Nostalgia Trip #6: Llanon Memories
It’s about 50 years since my childhood trips to Mid Wales began, 50 years since my Nan and Grandad first bought a static caravan at Llanon on the Welsh coast. Perched on the cliff, overlooking the Atlantic sea, Cliff Edge Caravan Park holds wonderful memories for me, family holidays, fun and adventure. But more than this, the place for me and my Nan to form a special bond during our times alone there together.
Monks pool, Llanon 
Monks pool, Llanon
This rocky shore was my playground, rocks circling a pool created by monks way back when in order to catch sprats and other delights of the Atlantic. Prawning and picking shellfish off the rocks, cooking and eating our delicious catch, that was what I loved this beach for. Collecting bucket loads of crabs and having crab races in the caravan. They were supposed to start in the kitchen and run out of the door, how was I to know then that they ran sideways, crabs in the bedrooms, giggling as I scrambled under the beds to catch them. Nan joining in, anything was OK at the van, anything was allowed, stuff you weren’t allowed to do at home, it was a child’s paradise.
A hearty chicken stew for dinner “come on bab, lets play Henry the 8th” and we would throw the gnawed chicken bones over our shoulders, later collecting the bones strewn all over the place.
“Come on bab, lets go for a midnight swim, the tide is right tonight” and we would make our way in our cozzies in the darkness, guided by the light of our torches to the slipway where we would swim in the cold Atlantic water. It was dark but I doubt it was really midnight. It was pure magic.
“no, of course you don’t have to wash today, just don’t tell your Mum”.
The van was our special place, a place to do what we wanted, a place with no rules. A place with our own made up address… Cliff Edge Caravan Park, Shrimp Place, Crab Cove, Llanon, Wales. Our place in heaven.
Today we drive down the narrow lane, already aware that the caravan park has long gone, Billy Bell the owner is long dead and the old farmhouse much changed. We park at the pebble beach, my playground as a child. It’s a bittersweet moment stepping onto the beach, the smell of the seaweed instantly transporting me back to my childhood. It has never been a pretty beach but it holds so many memories. In truth it is a little scrubby, and now I see they have tried to put in sea defences as the cliff crumbled away 6 inches a year but this in its decay has made it look even more uncared for. The beach I once loved as a child, the beach in my memories that was full of life is very different now. The laughter of children, the activity on the slipway, the men launching boats, bringing the early catch of fresh mackerel and pollock onto the site to share with us for breakfast, all the activity, all long gone. Now the pebbles sit in silence, the slipway lies broken. There’s one solitary dog walker, and us.
Llanon beach is now a deserted place, perhaps even desolate, and certainly not pretty, but the rock pools remain, the scent of the seaweed hasn’t changed, I can close my eyes and I am that child, I can almost hear Nan’s voice in the lapping of the waves. Never mind what this place has now become; for me it is filled with memories of pure joy, of childhood delight. Nothing can steal my wonderful memories.
Nothing.
Remnants of feudal farming, Llanon 
Llanon beach 
Llansantffraed Church 
Llanon Cliff 
Llanon Pub 
The old lime kilns
19 Comments
Alison
Lovely to have memories like that and be able to write them down so well. I have many like that and should try and do the same
Phil & Michaela
Many thanks Alison. I think it is easy to write a out special people and memories. would be interested to hear about your memories 😊
normareadtalktalknet
😆fantastic
Phil & Michaela
Oh yes, it was fantastic. So enjoyed re-visiting these places. Such special places. Actually brought a white rick back from Llanon to go 8n our garden 😊
wetanddustyroads
You wrote your memories down with so much intensity – loved it!
Yes, it’s a strange feeling going back to places where you had such wonderful times as a child and then it’s not the same when you return back years later … but like you’ve said, nothing can take your childhood memories away ☺️.
Heyjude
Sometimes I think it’s best not to go back to a place you have loved, just hold on to the memories. And it sounds as though you had wonderful times with your nan here.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Jude, I understand what you are saying but on this occasion I am so glad we re-visited this region, it has kind of re-enforced these memories and enabled be to shared them with Phil in more depth 😊
Phil & Michaela
Thank you. It was easy to write about these are so etched in my memory. So glad we re-visited these places. 😊
leightontravels
A very moving post. I can feel more than a touch of sadness coming off the page. It look like such a quiet and thoughtful place and is, to my eyes at least, very pretty, despite the beach not being up to much. I think these kinds of trips are so worthwhile, what a special time this must be for you both.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Leighton. They were special times, it was very moving to write about them, loved it 😊
grandmisadventures
Your nan sounds like such a fun and wonderful lady and what lovely memories she gave you.
Phil & Michaela
She was amazing fun, I have so many stories about her 😁
Andrew Petcher
Great memories. I have memories of caravan holidays in Borth in Wales. Hated it. Took me 50 years to agree to a caravan holiday again and now I go every year.
https://apetcher.wordpress.com/2016/08/06/wales-the-brynowyn-caravan-park-at-borth/
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Andrew. Wales if fabulous, apart from the rain 😆
Andrew Petcher
https://anotherbagmoretravel.wordpress.com/2013/07/31/wales-a-long-drive-and-a-lot-of-rain/
Toonsarah
What a bitter-sweet visit for you! Places change but memories remain, and your Nan sounds like an amazing person to have had in your life. Isn’t odd how sometimes a smell can transport us back to the past more vividly than any other sense?
Phil & Michaela
Oh Sarah, she was an amazing person. So glad we re-visited Llanon, was great to share with Phil. He had heard all the stories before but to be able to share the place with him too was fantastic 😊
WanderingCanadians
It’s always a bit of a gamble to return to a place many years later to see what’s changed. While the area is not quite like how you remembered it from your childhood, you still have your memories and pictures.
Phil & Michaela
Yes, I agree, but so glad I did go back 😊