Distance: 10.9miles; 860ft elevation gain; 3:48:02 moving time; 20:51/mi average moving pace; 970 calories burned
Our final day and just a short one at around half the distance of our previous 5 days…. yippee!
Only……….. we woke to rain and drizzle. We’d been lucky for the whole of the walk so far so I suppose it was too much to ask for a clean sweep of sunny weather. Anyway, it didn’t look too bad and at least it was warm. So, we started out in our waterproof jackets and headed down to the beach.
After passing Porth yr Fon bay, we turned up a track towards the spooky looking house, Craig-y-Mor. It looked more of a money pit to me.
We followed a track and then a road and were supposed to cut off onto the coastline. However, as it was raining we decided against it for two reasons; 1) we wouldn’t have any decent views as it was so misty and 2) the ground would be wet. We therefore decided to follow the road to Port Dafarch.
At the end of the beach, we turned left and followed a path along a ledge on the cliff side. The views really were non-existent which made for a really uneventful walk. The rain kept coming and going and we kept putting our hoods up and then down.
We hardly took any photo’s as it hardly seemed worth it which was a shame because when we did get a glimpse of a view along the coastal path, we were tantalised with “what could have been”.
Navigation was actually quite difficult on the top as there seemed to be several paths all crossing each other but as we had no views, we couldn’t see where they were all heading. We kept hearing the siren of a lighthouse (or so we though it was a lighthouse) and we kept thinking that we were near South Stack. The siren kept bellowing as we continued to hug the coastal path. We eventually came to a car park (which was supposed to be correct according to the instructions) but it wasn’t the right car park so we followed the road towards South Stack – we’d get there somehow and eventually!
Eventually, we started to see signs for South Stack and took a path to our left towards Ellin’s Tower. Built between 1820 and 1850, this short castellated tower was originally built and used by the Stanley family as a summer house (how many summer houses did they need?). It now serves as the RSPB information centre. From the Tower, we headed up a steep set of steps to a ridge where the views of South Stack were amazing (despite the weather).
One of Wales’ most spectacular lighthouses, South Stack is 41 metres tall and until 1828 when an iron suspension bridge was built, the only means of crossing the deep water channel on to the island was in a basket which was suspended on a hemp cable. A new aluminium bridge was built and the lighthouse was reopened for public visits in 1997. The lighthouse is also famous for its 400 stone steps down to the footbridge….. we’ll not be doing those then!
From the “ridge”, we took a path up towards a lookout and carried on along a well worn path where we followed the crest of the hill. Just before the transmitter station and despite the mist, we could just about make out North Stack in the distance.
The path started to ascend towards the summit of Holyhead Mountain (the highest point on Anglesey) but the official path doesn’t go to the summit (which is just as well as we wouldn’t have had any views).
Instead we followed the path over a short rocky section before descending a steep and rocky path to the bottom. Tim took a detour off to the left to have a look at the headland but I decided to take the more direct (easier and shorter) route to the main path to the right. The main path curved and winded its way down the hillside towards the Breakwater Country Park. As the path levelled out, we headed towards the direction of the breakwater before traversing an area of gorse.
After the entrance to the Breakwater Country Park, we turned towards the shoreline. We could see the vast expanse of the Holyhead breakwater as well as several ferries ferrying passengers (over 2m of them annually) to Ireland. At 1.7 miles long, this Victorian structure is the longest breakwater in the UK.
We followed the shoreline until we reached the headland at Ynys Wellt after which we continued to the follow the path around the headland until we reached a large stone turreted building where we took the path through a stone passage way onto an enclosed lane. The path continued along Porth y Felin where several boats were moored. We passed several derelict but obviously once beautiful buildings and wondered how they could have got into such disrepair.
Eventually we joined the promenade past the Maritime Museum. At the Port, we turned turn right to join the main road…. we’d almost finished. A few steps further and we were making our way through the archway to enter St. Cybi’s Church……. right back where we had started 6 days earlier.
After 131.2 miles, 43 hours and 55 minutes of walking and 11,570 calories burned, we had finished! What a walk.
So, how would I describe it?
Well, it was a great way to see Anglesey and a great walk overall. It was however tougher than we had imagined – we had expected it to be a lot flatter. Perhaps had we known this beforehand then we would have done it over 7 or even 8 days. 6 days of 22 mile plus walking is tough going. Still, I’d definitely recommend it.
Now, for next year’s LDW…… well, I’m already investigating The Dales Way! A short one of around 84 miles, we’ll maybe do this in 5 days but, who knows?
The Planning click here
Day 1: Holyhead – Cemaes Bay click here
Day 2: Cemaes Bay – Benllech click here
Day 3: Benllech – Llanfairpwllgwyngyll click here
Day 4: Llanfairpwllgwyngyll – Aberffraw click here
Day 5: Aberffraw – Trearrdur Bay click here
Day 6: Trearrdur Bay – Holyhead click here
Keels 