Rhyl
CHARTS & PILOT BOOK■ Admiralty chart 1464
Menai Strait
■ Admiralty chart 1463
Conwy Bay and approaches
■ Imray chart C52 Cardigan Bay
to Liverpool
■ Cruising
Anglesey and
Adjoining Waters
by Ralph Morris,
published
by ImrayY
ou can pick up a series of
town trail leaflets at the tourist
information hub by the café in
Rhyl Harbour.
Start with Rhyl itself and visit the
site of Rhyl’s biggest mystery, Little
Venice. Under the buildings of West
Parade, where the Queen’s Palace
arcade and ballroom once were,
there’s said to have been a flooded
basement full of gondolas and
canals! The building was burnt
down in 1907, but it’s possible that
Little Venice still survives.
You can explore Edwardian Rhyl
at the free art gallery and museum
■ In 1906, the three-masted
Canadian cargo ship The City
of Ottawa was abandoned in
Rhyl Harbour after sustaining
storm damage. Its timbers
constitute the biggest remains
of any Canadian ship of its
kind, and Ottawa City Council
requested they be returned.
However, while funding was
secured for a survey of the
wreck in 2008, it was deemed
too costly to raise. Sea
defence work in 2011 was
carried out around the wreck,
and it remains on a sandbar
to this day, visible at low tide.
■ Opposite Rhyl’s aquarium
is a memorial to six lifeboat
crew who drowned when
their boat the Gwylan-y-Mor
capsized in 1853, less than
a mile from the shore.
■ The wreck of Resurgam,
one of the world’s earliest
powered submarines, was
discovered five miles offshore
by a diver in 1995. Built in
Birkenhead in 1879, this
steam-powered submersible
sank while under tow for
Portsmouth. Its name – Latin
for ‘I shall rise again’ – has
sadly not proved prophetic.
■ In 1939, the Royal Navy’s
worst peacetime tragedy took
place in Liverpool Bay, just 12
miles off the Great Orme.
Ninety-nine men lost their
lives when submarine HMS
Thetis flooded during sea
trials and became trapped on
the seabed. A botched rescue
attempt and poor conditions
led to the suffocation of the
men, whose bodies were not
recovered for another four
months, after World War II
had broken out.Watery
graves
Exploring Rhyl and the countryside
inside the library, see the ballroom
where The Beatles once played,
and walk around Marine Lake, the
only saltwater lake in North Wales.
Here, steam enthusiasts can also
hop aboard a vintage locomotive
and ride the oldest miniature
railway in Britain, afterwards
exploring the hands-on museum.
For family fun there’s the Drift Park,
with garden, play area, mini golf
course, open-air theatre, skatepark
and paddling pool complete with
water jets. Nature lovers will enjoy
the Seaquarium, Horton’s Nose
nature reserve and walks along theThe Harbour Hub Café
A view of the Horton’s Nose nature reserve
three miles of golden sands.
Nearby in Prestatyn is the start of
Offa’s Dyke Path National Trail.Further afield
If you’ve packed your folding bike,
you can cycle alongside the River
Clwyd, enjoy sea views from
National Cycle Route 5, or visit one
of the nearby towns. Three miles
south of Rhyl is the medieval town
of Rhuddlan with its castle built by
Edward I and 700-year-old church.
It was here that Edward laid down
the law for the next 250 years and
presented his baby son to Welsh
nobility as the first English ‘Prince
of Wales’. Nearby in Bodelwyddan
is the ‘Marble Church’ with its 62m
tower, a masterpiece of the Victorian
Gothic Revival. Outside are rows of
pristine white graves containing the
remains of over 80 Canadian First
World War soldiers. After the war
the soldiers were confined at
Kinmel Camp while waiting for a
ship to take them home. Many
succumbed to the Spanish flu
pandemic, but five lost their lives
needlessly in a riot over food.
Six miles from Rhyl, St Asaph has
the smallest ancient cathedral in
Britain, but has a big history. It was
founded by the Normans in the 12th
century, damaged by Edward I,
burned by Owain Glyndwr and
used as a stable by Roundheads
during the Civil War. It’s also home
to a real treasure – a 16th century
William Morgan bible, the very
first to be translated into Welsh,
helping to preserve one of
Europe’s oldest languages.
Set on a rocky hill with views
across the Vale of Clwyd, the
historic town of Denbigh has more
listed buildings than any other
town in Wales, and is crowned by
the great walled garrison of Edward
I and the ruins of his castle.to pontoon to pick up our
passengers. We’d prefer leisure
boats to stick to the other side.
‘I’ve been sailing around
Rhyl for 48 years and Simon’s
been out with me here since
he was two years old. In fact,
there’s a picture of me in Rhyl
Harbour on the front cover of
PBO in the early ’70s – the
boat was called Dolphin.
‘There are a few good places
to eat around here. The
Crossroads café opens at
8am – they do a decent
breakfast, and the Spot On
café, over the bridge in the
industrial estate, opens at 6am
in the summer. The Harbour
Hub café is good, too. For
lunch, I like Mike’s Chippy,
and for dinner you can do
‘all-you-can-eat’ for £9.50
at Bombay Buffet.’