Wednesday 6th April - Amlwch to Cemaes
It had been wet and windy in the night so we had a big debate about what to do today....as we looked out northeasterly though we decided the sky looked better - so far we had only seen the top of Snowdon once from the window! So we decided to go for it - cars were duly left in appropriate places and off we set from Amlwch. I have to admit I wasn't feeling totally committed at this stage....it was very windy and rain was threatening, even though it looks beautiful by the quayside just here...
- and we all know by now that I am a good weather walker! It was also VERY MUDDY once more today and the terrain was quite difficult. How lucky were we walking the 900 miles around the Wales coast with nothing like this amount of mud!!The sea was really pretty though and noisy as the waves crashed into the rocks.
The old chemical works are still there at the edge of the sea - seems a shame that they can't be got rid of. Still Amlwch has its old windmill too. ...
We got round to Bull Bay which is a pretty little bay....there's East Mouse Island on the horizon...
...and here it was 2 years ago, it was July though ....
So now we set off onto the cliffs - proper coast walking today as we headed north to the 3 most northerly beaches on Anglesey and here the path is not so narrow so a bit easier walking.
Soon we came around to Porth Wen with its brickworks and it really was so windy here on the headland.
The brickworks is just a staggering sight really, complete with its own natural arch.
We didn't venture down there today as we had last time but continued on up, passing the winch which had been used to take the silica down from the cliffs. you can see the silica in the rock on those cliffs -
the bricks they made here were a special type of brick. Then up and around to the next cove, Porth Cynfor or Hell's Mouth.
Surprisingly the wind wasn't quite so rough now - but those steps were much steeper than they look!
And so round to the third cove up on the north coast, Porth Llanlleiana - "church of the nuns" having been built on what was once a convent. The works here were porcelain works,
the porcelain made from china clay on nearby Dinas Gynfor (also site of an iron age hillfort!). The works were disbanded in 1920 after a fire there.
On top of the headland, the most northerly point on Anglesey, is the summerhouse built by the Stanleys who lived nearby to commemorate the coronation of Edward VII in 1901.
After lunch alongside the noisy waves,
we had more ups and downs to negotiate until we came in sight of Wylfa Head and its now defunct nuclear power station with Badrig Island or Middle Mouse and the Skerries ahead.
We had turned to face some huge gusts of wind and then turned away from them again - we wondered how birds are able not to be swept away to distant shores! The sea was boiling into the rocks. We went into Llanbadrig churchyard, it is so pretty sitting at the edge of the clifftop.
Founded by Saint Patrick, he is reputed to have arrived here and lived for a while in a nearby cave in the 5th century - not a day to search for a cave today. We wandered down onto Porth Badrig, White Lady Bay, the White Lady being the silica rock in the middle of the beach.
The tide was well out as we came around to Cemaes, the sea shimmering in the sun.
It had been a lovely day - not so tiring with less mud to contend with once Bull Bay was behind us - or were we just getting fitter? A vineyard was shown near Llanbadrig on the OS map but we hadn't seen any signs for it - another visit definitely called for...to add to
my vineyard blog...
Another 8 miles achieved - not so many oyster catchers today, think it was too windy for them! We saw a peregrine near Port Wen though and quite a few stonechats chattered to us. The spring squill is breaking through and in another week or so these northerly cliffs will be covered in it.
Thursday 7th April - Cemaes - Cemlyn Bay
This walk kept on evolving depending on the weather mostly...it had been an awful, stormy night and gales were promised for today but better in the afternoon. This spring doesn't impress me much so far....So a re-plan came about....we tried to change a visit to the Anglesey records office (to do family history searching...) arranged for the following Monday but they don't open Thursdays! We decided that the weather did indeed look to be slowly improving, we could see Snowdon again...
so off we set with a shorter walk designed. We were though thwarted once more as the tide was in at Cemlyn which meant we couldn't leave the car at the western side as we wanted so we parked at the eastern side of the stunning shingle embankment. It is an amazing thing just shaped from years and years of sea - and wind - action, now with its lagoon behind which is a fantastic natural area which the terns love, as well as other birds of course but it makes Cemlyn Bay the biggest colony for terns in the UK.
Not many there today but guess it is still a bit cold. So, back to Cemaes to set off
...It was just past high tide and so the bell in the bay was tolling loudly!
The spume was blowing up from the waves being bashed into the coast by the wind.
Easy to see that this town was a haven for smugglers in times past! Around the coast path at Cemaes there are small exhibits of the geology of Anglesey with different types of rock shown and where on the island they can be found - it really is a geologist's dream.
Around the headland we soon saw Wylfa which we approached quickly. We gave Wylfa Head a miss today and cut across to the woods going into the nuclear power station grounds.
It is all being decommissioned now, it was "turned off" on December 31st, 2015 but I understand there is still a plan for Wylfa B coming into operation - power decisions in this country seem to be made very slowly with no apparent overall planning. Why can't the Swansea Tidal Lagoon be properly considered and approved? We managed not to get lost in the grounds this time and soon headed off back to the coast, Wylfa looming behind us dominating the landscape for a while..
We passed the old ruined mill and now could see Cemlyn Bay ahead with West Mouse island and the Skerries out to sea....you can just make out (I hope) the shingle bank along the bay...
...it is a lovely sight along with its strange buildings surrounded by a high wall that looks a bit like a prison! a stonechat followed us for a while too, resting on the gorse here and there...
And so we arrived back at the car for lunch.
Another short walk of 4 miles but they were very enjoyable ones - and it is a little further each day now...in spite of the weather. The rain started once more as we drove back to Brynsiencyn...
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