Date walked: 29th July 2014

Distance: about 15 miles

Map used: OS Explorer No.262: Anglesey West

At the start of these walks on Anglesey I flew from Cardiff to Anglesey Airport near Holyhead on the excellent Citywing service. 

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I  had a good nights sleep at Ingledene Bed and breakfast in Trearddur Bay. It was novel having my breakfast delivered on a trolley, even if there was no sign of fruit. For once the breakfast room was blessedly quiet – no cheery morning music.

Sadly the weather had broken down and it was drizzling that heavy, wetting drizzle.

At the beach, the wet weather wasn’t putting off  the novice sailors.

If you are going to get wet anyway you might as well go sailing

The coast path out of  the village follows the road at first before passing through the Lee Caravan Park. According to the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty website: “Tourism plays a significant part in the rural economy, largely centred on static caravan sites.” You could say that for the whole of the Welsh coast.

Very natural? Very beautiful?

 Having got through the caravans the AONB ethos is re-asserted.

Elsewhere you can disturb the animals to your heart’s content

Yesterday’s  coast of low rocky cliffs and coves continued, adding some impressive natural arches.

I rather lost track of what this one is called. Sorry

Man made, but also impressive were the lichen covered and expertly constructed walls.

I’d be very proud if I had raised these

As my attention returned to the cliffs I was amazed to see, half way down a near-sheer drop, two white goats perched calmly on a narrow ledge, sheltering from the rain.

You really can’t appreciate how steep that cliff is.

For once I got out my binoculars for a closer look.

See, definitely goats. We, like goats, ….. (he he)

Several more coves…

…and several more beautiful walls….

…….took me to the southern most part of Holy Island.

The rain was easing off by now and out to sea Rhoscolyn Beacon was visible though the misty atmosphere.

Rhoscolyn is said to mean “The Moor” (Rhos) of The Column (colyn), referring to a pillar which the Romans put up to mark the edge of their territories. To the south of the village the path reaches the sheltered cove of Borthwen.

You wouldn’t want your wits end to be public would you?

The Old Lifeboat station has been converted to a residence.

Though from here it reminded me of a public convinience

From Borthwen the path heads due north; the only crossing from Holy Island to Anglesey’s main island (which appears to be nameless) is two miles away at Four Mile Bridge. Half of this was on the road but the best bit was where the path reaches the edge of the marshy land.

A wonderful tapestry of natural vegetation

Four-mile bridge’s architecture is not exactly enhanced by the service pipes strapped to its side.

Mind you, I quite liked this pic for some reason

Having crossed Four Mile Bridge the path returns to the marshes and heads south.  The high tides deposit all sorts of interesting things.

Here a colourful tangle of rope.

Here the a sludge almost entirely made up of tiny crab shells.

The path crosses a narrow sea wall holding back a lake at Tyddyn-y-cob; below a heron stood completely still in the shallow water. I tried to gain his attention (don’t ask me why)  then he lunged, came up with a flapping spotted flat fish and flew off.

I was very annoyed that I missed the catch

The path continues to follow  the marshy high tide line of  this shallow stretch of water that separates the islands. It was a particularly quiet and peaceful area; I stopped for a cup of coffee from my flask.  A woman with a broad Liverpool accent, not obviously a walker, marched by at a fair lick, asking me if this was the Coast Path.

Just after this I passed a sheep with its head stuck through the stock fence. It seemed a very large head to have got through a relatively small square of wire, but I had seen this before and seen the sheep extract themselves.

Is it me or does it look like she wants me to help her?

This one was struggling. I went towards it and it struggled more.  It is normally the case that passers-by can do nothing useful for distressed farm animals; they are people-shy and locating the farmer is usually impossible. So I walked by, saying to myself that it would have to wait for rescue. But I found that I was unhappy with leaving it, so I went back and was about to see what I could do when my proximity sent it into a renewed frenzy of struggling and it managed to pull its head back through the fence and carried on grazing as if nothing had happened.

Somewhere around here the coast loses its AONB status. The reason is quite simple; just over the horizon is the RAF Valley/Anglesey Airport that I flew into yesterday.  The clue was in the air.

Even at some height these things can be pretty loud

As I approached the airport perimeter a military plane took off, flying low over my head. It was deafening.  Several cars were parked at what was the end of a minor road, their  occupants standing around waiting for the next plane.

I think I would have brought ear-defenders

I asked one young spectator what he had seen:

“A few training jets”

“What type”

“T45 Goshawks”.

I suppose it must be a bit like train spotting if you live near an airport

A little of getting deafened by jets goes a long way so, after a brief linger I carried on down the track that takes the seaward side of the airport.

I wonder what the difference is between a “Linger” and a “Loiter”

Crossing a car park at Plas Cymyran the path reaches the mixed sand and pebble  mile and half  long beach that goes all the way to Rhosneigr.

Stone skimming: I used to be very good at this

Across the bay, the hills of the Lleyn peninsula that I walked over in June were clothed in white puffy clouds. As I walked along the beach an adult rushed by who was clearly running away from a bare foot woman in hot pursuit. There was something about the awkward way he ran and then made a shriek that led me to conclude that this man had learning disabilities and that the woman was a carer.

They were moving faster than me. At one point the woman caught up and seemed to hold him briefly but he broke away and carried on towards Rhosneigr.  Then they went out of sight and I didn’t see them again. I hoped that Rhosneigr was where he  was staying because it was a long way back if it wasn’t.

The weather had improved since the morning but half a mile from the town the beach was still pretty quiet.

Yes, I played around with the sky for this pic

And I really went to town on everything for this one

But as I neared the town a few more adventurous types were beach combing.

And someone had managed to install a caravan on the beach (and were inside it).

Quite an achievement to get it there and not to have had it removed.

As I got close to the town I could see that there was a wide stream about 6 inches deep between me and the front. The official route would have required a little detour inland for a footbridge but I dashed  across and got my feet wet. Which was silly really as it takes a while to dry out wet boots.

I was staying that night at Ambleside Bed and Breakfast which was in the main street in the town. I had booked a single room which was OK if a little cramped but when I realised after unpacking that I was the only guest I asked the very friendly landlady if I could have the en suite double instead, assuring her that I would pay the extra. She was quite Ok about that and I was instantly much happier.  Sometimes its the little things in life that matter.