Suckler Cows

Almost immediately, I had to stop  to put a neck and head band on, as well as to put the hood up on my jacket. Conditions were rather bracing. I made my way along a good grassy path as waves crashed against the rocks at my side. The sun was directly in front of me and was dazzling. I had to shield my eyes to look ahead to search out the Anglesey Coastal Path signs. Not that there would be any navigational difficulties; you can’t really go far wrong on a coastal path.  

A National Trust sign indicated that the ‘...ground is grazed by suckler cows and calves including a beef breed bull.’ I wasn’t sure whether it was supposed to be informational or a warning. I wasn’t even sure about the attributes of a suckler cow. I shielded my eyes to look ahead, but I didn’t see anything that resembled a cow. The grassy path disappeared at a small cove. I had the choice of following the rocks around the cove or a path through the gorse bushes. I chose the latter. Big mistake! It wasn’t the prickly gorse bushes that was the problem, but the thick glutinous mud on the track. At one point I thought I was actually going to get stuck. It was a good job that I’d put my gaiters on. Once I’d escaped the path I stood in a beck to try and get my boots and gaiters clean.    

The huge bulk of the Wylfa power station now imposed itself across the bay. I did wonder whether route finding would be easy around the site. From past experience, I’ve found such places are very good with signage in order that you don’t go wandering into places that you shouldn’t. 

Wylfa Powerhouse

As expected, the signage through the site was excellent. It was a good job, since it was quite a meandering route. I was quite surprised how close the path actually went to the buildings. I always feel that there should be more security in these places. The site is actually in a stage of decommissioning at the moment. The last reactor closed in 2015. It produced 232 TW hours of electricity between 1971 and 2015. I did have a small sense of pride as I looked at it, in that I played a very small part in supporting it. There is talk of building another reactor on the site, but past proposals have run into local opposition. In May 2024, Wylfa was selected as the UK government’s preferred site for a gigawatt-scale plant. I guess we have to wait and see. 

The route wound its way through some pleasant woodlands adjacent to the main buildings. At one point the path went directly under a pylon. There was plenty of wildlife in the woods. I saw a male Bullfinch; not something I’ve seen for quite a while. I escaped the woodland and found myself in a pleasant grassy space on the eastern side of the site. An Anglesey Coastal Path sign pointed me back towards the coast. 

Cemaes

The path led me on a wonderful route around Wylfa Head. The headland offered  great views each way along the coastline. It also had an impressive view of the powerhouse buildings, if you admire industrial aesthetics. There was what looked like a coastal watch building on the tip of the headland. Nobody was inside. I scanned the horizon, but couldn’t see any ships. I retreated from the headland and followed the coast eastwards over an open grassy area. It was a lovely path to walk on. Maybe because I was enjoying the route too much, the Gods directed me on to a path that was enclosed on each side by gorse bushes. It was overgrown and it was so confined that you couldn’t avoid getting scratched at some point. It was only for about 200 metres or so, but it seemed a tough option when there was an open field that could have been used, on the landward  side of the bushes. The last stretch to Cemaes was back on a grassy path along the clifftop.  The footpath leading into Cemaes had been closed due to ‘unstable cliffs’ and so I took the alternative route through a new housing development. I didn’t go into the centre of Cemaes since I’d covered that part of the path a couple of days ago (see Reach For The Sky Between Bull Bay And Cemaes). Instead, I found a seat at a viewpoint at Trwyn y Penrhyn and ate an early lunch. 

Return

The one good thing about the return trip was that the sun was more or less behind me and so I didn’t have to shield my eyes to see where I was going. I had to endure the avenue of gorse bushes again, but survived to tell the tale. I didn’t repeat my trek around Wylfa Head again since I’d seen what I’d wanted to see on my earlier visit. As I walked past the huge powerhouse buildings, I heard a voice announce something over loudspeakers. I was too far away and it was too echoey for me to understand what they were saying. A few moments later an alarm went off. Crikey! I hoped that it was a test and not a major nuclear incident. More announcements were made and different alarms set off. The place had the feel of a Squid Game about it.    

Back at the site of the suckler cows, I didn’t make the same mistake of following the swamp through the gorse bushes, and traversed a much drier path across the rocks of the beach. On my final approach to Cemlyn Bay, I looked further along the coast and could see the chimney and two White Ladies at Carmel Head (see Cemlyn Bay And The White Ladies for more information). The lighthouse on The Skerries was also visible.     

An elderly couple were just getting their dog into the boot of their car as I got back to the carpark. There was a pile of dog crap near to where the dog had been standing.  I wondered whether the couple would clear it up. They didn’t. They got in the car and drove away.     

It had been a tremendous conclusion to my latest Anglesey Coastal Path campaign. Apart from the ‘bog from hell’ and the ‘avenue of a thousand scratches’ the walk had been flat, easy and over good ground. It was good to catch up with the Wylfa nuclear power station again, after four decades apart. As per usual, the views from the Anglesey Coastal Path were stunning. It never seems to disappoint.