The third day (s.p.b.) saw a return to warm, settled weather conditions with much of the afternoon spent walking the beach with the dog from Llandudno beach to Rhos on Sea, the next section of Llandudno Bay. Rhos on Sea is a not too commercialised, pleasant seaside area with Little Orme’s Head to the east (see above) and Great Orme’s Head to the north-west (photo taken from the lower slope). Later in the afternoon drove to Colwyn Bay, essentially the last resort before Little Orme’s Head. First impressions were that it has a run-down feel to it, a resort in decline, but that may be unfair.
The geology of north-west Wales is dominated by ancient rock strata and formations, much more so than the Humberside region for example, and much more complex. The bedrocks of the Ormes headlands are dated to the Silurian geological era by the Geological Survey of Great Britain map, 2nd. edition, 1957, thus first laid down as organic material between roughly 400 and 450 million years ago. The Map also defines the bedrock of the Bay as of similar geological age, but clearly less resistant to marine erosion. The rocks of Snowdonia are older still, of the Ordovician geological era, but here much impacted by igneous intrusions (volcanic activity) with peaks such as Snowdon thus created (see later). Mount Snowdon is this highest peak in England and Wales (not Scotland). The bedrocks to the south of Snowdonia are older still, the Cambrian rocks being the basis of the Welsh slate industry. It is interesting to reflect on the fact that the slates covering so many roofs today were created in many narrow strata of the bodies of simple oceanic (not land) life forms such as sponges, early molluscs and the like about 500 million years ago.