Thursday 14th April - Rhosneigr to Aberffraw
Enjoyed good seafood meal at the
Oystercatcher restaurant at Rhosneigr last night. The morning was bright and cheery as we set out.
There was a bit of a black cloud above but I wished for it to stay away - and it did! Don't say wishes don't work - often they do! We seemed to stay under the "tongue" of cloud much of the day with blue sky at each side, but that was fine, the cloud kept its water to itself! We crossed the Rhosneigr beaches.
The first, Traeth Llydan with its river flowing through it but we could cross it today with the tide out! Then crossing the rocky rocks -
some of them most definitely the volcanic pillow lava we came to Porth Nobla where a group of surfers were enjoying the waves!
We could look back to Silver Bay and Rhoscolyn ....
and ahead - you guessed it! - the Llŷn, looking very magical today! The wind was dashing the waves into the rocks....
Leaving the beach we spotted a group of martens flying around the cliff! Can summer be far behind? And we headed up to the chambered cairn of Barclodiad y Gawres, the giantess's apron, a neolithic burial chamber, today under repair so we couldn't get near it for workmen, not working. It could be that there had been more damage here as on our last visit, it was closed because of some damage by hooligans - so sad! So into the nearby cove of Porth Trecastell - apparently there will soon be a parking pay meter here which we thought a good idea to put off the overnight campers (and maybe some hooligans!). We continued around the coast - great views in all directions and passing many coves. Bluebells ...
and celandines here and there...
Oyster catchers, gulls, cormorants and even the odd butterfly today. And bees have been around the past 2 weeks when the wind has allowed. We approached obvious ex military land on the headland above which is now part of the Anglesey circuit, Trac Môn, which we now had to walk around...motor bikes were having a track day today.
And then we dropped back to the coast at Porth Cwyfan with its picturesque church on its island.
The island is called Cribinau.
Although the tide was out, we decided not to go across to the church this time. We rounded the beach with its boulder clay and pillow lava - and oyster catchers!
The views to the Llŷn got better and better! The colours today were fantastic...so difficult to catch on a photograph.
We found a good place to sit on the rocks and eat lunch - just wondrous, watching a fishing boat in the sea in front of us.
........Snowdonia, the Llŷn and Llanddwyn as a backdrop -
could we stay here forever? Well it was getting a bit chilly too...We could pick out the hillfort on the Bodorgan headland, Pen y Parc. We sat and watched, and listened to the tide coming in with the seabirds entertaining us.
Then up and off around the headland. It was quite funny looking at this next picture - I had caught Chris with a signpost alongside him - was it a wooden leg? He he!
The path was now a bit muddy again as we approached Aberffraw and its massive dunes - the long beach peeping around the headland.
The path here was full of flowers, violets,
squill, thrift, and celandines, now giving way here and there to dandelions. It became a squelchy walk up the estuary of the Ffraw. Egrets ......
and redshanks,
and oyster catchers were feeding in the muddy river as we approached the little bridge! Another perfect day, 7 more miles!
Friday 15th April - Llyn Rhos Ddu to Moel-y-Don
A bit of an autumnal start this morning - damp and misty so no Snowdonia to see through the window! Leaving the little car at Moel-y-Don, just hard to believe it's 2 years since we were last here. So back to Llyn Rhos Ddu ready to start the last day. Bit sad really....
We went down the lane alongside the now for sale model village. The owner here had really helped us out with parking on our last walk when the car park had been closed. It can be difficult to arrange transport on these long distance walks and we don't feel we would like to rely on buses, especially as then it would be pressure to get to a bus stop on time. Down the lane we went to the riverside ...and its stepping stones!
I had really tried to prepare myself to just hope across the huge stones which I of course had been anticipating...but I just couldn't do it! Don't know why they out-psyche me these days - so Chris had to aid and abet!
It was then a VERY MUDDY walk along the riverbank, the river Braint. We crossed fields and lanes, listening to thrushes, seeing goldfinches, almost getting lost passing a house with an unwelcoming rope across the drive we needed to go down... Then we walked along surfaced lanes for quite a while before passing some holiday homes where a cat wanted to adopt us - it was very cute! We passed a huge house, Tal y Gwynedd, there are a lot of big properties on this island, before dropping down to the shingle beach of the Menai Straits! Caernarfon across the water was lost in the mist.
We came to the waterside at Ty Bach - little house, which had been the home of some drunken ferryman. The ferry here, Tal y Foel, was very popular right from the 15th century until 1952 - and it has been a site for habitation as far back as 9,000 years.
Today there was no sign of Yr Eifl hills across the water -
we could see Caernarfon and its Edward I's castle in the mist across the Straits.
We passed tthe ex-Mermaid Inn, now a private house
and the nearby Menai Hotel, also now a private house.
Then passed he Farm and the Sea Zoo - which exports the water from here to other zoos as it's so unpolluted!
And then passing Halen Môn where we had topped up our salt supply yesterday.
A man on the shore was harvesting seaweed. So at the end of the shingle beach we left the coast once more, crossing fields, some of them big ploughed fields..
and then through a wood where we could see Brynsiencyn just up the road.
We dropped through a field at Llanidan stud - where a couple of horses and some belted Galloway cattle were grazing then passed the ruins of the Llanidan church - St Riden having founded the original church here in the 6th century.
The Ransoms garlic just beginning to flower here - lots of it too!
Then down to the shingle beach again across from the outdoor centre of Plas Menai which we remembered as the end - and start - of a previous walk!
Yr Eifl was beginning to appear through the mist as we crossed the beach and at an old stone quay we saw a cormornat hanging out and a heron - oyster catchers and their piping never far away! Going to miss them! So back across fields again - a private house here obviously - then down lanes to Moel-y-Don.
We were missing out the walk to Bryn Celli Du, a really fantastic prehistoric site which we did walk past last visit. The coastal path is all inland here and along the busy roadside - albeit on an enclosed path, just to go around Plas Newydd - the ex-home of the Marquess of Anglesey, now a National Trust property. We didn't think this was needed this time round. We lunched (a bit late) at Moel-y-Don, looking across to Port Dinorwic..
alongside the village of Y Felinheli. A ferry from here had taken workers to slate quarry workers across in times past.
Had intended to head to the Britannia Bridge and have another look for the lions but decided it would be seriously muddy down there ....
We had done another 8 miles today so in our 15 day walk we had now completed 100 miles, and for us that is the Anglesey coast path, 2016! What a great time!
Time to pack now - until next time!
PS on the way home, we stopped at the Caernarfon vineyard, Pant Du - have a look at that
blog if you have time....
Bit sad that we missed the vineyard at Dwyran, Ty Croes, just 2 miles up the road from the holiday house.....sounds like another reason to go back.....
And if you would like to donate to my fundraising page, it would be much appreciated...
Walking for Velindre 2016
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