Hiking on Angelsey Island in Wales – The Trek

Day 10: Beaumaris to Llanfairpwll

Zero day excitement

We slept, ate, wrote a little, ate more, did laundry (our host), took a nap, and ate again. We basically didn’t do anything that required any physical effort.

Wait, did I mention day zero? excitement? We also added a new healthy granddaughter.

In short, it was a perfect day zero.

The Anglesey Island Circuit

We began the second leg of our walk this morning, a 130 mile circumnavigation of the island of Anglesey. Anglesey Island lies off the mainland coast of Wales, connected by two bridges and separated by the Menai Strait.

We don’t know much else about Anglesey yet, except that it’s beautiful and we might see puffins. You will discover it together with us.

The short and the long of things

We know that our daily mileage will increase. But not today. Today we only had seven miles from Beaumaris to Llanfairpwll.

Llanfairpwll is a mouthful in itself, but that’s just the short version of the town’s name. Its official name is: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogogoch. Which, as everyone knows, means “the church of St. Mary in the white hazel hollow near a swift whirlpool and the church of St. Tysilio near the red cave.”

Our trail guide says it’s one of the longest place names in the world (not THE longest?). I guess they also have some award-winning high school cheerleaders, because creating catchy animations with that name would require world-class talent. Although I saw a «go, go, go» there.

Ridge walking with clouds

Bishopsgate House is located right on the footpath, so we headed out the front door after breakfast and started walking. We moved 20 feet, stopped and put on our raincoats. This afternoon’s rain came early and stayed late. It was just a drizzle, but it stayed with us all day.

We left Beaumaris on the footpath along the main road, but soon turned off onto one of those one and a half lane minor roads that cut through the Welsh countryside. Like many others, this one was bounded by chest-high rock walls and 8-foot-high hedges.

We walked side by side, talking with one ear tuned to the sound of approaching vehicles so we could get into the hedge just enough to let them pass. On the Pembrokeshire Trail, I once saw two vehicles approaching from each direction along a similar road. I walked the entire valley before they negotiated backups and passing steps for each other.

Our narrow path rose from sea level about 400 feet to a long ridge. We followed the ridge along muddy paths, through pastures, past rural farms and along narrower roads from the outskirts of Beaumaris to the descent to Menai Bridge. Our reward was occasional long views of the Menai Strait and close-ups of spring flowers and new lambs.

walk through the city

Back on the coast, the trail twisted and turned through a soggy coastal shopping district. Just as it started to rain we turned a corner and found Dylan’s, a cute Welsh coast chain we discovered in Conwy a few nights ago.

We were wet. They had a nice enclosed deck overlooking the sound, a place to store my pack and our clubs, and enough space to keep us away from the less soggy and muddy patrons. The wind, rain and gray sky were much more picturesque under a roof.

Made early

Just at noon, with only a mile and a half to go, I left a message with the taxi driver that we would be at St. Mary’s Cemetery (the one in the white hazel hollow near a rapid, etc.) in about an hour and that we would love an early pick-up. After a pleasant ride through the Strait, we arrived without receiving a response from the driver.

I left another message that we had arrived. Kate made a tour of the church cemetery, hoping to find an open door or a dry niche. No such luck.

So we found the driest spot available, sheltered by an ancient stone wall under a thick pine tree. We took off our warmest layers and sat down to wait. Kate leaned on my shoulder and tried to take a nap. I took out the map to review tomorrow’s route.

We had just started discussing whether to keep going (my idea: let’s go another four miles and cut our day short tomorrow!) or call another taxi company (Kate’s idea, which she later rejected due to poor cell reception and potential complications if our guy showed up), when our driver pulled into the parking lot.

Fifteen minutes later we were back in our room. An easy day.

Tomorrow it will be almost twice as long, but let’s hope for better weather.

Errata

Apparently Wales has three varieties of snakes. Thanks to alert reader Isabelle for pointing out my mistake. And also for ruining my walk! Forty-five years of field work in Arizona has left me with a healthy fear of snakes. I had been assured that I was safe from snakes here.

Kate wrote yesterday’s rest day post. Thought about starting with «Hi, I’m Kate,» but we decided that our writing styles are different enough that it should have been obvious. In general, if you notice a marked difference in the quality and insight of the writing, it’s her.

Our B&B host has a little Doodle named Ringo who runs the place. He looks exactly like our Golden Doodle Gus at home. The same color, gestures, sidelong glances and instinct to know when I have food to share.

We really like our B&B in Beaumaris, the Bishopsgate House Hotel. The food has been excellent, the hosts are friendly and we have had pleasant chats with other guests. When we checked in, our hostess looked at me and apologized for putting us in «the small room.»

The top of the ceiling measures just under two meters. I can stand there, but the rest of the sloping ceiling makes me crouch or kneel. Doors and stairs are dangers. But it’s better than my backpacking tent or even the van.

Another fun road sign. Is the little one having an accident or is he having a good time?

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