Great Orme

The Great Orme is the great limestone headland rearing above Llandudno - a Country Park and AONB with panoramic views over the town, Conwy Bay, the Carneddau and out to Puffin Island and the Anglesey coast. It's a spectacular vantage point and recreational flying here is generally tolerated, with pilots reporting good results, but it demands care. The single biggest hazard is hardware in the sky: the Great Orme Tramway and the cabin lift both run cables across the hill, and the summit's western slopes are a long-established model-glider slope-soaring site, so you can share the air with radio-controlled gliders. Keep your back to the cables, avoid the soaring bowls when fliers are out, and watch for the aerial cabin lift. Many pilots favour the quieter ground near the copper mines/halfway area rather than the busy summit cafe for launch. The Orme is exposed and often very windy - plan for a strong headwind return and keep battery in reserve. It's an SSSI with feral Kashmiri goats, choughs and rare butterflies; keep height off the cliffs and don't harass the goats. No airport FRZ affects it. Clear, low-wind weekdays give the best combination of visibility and elbow room.