Monday 4th April - Benllech to Traeth Lligwy
There had been much rain in the night and heavy rain forecast for today so we decided to give ourselves a short distance, although driving to Traeth Lligwy from Benllech seemed quite far! It was in fact a lovely clear morning having seen the wonderful Snowdon skyline from the house for the first time - and today we could glimpse the outline of Yr Eifl on the Llŷn too! However it was quite cold as we set out once more along the VERY MUDDY coast path.
The sun stayed with us for quite a while before the drizzle began. It was a lovely walk nonetheless with lovely views and the sea today was like a millpond - beautiful.
Still a couple of huge tankers were sitting out at sea as we had seen yesterday.
We passed caravan parks, avoided a mini landslide and then came down towards Traeth Bychan with its big cliff...
and lime kiln on the beach...
The view across to Moelfre and its island from up here were super.
We dropped down to the beach and then up over fields again, which were, you guessed it, very muddy! There were 2 very upset ewes in the fields here looking for a lost lamb so hope they found it...We soon had views right up to Ynys Dulas ahead of us and back to Llandudno and beyond. We could even see the wind farm out at sea at Colwyn Bay and Prestatyn and the coast of England beyond. We soon arrived at Moelfre, and its new lifeboat station, a really pretty village with much history....
We had to take a short divert into the village to avoid another small landslide - everywhere needs to dry out. We passed the memorials to the Hindlea disaster and the one for the World War 2 soldiers in whose memory electricity was introduced to the village slightly bizarrely.. We walked around the seafront at Porth Helaeth passing the Seawatch centre. Remember it is a museum dedicated to the Lifeboat service which has been so important in Moelfre, with its memorial to lifeboat coxswain Richard Evans and another one dedicated to more than 400 people who were killed on the Royal Charter in 1859. Passing the new lifeboat station which was being built at our last visit, we followed the headland around, the wavecut platforms below us,
...some of which were where the Royal Charter had met her end also passing a formation which looked like the sandstone pipes which we had read about at Red Wharf Bay (Traeth Coch)....
We followed the coast around passing a private beach en route (Traeth Morna?) and the path got muddier
as we approached Lligwy where we looked down and a big expanse of sand - and another rock dinosaur....
and so dropped down onto the beach, much nicer than mud!
After lunch in the car - and a lovely coffee from the little cafe - we headed back to find the other car. The sun was out now - maybe we could have walked further...only 6 miles today but fun and hopes for a brighter day tomorrow....The gorse is looking - and smelling - wonderful everywhere and the plant that has been most prolific too has been the yellow umbellifrae of the wild celery - and more wood anemones today.
On our way back, we stopped off to find Llys (Royal Court) Rhosyr near Newborough. It was one of the ancient Courts of the Princes of Gwynedd going back to at least the 5th century.
Only a small part has been excavated and as it wasn't easy to park, we left that visit again for next time....There was also an ancient Llys at Aberffraw just a little north of Newborough which was never built in stone and where it is said its last timbers were taken to be used at Beaumaris castle.
Tuesday 5th April - Traeth Lligwy to Amlwch
We had expected better weather but the morning wasn't as promising as we had hoped as we set out to drop off cars. A cold breeze was blowing as we set out along the dunes of Traeth Lligwy and the tide was high so the little island, Ynys Dulas was almost covered.
The little "building" on top was built in 1821 to provide food and shelter for anyone shipwrecked there. This tiny island has a great history of dangerous seafaring times.. At least today the weather was clear with staggering views - only 1 ship was standing out in the bay today and we could see right round to the Great Orme and across to the Wirral. Through the mud we went and the first Porth today was Porth y Môr,
really pretty but a bit windblown. A robin,
stonechats...
...and lambs kept us company as we approached Traeth Ora - a simply stunning beach - a photo just can't do it justice....
For a brief time we found a solid path, so Chris jumped for joy!
In the background there was Parys Mountain, that one above Amlwch, in the 18th century the largest copper mine in Europe and copper had been mined there since the Bronze Age.
We then crossed squelchy fields with lots of lambs to amuse us and had to avoid a lake! Usually a small pond!
Pheasants have also been calling constantly in the fields on this trip...
In the background on the photo above is the hill, Mynydd Bodafon, the highest hill on Anglesey. We dropped down to the roadside at the Pilot Boat Inn then went down a lane lined with daffodils...
..the daffs seem to have lasted a long time this year, think the cold has kept them confused..And so we came down to Traeth Dulas which we had not been looking forward to as it is a marshy estuary of the Red river, Afon Goch, which we expected to be truly wet and muddy whereas in fact it wasn't bad at all and in fact was probably one of our favourite parts of the whole walk in the end!
Dunlins, oyster catchers and redshanks were feeding in the estuary as we passed
and then we headed up along lanes to detour around Llys Dulas Manor and the now renovated "Sage and Sand" holiday homes. Last time we had seriously not liked this bit as these fields had been full of horseflies, but today with pheasants, lambs
and the magnificent views
to take care of us it wasn't too bad, though the grass was really quite treacherous with slick mud just under its smooth exterior....A pair of lambs wanted to adopt Chris
and then another pair wanted to share our lunch - so cute!
And the views of Ynys Dulas , now with the tide out, and the mainland behind were wondrous...
I did take quite a lot of photos here...
So on around the fields and cliff walk of this fabulous coast towards Point Lynas and its lighthouse.
We had cut across this headland on our last venture here so it was good to go and see the building and its views!
It was built in 1835 so a bit strange to think that my ancestors in the nearby village of Llaneilian would have seen this being built and maybe stood and looked out to sea just here too.
Its light has been automated since 1989 and it is now holiday cottages and in fact the whole place is up for sale...So back to Llaneilian and its pretty little cove - oyster catchers were feeding on the beach, quiet for a while!
From here the going was very Gooey (similar to muddy!) so it was quite hard work as we made our way to St Eilian's well.
St Eilian reputedly arrived here from Rome in the 5th century and the local lord Caswallon was cursed by St Eilian making him blind, when Caswallon took all his oxen from him. Caswallon promised to give him as much land as he wanted if his sight was restored - which it was and St Eilian founded his "church" here as a result. So the legend is that this well is a good cursing well......better not note what Chris's curse was but it made me laugh!
The going into Amlwch was quite tough up and down heathery cliffs - I believe I may have had some odd moans and complaints.....Then the first ruin of Amlwch appeared. It does seem a shame that some towns are still neglected, a bit of a poor hangover of the industrial revolution which was supposed to have made us GREAT...The cafe at the Port was closed unfortunately, it was now quite late in the day. We walked down the old quayside with her old limekiln and the "Copper Kingdom Museum" and so back to the little car......
just over 10 miles today with apparently a 1,000 foot height gain - seemed more! The violets, celandines and gorse looked marvellous today - the gorse was a bit painful in close proximity mind you. I can't remember a spring with so many celandines - they are so prolific this year - and so pretty!
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