Day 26: Church Bay

It’s been a month since we left New Zealand to start our wanderings around Wales. Given our experience of the past few weeks of walking, we have decided to change our tactics. We have kept hold of the hire car and have rented a cottage for a number of nights, so that we have a base from which we can continue to walk the track. This way we won’t have to carry our heavy backpacks every day or have to pack up our gear each morning. It also means that we will have access to electricity to power our devices and regular access to the internet. More importantly we will have a kitchen so that we will be able to cook our own meals and hopefully eat more healthily and spend less money on eating out all the time. Well that is the theory in any case! Below is a photo of the cute wee cottage we are staying in for the next few nights.

Hen Gilfach Stable, Church Bay

 

Taking a well deserved break

Today has been a rest day where we have pretty much put up our feet up for the day, reading a good book, doing some laundry and catching up on our blog.

Day 25: Aberffraw to Newborough

Today we got up 6 am to get an early start on ‘the Path’ from Abberffraw to Newborough. This is out of order to the lineal progression of the path however being a bank holiday weekend, it was the only stage of the path that we would be able catch a bus at the end of the walk back to the start point and our car. We put our wet weather gear to the test today, as it rained on and off all day. Immediately I was enthralled because we were walking along the Afon Ffraw (Ffraw River) to the beach amongst huge sand dunes, including some very high mobile parabolic forms. The walk along the beach was fairly short and we had to cut inland as walking access was not allowed through the Bodorgan Estate.

Beach at Abeffraw Bay

Parabolic dunes inland of Aberffraw Bay

It was a pleasant walk along narrow picturesque country lanes to Malltraeth on the shores of a vast estuary where we had some lunch. We crossed the Afon Cefni (River Cefni) onto a path along a huge earth bank known locally as ‘the Cob’. Construction of the Cob began in 1790 and when completed was 1.6 km long and enabled over 1600 ha of saltmarsh to be reclaimed.

Walking along picturesque country lanes to Malltraeth

Estuary at Malltraeth

View of estuary and cob at Malltraeth

We then entered an area called the Newborough Warren, one of the finest and largest dunelands in Britain and managed as a vast nature reserve. Interestingly the dunes are said to be formed in the 14^th century after a series of storms caused dunes to migrate inland burying the farmland under sand. We stopped by a rocky island Ynys Llanddwyn the site of the ruins of the Church of St Dwnwen. We briefly explored the island stopping by the church and old lighthouse keeper cottages. We then cut across the mudflats towards the exit off the beach to find the Coast Path again.

Looking back at Traeth Penrhos from Ynys Llanddwyn Island

Ruins of St Dwynwen's Church and lighthouse on Ynys Llanddwyn Island

Cottages on Ynys Llanddwyn

Helga was hoping to be able to catch the earlier bus at 3.20 pm back to our car rather than wait until the only other bus due at 6 pm. As she was anxious about missing the earlier bus but she set a cracking pace across the beach to a car park from which we followed the path marker along a gravel track. When we were just exiting the reserve, I realised that somehow, we had strayed off the true path and pointed this out to Helga whose bright red face from her exertions turned several shades redder. With great drama she started yelling and swearing and tossed her walking sticks away upset that we had missed the bus and whoever marked the path did not do their job properly. We decided to find the proper path so after a shortcut through a paddock found our way to Pen-Lôn and the finish of this stage, approximately 21 km. Having missing the bus we walked to Newborough and found the White Lion pub where we had an enjoyable couple of hours drinking beer and cider and played pool until the 6 o’clock bus. I won the pool 2 games to 1.

Wide shallow beach at Traeth LLanddwyn

Day 24: Cemaes to Porth Swtan (Church Bay)

This morning we returned to the Isle of Anglesey to complete those section of the path that we did not complete previously. Our journey today took us from Cemaes to Porth Swtan (Church Bay). 

The path out of Cemaes followed the cliff tops with views to Wylfa Head and the Wylfa Power Station, a gigantic nuclear power plant. Construction of Wylfa began in 1963 and at one time it’s twin reactors produced 8% of the UK’s electricity. The power station has now been decommissioned however there are plans afoot for a further nuclear power station at the site!

Views from the clifftop out of Cemaes

View from clifftops out of Cemaes

View of Wylfa Nuclear Power Station

 

Having detoured around the power station site, we followed a grassy path down to a clapper bridge alongside the Felin Cafnan corn mill before making our way around a headland to Cemlyn Bay which includes a nature reserve inland. 

Felin Cafnan corn mill and clapper bridge

Wide pebble beach at Cemlyn Bay

 

Nesting sandwich terns on an island within lagoon at Cemlyn Nature Reserve

We then traversed Carmel Head, one of the most wild and remote sections of the Anglesey Coast. This section of the path included copper mine ruins and large painted navigation beacons known as the White Ladies. These were used by ships to avoid an invisible reef known as Coral Rock out beyond the West Mouse lighthouse. 

Old farm buildings at Cemlyn Bay

Lone church in countryside near Hen Borth

'White ladies' at Carmel Head

We then continued walking around the headland until the dramatic cliffs of Ynys y Fydlyn came into view. The walk along this section included rocky knolls before descending abruptly above a natural arch and twin coves formed by an island.

Natural arch at Ynys y Fydlyn

Dramatic cliffs of Ynys y Fydlyn 

Cliffs and rocky shore on Ynys y Fydlyn

The settlement at Church Bay eventually came into view after our 18 km journey. It seemed like we had walked further than this, although that was probably due to the fact that we had gained elevation of 410 metres throughout the day.

Church Bay our destination for the day

Day 23: Caernarvon to Aberdesach

We left Caernarvon’s old walled town via the swing footbridge across the mouth of the Afon Seiont and then followed quiet shoreline roads for approximately 7 km. The mudflats of the Menai Strait gave way to those of Foryd Bay, a nature reserve that is home to various waders and wildfowl.

View of Caernarvon city walls and castle

Shoreline along Foryd Bay with Llyn Peninsula in background

Countryside along Foryd Bay

Afon Carrog

Mute swans on Foryd Bay

After some time, we reached the Caernarvon Airport and Aviation Museum which had been in our view most of the morning from across the bay. Given that convenience stops had been few and far between this morning, we decided to visit the Aviation Museum. The museum was full of all things associated with the military use of the airport between the years 1941-1955 and was thoroughly interesting. It would have been easy to spend more time there however we needed to reach our end point in time to catch the bus back to Caernarvon.

Exhibit at Caernarvon Aviation Museum

Caernarvon Aviation Museum

We continued along the road until we reached a footpath along the bay which took us to Dinas Dinlle which consists of a small seaside village and a large hill (actually a glacial drumlin) with an Iron Age hillfort. The fort itself consisted of numerous depressions where huts once stood, and a rough mound thought to be a Bronze Age burial cairn.

View inland from Dinas Dinlle

View south from Dinas Dinlle

From here we lost the path markers and ended up walking along the beach which became progressively stonier and harder to walk along. After some time, we realised we had come the wrong way but were loath to turn back and retrace our steps. We eventually managed to make our way back to the road and the path. We walked along this busy section of road until it started to rain as we approached the town of Aberdesach. We were due to walk another 1-2 km however as a bus was due shortly and it was raining, we decided to catch it back to Caernarvon where we stayed overnight.

A nest with three eggs that we found while walking along the beach

Day 22: Beddgelert (Snowdonia)

On our last day in Snowdonia we travelled to Beddgelert. This is a quaint and picturesque village above the confluence of the River Glaslyn and River Colwyn with many old stone buildings and a beautiful stone twin arched bridge. 

Twin arched bridge 

Beddgelert Village

Church at Beddgelert

The name Beddgelert in English means literally Gelert’s Grave and there is a well visited tourist attraction which is claimed to be the grave of a dog belonging to Llywelyn the Great, Prince of Gwynedd. In this legend, Llywelyn returns from hunting to find his baby missing, the cradle overturned and covered in blood. Gelert greets him with a blood-smeared mouth and believing the dog had savaged the child, Llywelyn draws his sword and kills him. After the dog's dying yelp Llywelyn hears the cries of the baby, unharmed under the cradle, along with a dead wolf which had attacked the child and been killed by Gelert. Llywelyn is overcome with remorse and buries the dog with great ceremony. After that day Llywelyn never smiles again. It is an emotional tale but apparently the grave site was built by the late 18th-century landlord of the Goat Hotel, who created it in order to encourage tourism.

Sculpture of Gelert

Bespoke gate on Gelert's Grave walk

Bespoke gate on Gelert's grave walk

Being a day of tales and legends, we took a short walk to the remains of the ancient hill fort, Dinas Emrys. The trail took us past old stone walls and a beautiful waterfall and pool over which we crossed a clapper bridge which is formed by large flat slabs of stone. The climb up to the hill fort was relatively easy however we could see why this site was chosen for the fort, from the top we could see for miles up the valley in both directions.

View from top of Dinas Emrys

View from top of Dinas Emrys in other direction

This site is steeped in tales and legends. The 5th-century King Vortigern was trying to build a castle there and every day his men would work hard erecting the first of several proposed towers; but the next morning they would return to find the masonry collapsed in a heap. This continued for many weeks until Vortigern was advised by his councillors that the sacrifice of a fatherless boy was required to appease the supernatural power there. The King sent his soldiers out across the land to find such a lad. The boy they found was a smart lad and instead explained that the hillfort could not stand due to a hidden pool containing two fighting vermes (dragons). The pool was exposed, and the dragons flew free. One was white and the other red. The boy explained how the White Dragon of the Saxons though winning the battle at present, would soon be defeated by the Welsh Red Dragon. This boy was called Myrddin Emrys or Merlin of King Arthur fame.

Clapper bridge over stream

Close up of clapper bridge over stream

Foundations of tower at top of Dinas Emrys

Foundation of building at Dinas Emrys

In the afternoon we visited the nearby Victorian Sygun Copper mine. Approaching the mine entrance the air felt like walking into a fridge. The old Victorian mine workings had been made safe for tourists however we did wonder walking under piles of tailings being held up by old bits of timber visible with it all being supported by modern steel girders. We ascended through the mine to different levels with informative recorded commentary. I was struck by two things: One was that it was a bloody hard life being a miner working in appalling, damp and cramped conditions and two, that I would not like being in the mine during an earthquake.

Entrance to Sygun Copper Mine

Stalactites and stalagmites in Sygun Copper Mine

Towards the end of the day we drove back to Caernarvon where we had booked accommodation for the night.

Day 21: Betws-y-coed (Snowdonia)

Our first stop this morning was The Ugly House which is owned by the National Trust. Some claim the name, Ugly House (Tŷ Hyll in Welsh), is a corruption of ‘Llugwy’, the name of the river burbling away on the other side of the road. Or maybe it’s the big, crude boulders that give the house its name; the word ‘hyll’ in Welsh can mean rough or crude, as well as ugly. Tŷ Hyll is a house full of history, legend and mystery; no one really knows who built the house, or when. In any case, we enjoyed a delicious morning tea here before exploring the 6 acres of woodland surrounding the cottage.

Front view of The Ugly House

Back view of The Ugly House

Tree entwined with climbers in Ugly House woodland

Then it was on to the charming village of Betws-y-coed nestled within large deciduous woodlands. The village included a number of boutique shops selling a variety of goods including one of my favourites, Dutch stroopwafels although they called them Welsh toffee waffles here! We visited the 14^th Century St. Michael’s Church where the yew trees are around five centuries old. The church is the oldest building in the village.

St Michael's Church

Graves at St Michael's Church yard

From here we drove to Llanrwst where we had lunch in the Tu Hwnt l’r Bont Tearooms another National Trust owned building.  Built as a residential dwelling in 1480, Tu Hwnt I’r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) is actually considerably older than the Inigo Jones bridge it stands beside. Some years later the building was used as the Courthouse for the surrounding area.

 

Tu Hwnt I'r Bont Tearooms

Replete, we headed to the long established woollen mill in Trefriw where we took a self-guided tour. The mill produces a beautiful range of distinctive Welsh tapestries and tweeds all manufactured using older machinery powered by a mechanical water wheel.

Weaving machine at Trefriw Woollen Mill

Spooling machine at Trefriw Woollen Mill

Greg's new tweed cap (he's attempting to grow a beard!)

We finished the day by taking a short walk to view the Swallow Falls. This waterfall on the Afon Llugwy has become a familiar natural celebrity over the past 100 years and has featured on film, postcard and canvas.

Swallow Falls