Friends know that I have been walking the Wales Coast Path virtually as an 800 mile challenge during the summer. All this means is that my daily walking is plotted on a map of the Wales Coast path and I set my number of days to complete it. I fell a little short (I have a few excuses!!) but averaged about 7.5 miles a day over the summer. The Conqueror challenge website lets you see the path on the route via Google maps etc. I particularly loved the Anglesey section so decided to walk it for real.
With two friends, Cathy and Sharon plus Kobi, we rented a house for a week in early October and set off luckily, on a good weather week, unlike the weather at home where everywhere was drenched!
This blog post tells a bit of the story of the walk, one that achieved about half of the Anglesey Coast path with another week to finish on the cards for next year! One thing to mention is the signage and the state of the path. Both are excellent. Some parts of the path are rocky and stony on beaches but most is on good paths, well maintained and defined. Wettest sections are boardwalked and bridged. No complaints at all on those things.
We decided to walk the northern section first, about 68 miles, for no reason than it's the way my brain worked! I plotted the route from Menai Bridge via Beaumaris and Penmon Point then heading west almost to Holyhead. Public transport is not readily accessible so we had to use two cars and leapfrog daily, leaving a car overnight at the starting place which became the next day's ending point. This meant actually walking the whole route section by section in a backwards direction! One advantage of this should have been the prevailing wind would be behind us but we found that wind did not always prevail!
The iconic Menai Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford and opened in 1826
Day 1
We parked car 1 at Menai Bridge before driving car 2 to Penmon Point from where our walk took us south via Beaumaris. This is a 10 mile section. Penmon is a birdwatchers location with views across to Puffin Island. In October, it needs time we didn't have to find any unusual birds. Starting along quiet lanes via the old Penmon Dovecot at Penmon Priory, we reached lovely beaches we could walk along. We also passed some bird ringers from the British Trust for Ornithology who were using cannon netting to catch redshank and curlew at a regular site where birds are now known to return year after year. As a bird ringer, I had plenty to chat about and delayed us a little, and them a little in their work.
Our first beach walk was partly in sunshine or light cloud so heralded some of what we could expect for our future journey
Beaumaris is a lovely place with an old castle and reputedly, the oldest house in Britain. They also have cafes and shops for locals and tourists. The weather was bright and sunny enough for us to sit outside enjoying coffee and cake, which we sought daily! More than half the walk heading to Beaumaris was close to the coast but the final stretch from Beaumaris to the town of Menai Bridge included a very long hill away from the coast before finally dropping back down to the Bridge and looping back to where car 1 was parked.
We didn't give up our adventure for the day because we stopped at The Dingle, a nature reserve in Llangefni, to see some delightful red squirrels that live in most woodlands in Anglesey. Enjoy the slideshow!
Day 2
The plan was to walk from the western end of Red Wharf Bay to Penmon Point. The flaw in the plan was locating the wrong car park in Red Wharf Bay at the eastern end rather than the western end, (blame Google) so this day's walk at 8 miles, was much shorter than intended, the difference we would need to add to a future day. That said it was a real pleasure, a bright day, gave us some early experience of steeper paths and gave us lovely views of the Penmon lighthouse and Puffin Island as we strolled down the hill in the sun that afternoon. I found the number of butterflies amazing for the time of year. We had time to join many others stopping for ice cream and tea at the convenient and extremely popular Penmon Point cafe. Car 2 then took us home. That evening the sunset promised well for Day 3.
Day 3
This slightly adjusted route was about 11 miles. Starting from the lovely village of Moelfre we were cruelly met by the smell of bacon frying as we passed a cafe but we had no time to stop! The route here was slightly adjusted due to a landslip. As with all of this path it was superbly signposted. After passing the rocky beach beneath the first cliffs we dropped down to the lovely beach at Traeth Bychan. This was a pleasure walking on hard wet sand. There were a few hills to climb and descend but nothing too demanding. We skirted Benllech keeping to the path and missing the village centre (where ideally a coffee shop should have been sought)! Walking above Benllech Sand we entered Red Wharf Bay, a huge area with big views of sandy flats. Skirting headlands we found a coffee stop just before the village of Red Wharf Bay. We had to wait for it to open, being a pub cakes were not available! Next we dropped into the Bay itself following the damp path skirting the marshes. There were some sticky bits but the wettest were boardwalked or bridged. Lots of birdwatching opportunities cropped up here. Over a last hill for the day we turned into the long, marshy bay area full of blooming sowthistle passing the car park we should have been in to reach the one at the most eastern end. Another thing we learned here was that toilets on Anglesey's coasts are quite numerous but after 30 September they're closed! Next we were off home for a delicious fish and chip takeaway supper!
Day 4
This was undoubtedly the hardest day, not only for the walking but the weather. The route was 14.7 miles.There was a gale blowing from the north so it was cold and at some times difficult to stay steady on rocky tracks, fortunately the wind was blowing us inland not towards the sea! Starting from Car 1 now in Bull Bay you could tell it was going to be a bit challenging! On the bright side it would end at Moelfre a pleasant village, like so many we passed or visited. This walk was dominated by views of copper mining infrastructure long out of use and rusting away surrounded by a red earth landscape. We also thought we may have seen our first seals out on the foaming waters.
The lovely little harbour of Amlwch was picturesque even in the high winds with crashing waves on that day. We didn't venture into the village despite our interest as we needed to make headway in the tough conditions. Climb after climb was the order of the day and we hurried past exposed Point Lynas, disappointing because later we were told of good views of Risso's dolphins there. Another feature of the landscape was the old windmills, all without sails, they once helped Anglesey to the title of 'bread basket of Wales' Just before the area known as Dulas the path is routed inland. Looking out though, there was a chance to see an island with a tower and some history as a safe place for people from shipwrecks to seek refuge. Turning inland entails a long climb through grassy fields where we were relieved to find some cut logs making a good place to rest and eat lunch. This path lead to lanes passing signs for 'red squirrel woodland' often seen on our journeys through the island. We saw no squirrels today but heather still flowering and Red Admiral butterflies were easy to spot! Traeth Dulas is a large bay we had to circle to stick to our route before following the cliffs high above sandy Traeth Lligway. Finally, we rounded the headland and dropped down into Moelfre passing the Lifeboat station, Heritage Centre and an impressive monument to the brave seamen. Back wearily to Car 2 and a warming journey home.
Day 5
Today we took Car 2 to Cemlyn Bay parking on the western side so we did the tough stony beach walking at the beginning and not the end of the walk. Our route was about 11.5 miles and felt more! In the spring and summer Cemlyn is a spectacular place, I've been there many times birdwatching, including this summer. 3000 pairs of Sandwich terns and hundreds of Arctic terns breed here making a cacophonous sound and exciting spectacle. Now in autumn, the birds are fewer and mainly duck and geese alongside the turnstones and gulls we found all along the coast. The next part of the walk passes the Wylfa nuclear power station now under decommissioning after 44 years of service. A new nuclear power station at this site seems possible in the future. The walk skirts this site through some lovely woodland. It was here we had our first clear sighting of seals and in particular one that had appeared stranded high above the sea level. After phone calls to wildlfie organisations we and they were satisfied the seal could make its way back to safety. Soon after Wylfa we came to Cemaes at exactly coffee time. Google found us a wonderful coffee and cake stop with very friendly people that made us want to stay! The cakes were something special! Not due to excess cake, we soon hit the toughest spot of all the walks. We stepped carefully down an extremely steep hillside to the bottom where Llanlleiana Old Porcelain Works still stands as a 'hidden gem' of the history of Anglesey. This spot offered picnic benches but ours was the wrong side of the wall where, despite some sun, the wind was extremely cooling.
The beach here was visited by kayakers from Cemaes, some we helped unload their kayaks, although the rough sea made their journey tough it seemed nothing compared to the climb out of the valley for us. A narrow path so close to the cliff edges had us all treading very carefully. One photo is taken from the path looking down on the beach.
We were not done yet with some more truly steep ups and downs to handle. The consolation was that we were by now feeling fairly fit, except for Sharon who had been feeling poorly since arriving. She was heroic, also needing to carry Kobi for lengths of the walks, he's apparently the equivalent of 91 human years old! Arriving at Bull Bay and car 1 was a great relief. Home again and a warm rest.
Day 6
I should admit it here that I had planned and mapped 5 days of walking before we realised it was going to be 6 days! The final day, hastily planned, in lovely weather was again about 11.5 miles. We started near LLanfwrog at Penryhn, reaching a beautiful beach with just a handful of users. We had lovely views of Holyhead, Holy Island across the Holyhead Bay. The first part of the walk was reasonably flat but the middle section became a bit more challenging. We encountered many more seals in this section with the pups sporting their white fur. Ravens had been heard and seen all the days of the walk but on this day they were outdone by the red-legged Choughs. Small parties of these spectacular birds popped up from rocky cliffs and it's clear from signage that efforts to increase the population are real and working. Out in the bay is The Skerries lighthouse gleaming in the sun. As we finished our walk on undulating fields we could view Wylfa across the bay and several old structures for which I've yet to establish a purpose.
So, after 6 days walking we were still fit and ready to head back to Red Wharf Bay and the Ship Inn we had passed days before for our celebratory meal.
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Wonderful blog, Colin. You were so lucky with the weather. Well done of what I bet was quite a tough walk - coastal walks always are.