Wales: Anglesey

Sunday, 17th April 2022

I could barely move when we woke up. My whole body ached, both arms and legs. We had a thorough workout yesterday!

We needed a quiet day today as I was barely able to walk so we decided on a car drive around Anglesey. That was the plan until I realised the day wasn't long enough for driving around the island and also stopping for some attractions. So in the end we stayed mainly on the south area of the island.

Anglesey is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It is separated from the mainland by the Menai Strait and connected by 2 bridges: Menai Suspension Bridge and Britannia Bridge.

Menai Suspension Bridge

Completed in 1826, it was the world's first major suspension bridge. Prior to it's construction, cattle farmers would have to persuade their herd to swim across the Menai Strait to market.

Britannia Bridge

The first bridge was completed in 1850 to enable rail traffic into Anglesey. In the 1970s the bridge was changed to function as a combined road-and-rail bridge.

Beaumaris

Parking in Beaumaris costs £5 for the day, regardless of how long you stay. Half a day can be easily spent here and you'd make the most out of the parking fee.

We had lunch at Jollys Coffee House & Patisserie.

Beaumaris Castle

Beaumaris castle is the last great castle built, but never completed, under Edward I in the 13th century. At the time it was the cutting edge of design but the lack of money and trouble with the Scots meant the south gatehouse and six great towers never reached their planned heights.

It has a moat that used to be connected to the sea and boats could be unloaded from a small gate on the wall. There's plenty of wall, towers with spiral staircases and gloomy corridors to visit. 

Unusually, the castle has views to the countryside, city and sea.

Being a bank holiday, there were Middle Age featured tents and activities.

Beaumaris Gaol (Carchar Biwmares)

Built in 1829, expanded in 1867 to accommodate approximately 30 prisoners, man and women, and closed 11 years later. It's architecture is Spartan and grim but in its day it was seen as an humaine improvement on earlier goals. 

Museum staff is dressed to the era and the 'Governor' is enthusiastic and knowledgeable. We were the only visitors at the time and were given a private tour. He showed us the highlights of the goal. It was a deluxe tour and well worth it!

We learned that the goals did not have government funding in the Victorian times so the inmates were put to work, 7 days a week, to pay for the goals's upkeep. Work included breaking rock, teasing out old rope from ships, washing, ironing, cooking.

The treadwheel was used as punishment. One prisoner had to climb continually whilst the other would read the Bible. They swapped every 10min for 8h a day, effectively climbing a distance of 1.5 miles (2.4km). I can't imagine a more boring form of punishment!

It is one of the last water treadwheels in Britain and it's unusual as it pumped water to the top of the building for use in the cells, meaning the prisoners were not forced to work for no reason. Each cell had a toilet and basin with running water.

'10,000 treads (steps) was considered a day's task for the offender'. Sounds familiar?

The Governor lived in the goal with his wife.

The Whipping Room (punishment cell) has a '50 Shades' vibe to it.

Llanddwyn Beach (Traeth Llanddwyn) 

Llanddwyn Beach is a long sandy beach at the edge of the Newborough Forest (Coedwig Niwbwrch). Both form Newborough National Natural Reserve. There are plenty of walking, running and cycling trails.

At ⅔ into the length of the beach there is a peninsula called Llanddwyn Island (Ynys Llanddwyn). It's an island at high tide and a peninsula at low tide.

The car park is fairly spacious, it was fairly empty in the morning and very full in the afternoon. It uses Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and payment is by card or cash at the exit barrier. Cost is £2 for the first 2h and 40p for every additional 20min with a £7 maximum charge per day.

In the morning we walked on the beach all the way to the island as we wanted to see it but we arrived in the morning when it was high tide so we were enable to cross. 

We walked back through the forest up on the dunes and found a swing. 

The remaining of the beach on the east side can also be seen from the top of the dunes.

At the end of the day we returned. It was low tide and we could finally cross. It's clear to see how much bigger the beach is at low tide.

Llanddwyn Island (Ynys Llanddwyn)

The island is a narrow strip of land, sandy and very very windy. It is worth the visit though. We crossed the island on it's middle path and returned by the eastern coastal path. Apparently it has wonderful views to Snowdon but it was a cloudy day so we were not able to see it.

credits: Natural Resources Wales.

St Dwynwen's Church: the ruined church was once home to St. Dwynwen, the Welsh patron saint of lovers (5th century).

St. Dwynwen's Cross.

Pilot's Cottage: home to the pilots who guided ships between Caernarfon docks and the open sea; plenty of sand banks can be spotted so pilots were of paramount importance.

Porth Tŵr Bach and Tŵr Bach (Port of the Small Tower and Small Tower): it is thought that the light from this lighthouse was not big enough to be seen from the sea.

Porth Tŵr Mawr and Tŵr Mawr (Port of the Big Tower and Big Tower): lighthouse built in the mid 1800s.

Ynys yr Adar (isle of Birds): the huge amount of cormorants make up 1% of the Britain's total population.

Gwddw Llanddwyn ('neck of the island') is the stretch of sand that links the peninsula to the island of Anglesey and that makes for a huge beach with east and west fronts. I particularly liked the different colours of the rock denoting several stages of erosion due to the tides. 

We found plenty of molluscs and sea snails. Next time we'll bring a knife and forage for dinner.

South Stack Lighthouse

South Stack, the Anglesey lighthouse, sits on it's own tiny island off the far west coast of the island and can only be reached via 400 steps on the cliffside and a bridge high above the waves.

It is currently closed which is a shame as it is supposed to have epic views to the sea.

By the end of the day we had walked 9km. I remember saying this morning I did not want to walk much... My love for tourism clearly outweighed the pain in my legs!

We saw a tiny bit of Anglesey but we liked what we saw. It was easy to drive around. The coast is beautiful. It's worth a week long holiday. We will return.