Beach And Roads

The tide was actually high when I got to the beach, but there was still plenty of room for me to make my way along the stony beach. There were great views across the Menai Strait to the towns on the other side and the Snowdonia mountains beyond. The tops were a little misty, but I couldn't see any snow on them. On reaching the end of the beach section, a footpath directed me into a waterlogged field. This wouldn't be the last boggy field of the the day. I gate-crashed dozens of young cows that had congregated in a sheltered corner of the field. They looked a little startled at my intrusion and I was glad to get through the gate to the other side of the fence. This brought me to a country lane and a long stretch of road walking ensued. There wasn't much traffic, but there weren't many views either. High walls or hedgerows also restricted my views along the tarmac in front of me. 

Bryn Celli Ddu

My escape route from the road was blocked by high metal barriers. A notice told me that the footpath was blocked due to path maintenance. I tried to make sense of their map, but it didn't show an alternative route for the Anglesey Coast Path. It did show an alternative path to the nearby Neolithic Burial Chamber and this was near the trail, and so I thought I'd take this and reassess things once I got to the burial chamber. 

My account of my visit to the Bryn Celli Ddu burial chamber can be found in the Captain's Log of Bryn Celli Ddu. It is well worth a visit.

Back To The Coast

From the burial chamber, I managed to find my way back on to the Anglesey Coast Path. I was quite a way inland by now and I started making my way back towards the coast by a series of field hops. 'Hops' is a slightly inappropriate term in that any attempt at a hop would have resulted in my standing leg sinking to kneecap level. At least with two legs I could spread the pressure a little. Some of the fields were more water than mud. I finally reached the A4080 with two large clumps of mud around my boots. I'd been secretly dreading the next bit. The OS map had the Anglesey Coast Path going up the A4080. I've driven down this road a few times and know that it gets quite busy with cars, lorries and buses too. It was only for about a mile, but I didn't fancy taking my life in my hands with verge side walking. I shouldn't have worried though, the Anglesey Coast Path creators had provided a dedicated track on the other side of the hedge lining the road. They'd even laid some wooden boards on the very boggy sections. What luxury! I eventually turned off the road and headed down a country lane towards the Menai Strait. A permissive path then dumped me down on to the stoney beach. Hurray, I was back by the sea again. 

Nelson And Britannia

A sign warned me that I shouldn't attempt the next kilometre along the beach unless I'd checked the tides. I'd already checked them anyway and I knew it was going out. I noticed that there was a permissive path that bypassed this beach section if the tide had been in. I chose the stony beach option since it had the open view of the Menai Strait. I could see the impressive towers of the Britannia Bridge ahead of me. There seemed to be a litte 'Statue Of Liberty' on the north bank near the bridge. I couldn't make out exactly what it was at this distance and it didn't really become much clearer the closer I got. It was only when I stood right next to it that I could see it was a statue of Lord Nelson. An inscription said it was a memorial to his fall at the Battle Of Trafalgar in 1805. I wondered why there was a memorial to Nelson at this point. I didn't think he had any personal or military connections with Wales. Later research revealed that he hadn't. The statue was installed in 1873 and is made of concrete. The sponsor, Lord Clarence Paget, just thought it would be nice to have a statue of Nelson here and the Admiralty agreed. I have to say that Nelson has a commanding spot with the Britannia Bridge towering behind him and the great man scanning the western Menai Strait for French frigates. 

The path made its way past a church and under the railway line to Holyhead. The line then uses the the Britannia Bridge to get to the mainland. The bridge is a double-decker with the road on top and the railway line underneath. It is quite an engineering feat from both the Victorian and 20th century Civil Engineers view. I made a slight detour to get a look at the huge stone lions on each side of the railway section. Presumably these feline embellishments were made by the Victorian engineers. 

The track dropped down to the coast again and the Menai Bridge came into view. My initial thought was that the Menai Bridge would be a 'bridge too far' today. I wasn't wrong. I walked about half a mile along the shore and when the track started drifting inland I decided to call it a day and turned around.

Return 

As I walked back towards the Britannia Bridge I spotted a speed boat full of people making its way along the strait. Yesterday, I'd picked up a tourist leaflet that promoted a company that gave speed boat rides to tourists along this section. It had a photo of the faces of some rather queasy looking people with a backdrop of speed boat spray. I presumed this is what they got for their money. I didn't fancy it. I'd noticed that the water in the strait seemed to travel in every direction at once. It also looked exceedingly choppy further along where the strait was more open. 

The fields seemed even more waterlogged on my return. I could see no reason for this deterioration; I'd only experienced a couple of light showers in the morning. I decided not to return to the burial mound since I'd now had my lunch and I'd convinced myself I'd get stuck in that entrance tunnel. The country roads were just as uninspiring as they were earlier. I'd followed the bin lorry around them this morning and they were still at it in the afternoon. I didn't envy them. With all the remote houses on Anglesey, bin collection must be a bit of a nightmare for them. 

Nearer to Brynsiencyn I was walking along the middle of the country lane, deep in thought, when I had a feeling somebody was behind me. The wind had built itself up into quite a gale and so I couldn't hear anything. I turned around and nearly jumped out of my skin when I found a woman driving a Golf about 3 feet from my calves. I leaped to the side of the road. The woman laughed and waved as she drove past. I've no idea how long she'd been there. 

I did my coffee stop at the café in Brynsiencyn. It's a small establishment and it was completely full inside, and so I took my drink to an outside patio area that had some polythene covers to protect customers from that strong wind. Had today's walk lived up to expectations? Well, it did really. Country lanes and boggy fields don't really make a great walk. There were good bits though. Those sections that were actually on the coast were very picturesque. Nelson's statue and the Britannia Bridge were very impressive. It was very interesting to go into that burial mound at Bryn Celli Ddu, but I now fear that it is going to feature in some of my claustrophobic nightmares.