Around the Edge of Wales (16)....Llanddona to Holyhead

Around the edge of Wales (16)...Llanddona to Holyhead

This part of the walk started with a short, early morning stretch between Llanddona and Biwmares. Having hoped for an early morning walk along the southern edge of the beach at Llanddona  I somehow missed the waymarker signs and found myself heading up to Llwydiarth forest, which was peaceful and quiet at 7.30am, the ground strewn with bright green tufts from wind stripped larch branches. But it wasn’t quite where I wanted to be. The view from the top of Llwydiarth was wonderful though – the early sun swept across Anglesey, picking out fields and hedges in patches of bright intense green and yellows against the dark mass of distant mountains.

An hour and a half later I was back on the shore, but only about half a kilometre from where I’d started!  The next bit of the walk led along the top of the sea wall then onwards to the open cliff past some beautiful clifftop cottages at Bryn Offa. The path, disappointingly, led inland at Mariandyrys and  Glan yr Afon for quite a distance, then struck out again to the cliffs at Caim. The next section to Penmon and around to Biwmares was familiar-  one of my favourite weekend and summer evening walks. Light cliffs, blue seas, the warm scent of summer vegetation and fresh tendrils of wild clematis snaking out from hedges.

Having had to return to work that day i picked up the journey again the following morning, conscious of deadlines and of distance yet to cover. I decided to cover the rest of Anglesey by a mix of cycling and walking. The Menai Straits at low tide were stripes of gold. brown and turquoise. The ride through a tunnel of cool trees, along the main road west of Biwmares, was beautiful and quiet at this early hour and the smell of sizzling bacon marked a breakfast-hour arrival in Menai Bridge. Whilst Anglesey slowly woke up to beautiful sunshine, dark clouds were sitting over the mainland, their lower edges hanging in bright white shreds over the mountain summits .

An easy ride along the straits take you past elegant houses that grace the shores. The first glimpse of the western entrance to the Straits was a sliver of shining water and silhouettes of the North Llyn hills  against the sky. It was totally stunning, at least for a few seconds  - and until the appalling development in Caernarfon’s Victora Dock came into view.  This massive block of apartments and retail space must be one of the ugliest recent coastal developments in Wales. A testimony to poor design and poor decision making - why do we tolerate such disrespect to landscape heritage?

The tide was far, far out at Malltraeth, and the cob was busy. I cycled onwards to Bodorgan, following the estate wall along a cool, green and quiet lane, then a wonderful freewheel ride down through duneland to Aberffraw. After a quick stop for a drink in Llys Llywelyn I ploughed on to Rhoscolyn, where I continued the journey on foot.

Rhoscolyn is a one of my favourite bays. Today it was shimmering in the sun and teeming with geology students. Stone walls and wind pruned bushes were furred with luxurious growth of lichen. Rivulets of fresh water  meandered down to the cliff edges through springy turf and red damselflies  darted and zoomed along their length. I came across an impressive and ancient square stone structure that seemed to have been built to collect and pool the freshwater, but appeared to have a seat in each corner – was it a well, or a place for pilgrims to sit and bathe their feet? Or both? or something completely different? Something else to research on my return. A fabulous sinuous enclosure wall swept around the cliffs, past a couple of Great Orme goats that had been brought in as part of the Anglesey Grazing Project to help manage the habitat for species such as chough.

Trearddur Bay was a new discovery for me – the main beach was busy but some of the smaller bays to the south were more secluded and definitely places to visit again with a picnic and a couple of good books. Porth Dafarch, just to the north of Trearddur, was also sweet and secluded. Onwards to Penrhyn Mawr and I’m back in my favourite coastal habitat as the sun begins to set. A vast expanse of coastal heath  stretched out into the distance.  Bell heather was already in flower, in early June, and the flowering heads of wild carrot were huge putty-white globes in more grassy areas. There was a feel of high summer about the place. Seabirds were still noisy on the cliffs and choughs were busily feeding  on the rocky ledges and around the edges of outcrops. Patches of bare rock on Holy Mountain appeared white against the dark heather as the sun sunk towards the horizon, its rays still bright despite the lateness of the day.

I hastened my pace but by the time I come down from Ynys Lawd, through Breakwater Country Park,  the day is quiet. Visitors have all but disappeared and there’s only the sound of one or two blackbirds singing melodiously from a couple of bushes near the small lakes.