
From here you can spot the odd
lizard, skylark or harbour seal, andcan look across to the Victorian
and Edwardian buildings of Rhyl’s
West Parade.
Arthur’s office is the top floor of the
smart new harbour complex, which
has a café and cycle shop. When
he’s not boat (and bird) spotting,
he’s busy lifting the 50m-tall mast
of Pont y Ddraig (Dragon’s Bridge)
to let boats in and out, before
closing it to let cyclists onto National
Route 5, which crosses the bridge
and joins Reading to Holyhead.
When I find Arthur he’s single-
handedly launching a fishing
vessel called Eleanor with a
remote-control hoist. Clad in his
waders, he reverses the boat down
the slipway until it floats off its
slings. Skipper Tony and son
Simon then motor Eleanor under
the bridge to the waiting pontoon
where I join them for a sail.
I learn that this is Eleanor’s first
outing since she broke her springs
in the harbour eight weeks ago,
sustaining hull damage. It was
blowing less than 20 knots, but the
combination of wind direction and
a low-pressure system caused 1m
swells on the slipway.Times are changing for this
historic North Wales harbour,
as Ali Wood discovers