Towyn / Tywyn
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The Black Cat
Made by zawtowers
I have very fond memories of The Black Cat in Towyn. It was here that I first became aware of amusement arcades and games, and how I could possibly end up being good at them. It was the closest arcade to the Happy Days site, so as you can imagine it was easy to head there with a pound and spend it playing all the latest games. I could make 10p last for around ten to fifteen minutes on Track and Field, and once clocked all the events on it (ie: did them all without losing a life) which at the tender age of twelve was pretty good going. I also remember playing the likes of Paperboy with the handle bar controller, Hyper Sports with its events, Afterburner with the 360 degree cabinet and also the 2p falls. I quite like the signage as it is now, classic yet modern and a great view from the front to entice you in.
The Black Cat side on
Made by zawtowers
I have very fond memories of The Black Cat in Towyn. It was here that I first became aware of amusement arcades and games, and how I could possibly end up being good at them. It was the closest arcade to the Happy Days site, so as you can imagine it was easy to head there with a pound and spend it playing all the latest games. I could make 10p last for around ten to fifteen minutes on Track and Field, and once clocked all the events on it (ie: did them all without losing a life) which at the tender age of twelve was pretty good going. I also remember playing the likes of Paperboy with the handle bar controller, Hyper Sports with its events, Afterburner with the 360 degree cabinet and also the 2p falls. This is the arcade from the left hand side, showing the lettering on the lower roof.
Chelsey Beach Shoot-1
Made by Dave Owens Photo
Went to towyn last week for a break with the kids, me and chelsey wanted to do a shoot on the beach. This was in the strobist feature, which was in what digital camera mag. I was so pleased that one of my photos had finally got a bit of publicity. My thanks goes to Nigel Atherton (see comments) Editor of the mag for picking my shot. This is also going to be shown in the best of Cactus feature in the new Cactus blog by harvest one. These are what we got. Note - Uploaded new version, cloned out turbines. Cheers Lee. Thanks to everyone who has commented and supported me with my photography.. Strobist - SB28 @ 1/4 power camera right with full CTO held by VAL. SB-24 behind to the right of Chesley @1/8 for a slight rim mounted on Gorillapod.
Kentucky Derby
Made by zawtowers
I went into The Black Cat and still found it to be an excellent amusement arcade. Now they have a Bowlingo mini bowling alley, lots of 2p falls games, Guitar Hero Arcade (had to have a go of that) as well as the grabber machines you never win on, but best of all, this! Kentucky Derby is great fun, you roll the balls in the holes and see your horse progress and hopefully win tokens to put towards prizes. Shame there was no one around or else I'd have had a go!
The blue bridge
Made by zawtowers
This blue bridge over the railway has many fond memories for me. It is accessed from the end of the Happy Days caravan site, and allowed easy access to the beach in the distance. The bridge used to shudder when trains passed underneath and my brother and I used to stay here and wait for the trains to come. Today if you head over the bridge you have to walk around the Golden Days development site to get to the beach - not exactly ideal to be honest.
The Up Manchester
Made by darkprince66 (Double POTM Winning Super Hero :D)
175111 works a lunchtime Llandudno-Manchester Piccadilly service through the site of Kinmel Bay station, 9 January 2010. There's recently been local press speculation about re-opening the station here, it would be useful to serve the Kinmel Bay area and the many caravan sites at Towyn, but would add yet another stop to the long distance trains which already stop too often along the coast.
Beach
Made by zawtowers
As you head West from Towyn towards Pensarn, you can see that the beach definitely has more pebbles on it, which makes for a different yet pretty view. The eagle eyed amongst you might be able to spot a castle to the left - Gwyrch Castle near LLandullas to be precise. Note how the coast sweeps around towards Colwyn Bay.
Sprinting Along The Coast
Made by darkprince66 (Double POTM Winning Super Hero :D)
The 1130 Holyhead-Birmingham International rips through Towyn formed by Machynlleth based 158833 on 9 January 2010. The unit will join up with another 158 at Shrewsbury which will have left Aberystwyth at 1230 and then run to International combined. It works well enough until someone sends a 175 as the Holyhead portion...
Goodbye grey sky, hello blue..
Made by zawtowers
Ah, memories! Happy Days Caravan Park was where I used to spend many a Summer holiday. The caravan we used to be in was close to the railway (and so closer to the beach) and you used to have to go the office here to pick up and drop off your keys. It was pretty busy today showing how popular the place still is.
The Black Cat from over the road
Made by zawtowers
I head across the road from The Black Cat so I could see how large it actually is, and it's still as big as I can remember it. I used to really enjoy the arcade machines in here as a child of course, and 10p on Hypersports could last ages (well that was till the pole vault, could never get past that at the time).
Rollercoaster
Made by zawtowers
The fun fair at Tir Prince was never there when I was younger, so I'd never have had chance to go on this rollercoaster. Mind you, it looks pretty good if you want to go and be genuinely scared. They used to have a similar coaster at Ocean Beach in Rhyl, which closed down several years ago.
Caravan bokeh
Made by zawtowers
As you walk further west along the cycle path and former sea wall, you can see that the railway and the caravan parks get ever closer to the sea. This green mesh fence stops people wandering on to the railway but also ensures that the caravan owners don't try and take a shortcut!
Dolphin
Made by zawtowers
By far the most intriguing of the floral displays on Sandbank Road is this, a dolphin. The bottom of the dolphin is effectively a flower basket for the flowers and plants that make up the body. You can also see the flowers below reflected in the shiny underbody of the dolphin.
Stop look and listen
Made by zawtowers
There is the occasional level crossing to the west of Towyn as some of the caravan parks don't have footbridges over. At each crossing there's a sign in Welsh and English which warns you to beware of trains. I quite like the Welsh language warning though - more direct I think.
Wind farm, distant
Made by zawtowers
Out to sea from Towyn you can see that there's now a wind farm in the distance. There's in fact two of them: this one to the West and there's another to the East between Rhyl and Prestatyn. I remember when flying over the coast to Dublin being able to see these from above.
Staring at the sea
Made by zawtowers
As I walked along the beach in Towyn, I noticed this family all set for the day at the beach, with plenty of folding chairs at the ready to soak up the sun and stare at the sea. Looks like the boy to the left is about to throw a pebble and maybe skim it over the waves?
Rust out to sea
Made by zawtowers
Standing on this footbridge over the railway in Towyn, you can see that the bridge has rusted but aged well over the years, with the sea and hills forming a backdrop as you walk over. Abergele and Pensarn train station is in the distance from this bridge.
Sandbank flowers
Made by zawtowers
The end part of Sandbank Road is now pedestrianised (it wasn't years ago when I was on holiday here) and on the approach to Knightly's Funfair, there's some nice floral displays. It's good to see that there's some local pride in making the place prettier.
Chelsey Beach Shoot-4
Made by Dave Owens Photo
Went to towyn last week for a break with the kids, me and chelsey wanted to do a shoot on the beach. These are what we got. Strobist - SB28 @ 1/4 power camera right with full CTO held by VAL. SB-24 behind to the right of Chesley @1/8 for a slight rim.
Sword in the stone
Made by zawtowers
As you approach the end of Sandbank Road and to the railway bridge over to Knightly's Fun Fair and the beach, there's a display about King Arthur on one side of the road. I wonder if you could pull the sword out yourself and be part of the display?
