Hello - and here we are again! Back from a lovely Anglesey walk - a return to the coast.
Friday 1st April - Porthaethwy to Biwmares
It was a good journey following our old route, passing Cadair Idris in the clouds - and with snow on top! It's been a cold couple of weeks for sure. Then passing Barmouth, scene of out last coastal affray, now more than a year ago! Then passing the Rhinogs...........
..........and up to Caernarfon seeing Yr Eifl at the top of the Llŷn peninsula swathed in cloud but we could see across the Menai Straits to Llanddwyn Island...nearly there. Over the Menai Bridge, the Marquess of Anglesey was waiting to greet us once more....
lovely to be back on Ynys Môn, Mam Cymru - Anglesey, Mother of Wales.
We drove up to Beaumaris, passing Plas Rhianfa and its fire breathing dragon..(this looks a lovely hotel!)
.....parking near the castle, and went to buy our lunch for the day - we nearly got blown away! The Castle bakery here and in Menai Bridge have just closed down - apparently with no warning, just here today then gone tomorrow so we couldn't get sandwiches there. A bit sad. It was really blowing on the castle green - and cold too.... a bit inauspicious? Well it was All Fools' Day....Have to say I was a bit unimpressed....Nonetheless we called a taxi to take us back to Menai Bridge Town (Porthaethwy - from Porth, harbour, of the Daethwy, a local Celtic tribe that lived here originally) and so began our walk.
Those who have read our.
Wales Coast Path blog may recall that we went clockwise around Wales and also around Anglesey itself. Originally the Anglesey path did go anti-clockwise but it seems it is now accepted to be a clockwise walk. Well we did it anti-clockwise this time, a change is as good as a rest - perhaps!
We passed under the Menai Bridge, suspension bridge built by Thomas Telford in 1826, so changing the island forever, and up through the town. The Swellies, the stretch of water between the bridges, is known for its difficult and dangerous currents.
It was still windy but not quite as bad as it had been in Beaumaris. We passed the pier where we had lunched with our Herring compatriots on our last walk - lots of memories are here now! We saw today, as indeed we did for the rest of the walk, many things we had missed last time. One Mr Davies of Min-y-Don had traded in wood shipped from the pier here and later had shipped South Wales coal to San Francisco! We really were a nation of innovation and firsts!
The views across to Bangor and beyond were very pretty,
....Snowdonia hiding in clouds, a bit shy today!
Off we went up Cichline Hill - not so steep as it had been coming up the other way to the golf course on out last visit with Greg, thank goodness. The Bulkeley monument was clear to see ahead. The Bulkeley family being an old local family around Beaumaris. From up here we had good views across the Straits to the North Wales coast along to the Great Orme at Llandudno and up the Anglesey coast to Puffin Island.
We soon passed the hedgerow where we had got lost last time - couldn't see why as the signs this way round were very clear...
We went on through very muddy ( 2 words which will become common on this blog!) and tumbled woods emerging into the grounds of a big property across the road from the golf course. Nearly there! Back down the steep hill into Beaumaris...
It had been a quick walk to start us off - just 5 miles - but a first sense of achievement! Off we went then to find the hotel for the night. It was lovely to be beside the sea again - and quite a choppy sea today.
Saturday 2nd April - Biwmares to Trwyn Dinmor
It had been a very pleasant evening in Beaumaris last night. A visit to Ye Olde Bull was great followed by a super meal at the hotel. The oldest shop in Britain is in Beaumaris, believed to have been built circa 1400, now an estate agents..So it was a wet morning as we set off to Treborth just across the Menai Bridge to collect our hire car for the fortnight. Really it was cheaper and more convenient than taxis each day....an old Nissan Note. Then off we set to Penmon Point to leave the car and back to Beaumaris for day 2's walk.
Luckily the tide was well out so we were able to walk along the beach as we had the other way round with our family.
Down the steep ladder we went - so excited to be on the beach again! Even though we were in waterproofs! Gradually the rain subsided and revealed the lovely views across to the North Wales coast - more memories of walking there.
We crossed the old trackway for the original lifeboat station...
We even caught glimpses of the top of Snowdon before the day was over!
Not quite yet though but they were tantalisingly close across the Straits....
We wandered across to Lleiniog beach once more in awe at the boulder clay cliffs left by glaciers.
Geese and oyster catchers kept us company and a group of sanderlings. At Lleiniog I had the wonderful idea of going out to the waves to get around the river which emerges here...bad idea, it was still too deep to cross unless we had taken off our boots - it was a bit cold for that option, or we're too soft now. So we had to walk back up to the bridge! We crossed the last piece of beach - there were many dog whelk eggs scattered on beaches and cliffs on all our walks this time....
- and we headed up the little road to Penmon and its priory. At the end of the headland here is clear to see old industrial works - complete with a kiln which we just hadn't seen going the other way!
Apparently it was the Penmon marble works and was complete with its own tramway which we crossed below us and it had its own huge jetty. Limestone and stone quarried here was used for both bridges across to the mainland and for buildings in Birmingham and the quarry was in use until the 1970's. We looked around the ruins of Penmon priory and had a look at St Seiriol's well - an ancient 6th century Celtic well which was roofed in the 18th century.
Another 4 miles done today - and no wind, hooray! So off we went to out holiday house at Brynsiencyn - a little village on the south west corner of the island and where we had stayed for one of our last visits when we walked from
Trevor to Aberffraw.....
Sunday 3rd April - Trwyn Dinmor to Benllech
We awoke to a much brighter morning and set off to leave a car at our target for today, Benllech then back to Penmon Priory to start our walk.
It was a pleasant walk across to Trwyn Du (Black Point) lighthouse accompanied by the sound of the lighthouse's bell ringing out at regular intervals. The lighthouse was built in 1835 remaining manned until 1822 and is now an automatic lighthouse, quite striking in Black and white.
Just out to sea is Puffin Island or Priestholm or Ynys Seiriol. Its original names, Welsh and English, being named after the Saint who lived both at Penmon and on the island. Puffins are making a comeback on the island after the brown rat had almost eradicated them.
Off then on the first mud plunge of the day - it was a good job we had gaiters on and sticks in hand, it was hard going across muddy fields. Never mind, the sun came out! Wow! We crossed the field by the deer park wall - now without cows which Helen and I had avoided at all costs on the earlier walk.
Today we had many sheep - and lovely lambs - to pass by...
And the pink campion is starting to appear.
Luckily it's too early to have nettles to bother our walking....With lovely views back to Puffin island and across to the Great Orme,
we crossed more fields and followed lanes (which were at least not muddy!) passing a windmill (of which there are many on Anglesey - mostly now redundant) and a couple of Welsh Cobs.
And from here we could look across the Menai Straits still - and there was Snowdon - the pointy one on the left with some snow on top....making an appearance for us...
Then more muddy tracks as we passed a farm alongside Bwrdd Arthur hillfort.
We decided not to go up the hillfort today - very slippery and also a bit misty so the views may not be quite worth the detour - another reason to go back! We could just see misty views up to Moelfre and Amlwch.
More muddy fields to cross.....
..before we dropped down slippery steps and then steep steps to Red Wharf Bay...
- the views had been stunning on the way down - the wave patterns and the dinosaur rocks were amazing.
We headed for the cafe at Llandonna - but it was closed, still a bit early in the year. But we ate our lunch anyway then with rain beginning to spatter we headed off in search of the sea wall so we could cross the bay.
Once found I managed to drop my camera lens cover over the edge - too far down for us to be able to go down to retried it - we would never have got back up again! I have made a habit of losing lens covers in strange places over the years....We headed over the sandy path passing pretty reeds around the edge of the huge bay.
It was tempting to cross the sands with the tide so far out but with a big river, the river Nodwydd, flowing out somewhere and the treacherous soft sand to negotiate, it wouldn't be a good idea. We crossed slippery seaweeded stones to get to the Ship Inn. We saw redshanks....
and geese - and of course oyster catchers...feeding in the muddy estuary...We booked lunch at the Ship as we passed for next Sunday when Helen and family will be with us!we were a bit dripping standing at the bar...Then onwards and upwards passing a huge cliff, Trwyn Dwlban with its sandstone pipe structures which you can only see from the beach - another thing to see next time! We passed around the huge St David's caravan park where new wooden "pods" have been recently built - not inviting to our taste...but wood anemones are making an appearance...
and so we came around the headland to Benllech beach which lifted my spirits - particularly as the rain had almost stopped too. It was a lovely walk along the beach - with its ruined lime kiln (and there had been one near Bwrdd Arthur).
Another 12 miles walked - phew, quite tiring!
No comments:
Post a Comment