It’s 6pm and the warm evening sunshine glimmers on the gentle water. My four wetsuit-clad kids laze on top of surf boards, casually chatting about the best wickets they’ve taken this season or their current playlist.
But as the familiar rumble starts up, they swing into action, paddling calmly then with greater urgency as the wave surges up behind them, tossing a couple of them underneath in its wake and propelling the other two to shore.
I hope I don’t sound like a harsh parent when I say I’m unconcerned about any stragglers being knocked unconscious and dragged out to sea by unpredictable currents. Because this is not the sea…my precious offspring are having a surfing lesson in the world’s first inland surfing lagoon. And it’s right here in the UK.
North Wales is cleverly carving itself out to be a leading light in the tourism world, with superlative after superlative flying out of the activity lists. The world’s highest or longest, Europe’s first or fastest…it’s all here in what was once sleepy Snowdonia.
The mountain steam trains and cavern tours are still around but nowadays thrill seekers arrive in flocks to zip across the landscape in every way possible and to bounce, plummet and swing their socks off. And now it seems, to surf in safety too.
Continue reading “SIX GO MAD IN…SNOWDONIA”
The grand finale is the best bit…. ‘the blob’ is a 33ft long floating air-filled pillow which one or two people jump onto from a platform, sending the person crouching at the other end flying up then crashing into the water.
I grew up near there – Scousers nicknamed those living in the surrounding countryside like me ‘Woolybacks’ – and remember the sadness of seeing shops boarded up, streets deserted and buildings falling to ruin. But a huge regeneration project has transformed the old docks into an eye-catching and dynamic hub, rebranded as Liverpool Waterfront.Grand state-of-the-art buildings such as the Museum of Liverpool stand side-by-side with traditional landmarks like the Grade 1 listed Royal Liver Building, its two iconic Liver Birds perched on top casting a protective eye over everyone.