Day 27: Porth Swtan (Church Bay) to Holyhead

We got up early and drove down to Church Bay for the start of the next leg of our journey. The overview in our guide book described it as ‘a long but relatively flat day around the gentle shores and estuaries of Holyhead Bay.’ We could just make out our destination of Holyhead across the bay and it seemed miles away! The path led us out onto the cliffs past Port Crugmor (Cable Bay) and Porthwen before dropping down onto the beach at Porth Trefadog.

View towards our destination Holyhead, in the far distance

View back towards Church Bay

The path then took us across rolling countryside with numerous ruins of farm buildings scattered along the route. 

Ruins of farm buildings in rolling countryside

More building ruins

 Our route took us along a number of small bays with golden sandy beaches. What fascinates us here is that the tidal range is 4.0 metres whereas in New Zealand it is only about half a metre. Therefore, when the tide is out the beach front is extremely wide.

Sandy beach at Porth Tywyn-mawr with caravan park in background

Sandy beach at Porth Penryn-mawr

We eventually had to head inland around the estuary at Afon Alaw before heading back to the coast where we picked our way along the stony shore at Gorad Beach.

Estuary at Afon Alaw

Narrow concrete causeway across the Afon Alaw Estuary

Picking our way along the stony beach at Gorad Beach

Shipwreck ruins

From here we crossed the Stanley Embankment onto Holy Island, separated from the main island of Anglesey by a narrow channel. The path then took us through the wooded Penrhos Coastal Park to a viewpoint, before following the clifftop past a standing stone and some more ruins. 

Old building with lovely stone arch along the shore at Penrhos Coastal Park

Standing stone along the coast of Holy Island

Stone archway leading to the shore on Holy Island

We eventually made it to the town centre of Holyhead after making our way between some industrial units and busy roads. The early start in the morning meant that we made it in plenty of time to catch the bus back to the nearest village to where we parked the car although it was still a two mile hike to the car.