Preparation

The Royal Wedding.  I had had quite enough of avoiding it.  So, at 6pm on Thursday 28th April, Jenny and I decided that we should make full use of the long weekend and go on an impromptu tour of somewhere remote.  I decided that this would be a surprise as far as Jenny was concerned.  I headed to the train station straight after work and bought return tickets to the first station on Anglesey.  This was quite an experience in itself.

“Two return tickets to Llanfair P G please.”
“I can’t find that on the system… can you spell it for me?”
“Er… no.”

Llanfair P G is the commonly used name for Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.  I had to insist a little bit in order to get bike reservation s, however, we did get there in the end!

We quickly packed our panniers on Friday morning, tuning into a local classic rock radio station rather than coverage of the wedding.  Things were going well – all the camping kit was present and correct, we seem to have got better at not taking too many clothes with us, and “Paint It Black” by The Rolling Stones was chirruping away in the background.  Of course, it couldn’t go on like this – the music was brought to a halt so that we could listen to some sycophant describe that the dress was white (or something).  The radio was switched off – packing continued without musical accompaniment.

We got to Manchester Piccadilly in good time and headed over to platform 14 to catch the train to Llandudno Junction.  There were lots of people on the platform, however we were able to get our bikes on the train without issue.  Jenny managed to guess where we were heading once we were on the train; happily, she was excited to be going to Anglesey.  Then:

“You do realise that William and Kate are currently living on Anglesey?”

Curses!

We had to change trains at Llandudno Junction; while we waited for the train a young chap, possibly Swiss or German, who came over and started talking to us because we, like him, had a Hilleberg tent.  He was on his way to a canoeing symposium in Holyhead. It turns out he was some kind of action man because as well as being a level four canoeist, he was also a rock climber and a cyclist.

The second train came and this one was a bit more busy; after moving some abandoned luggage, we put the bikes in their allotted space and stood beside them due to the lack of seats.  For some reason our existence caused offence to a pair of mothers with pushchairs (who did get seats, albeit in the vestibule rather than in the main carriage), one of whom I overheard commenting in a suitably disgusted manner “they shouldn’t allow bikes on trains when they’re busy”.  Indeed, they did their best to prevent us getting off the train at Llanfair P G, which I’m sure amused them greatly.  However, after kicking up enough of a fuss we managed to push past them and get off the train.

Day 1: Llanfair P G to Llangoed

So, here we found ourselves in Anglesey on a sunny Friday afternoon with no real plan of action.  I decided to head north (in an anti-clockwise direction around the island), so we slowly went that way.  We made a decision to avoid using the major roads as much as possible, however it did not seem possible for us to sensibly do this for our journey out of Llanfair P G.  I think this was due in part to our poor sense of scale with reading our Ordnance Survey maps; the scale on these is 1:25,000, so, a road that appeared on the map to be a long way away was in reality about five minutes’ ride!

We got off the main road to Beaumaris and took the high road – this turned out to be Route 8 of the National Cycle Network.  We stopped to take in a view at which point a local who was walking by suggested that we head 50 yards down the road towards a bench, where the view was much better.

Jenny realised the significance of this statement far more quickly than I did, which enabled her to win the bench game for Friday 29th April.

We headed up through Beaumaris and then passed the Kingsbridge Caravan and Camping Park on the town’s outskirts.  It was about five-thirty at this stage and the OS map told us that there was another campsite just through the village of Llangoed, so we ploughed on.  However, we reached the second campsite to find that it was home only to static caravans and looked quite deserted of people.  We considered pitching on the neatly manicured lawn, but decided that it probably wasn’t intended for the likes of us!

We did a little loop of this eastern corner of the island before heading back to Kingsbridge.  The Kingsbridge site was primarily geared towards touring caravans, however there were a couple of tent pitches available.  The shower facilities were good and included in the price of £20 for the night.

We ate at the Tafarn Y Rhyd in Llangoed, which was quiet but pleasant enough.  We then went for a walk around a woodland path, where we discovered a Aberlleiniog Castle and a beach.  There was a stream running down to the beach, in which there were fish which were jumping right out of the water to catch flies.

Here’s a map of Day 1; a more detailed map can be viewed here: http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?lnk=http://marchie.net/upload/20110429.gpx

Day 2: Llangoed to Point Lynas

We set off from Llangoed in bright sunshine at around 10am.  Jenny was still struggling with the scale of the map; today would take us ‘over the fold’, so she was pointing to a campsite at Red Wharf Bay as a reasonable target for the day.  I said that I thought we would be there for around midday, and that somewhere towards Amwlch was probably a better target.  Cue whinges of “we’re here on holiday, you know!” and “we don’t have to make it around the whole island!”

We headed uphill to Llanddona, along much quieter roads than we had seen the day before.  I think we were passed by one car.  There were some good views back over towards the mainland and we saw a bird of prey hovering in the sky, so we stopped to watch for five or ten minutes.  We got into Llanddona at around 11am and I was able to equalise on the bench game.

We headed along a slightly busier B-road into Pentraeth, where we popped into Pantri Pentraeth for breakfast.  I had a sausage muffin and Jenny had an egg and bacon muffin, which were lovely.  We also bought two slices of fruit cake for later in the day – these come highly recommended!  Following this, we had a mile or so on the busy A5025 coast road before we could cut off to quieter roads.

We took a trip down to the beach at Traeth Bychan, however this was given over to Cheshire types with jet-skis (which are bloody loud!), so it wasn’t really a pleasant place to take in the view.  On queue, an especially portly Cheshire type drove onto the beach with his Land Rover Freelander and unloaded his jet-ski cargo.  We didn’t hang around to see him attempt to squeeze into a wet suit!

Rather than tackle the hill back up to the coast road, we decided to push our bikes along the Anglesey Coastal Path to Moelfre.  In hindsight, we should have struggled up the hill, because there were two kissing gates on the route which meant that we had to lift the bikes – not easy when they are laden with panniers!

We stopped in Moelfre for a drink – a pleasant, quiet little town; from my brief impressions, it was geared towards tourists such as us.

We headed north; the roads got quieter (even the main coastal road) and the scenery became more beautiful in the north-eastern corner of the island.

We ate the cakes we bought earlier while looking out to the sea.  We were going to shelter from the wind in a curious little structure; it appeared to be a long-abandoned machine gun post, however some sheep had taken up residence inside and, well, it was a little messy in there.

We descended the steep hill into Llaneilian, again surrounded by fantastic panoramic views.  We then headed to the Point Lynas campsite that was marked on our OS map; thankfully this site did have room for tents.  Again, £20 was the price, however the showers were 20p for seven minutes.

We set up camp and then decided to walk a few kilometres along the coastal path into Amwlch.  Amwlch is one of the larger towns on Anglesey and isn’t particularly tourist orientated, however we were given a warm welcome at the Adelphi Vaults pub, where we had a couple of drinks and ate dinner.  The food at the Adelphi was fantastic value – Jenny got a huge plate of gammon, chips and peas for just £4.50.  Indeed, we said to each other while eating our meal that we would expect to pay at least twice as much for it in Manchester!

We headed back to the campsite along the road in pitch darkness – we had remembered to bring torches, though, which was good!

A map of day 2 of our journey; a more detailed map can be viewed here: http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?lnk=http://marchie.net/upload/20110430.gpx

Day 3: Point Lynas to Rhosneigr

Point Lynas was good, however we were probably a little lax in putting up our tent properly, so I was kept awake by the buffeting of the wind against our tent.  A little bleary-eyed, we headed initially towards our friend Sharon’s house near Llangefni, as Jenny’s parents were also on the island visiting Sharon, so we thought it would be good to meet up.  Just before we were about to head over Parys Mountain, Jenny suggested that we check her phone to see if the plan was still to meet up.  Good job – the plans had changed!  So, we decided to head west, towards the Cemlyn nature reserve.

We made fast progress along the north coast of Anglesey, due to the atypical easterly wind.  This also accounted for the clear skies that were present for the duration of our visit.  We ended up following cycle route 566 for most of this journey – again, very quiet roads and very pleasant riding.

We ate a late breakfast/lunch at The Douglas Inn at Tregele, which was nice enough.  Tregele is home to a particularly pointless comedy piece of cycling “infrastructure”, namely the crossing point on the A5025.  This part of the island is particularly sparsely populated, so you can probably count the number of cars passing per hour on one hand (OK, an exaggeration, but not by much).

The Cemlyn nature reserve is in the shadow of the Wylfa nuclear power station, however it is a beautiful part of the island, which is home to a huge variety of sea birds and wildlife.

Cemlyn is in the north-west corner of the island, which is the most sparsely populated part of Anglesey.  The roads around here are very quiet – great for cycle touring!  We continued our route around the coastline on minor roads.  We headed through the village of Llanfairynghornwy, where I stopped to consult the map.  A local resident came out of his house to ask if we needed help.  We chatted for a few minutes about the route options – our intended route down the western coast was indeed the most scenic.  He suggested a restaurant down by the beach and a campsite to stay at – I think he envisaged the journey around the north-west corner of the island would take us the rest of the day – in reality, it took about half-an-hour!  Still, his act of kindness was appreciated; indeed, the people of Anglesey were consistently friendly throughout our stay.

We headed down the west coast of the island.  I had planned to follow an off-road bike path at one point, however it turns out that green dots on the OS map mean “permitted path”, and not “bike route” (these are actually orange dots)!

Ironically enough, this “road” was marked on the map on my sat-nav!

We turned inland at this point, heading through the town of Bodedern; the coastal route would have involved using the A5025 for a prolonged stretch and then the A5.  The route we took presented us with a stunning vista of the Snowdonia mountain range on the mainland:

We headed down into Rhosneigr to the nearest campsite marked on our OS map, which (once again) had been turned into a static caravan park.  This one had a sign which clearly stated that tourers and tents were not welcome.  I made a suitable hand gesture to the sign and we headed towards Rhosneigr.  We didn’t have to travel far; Shoreside Caravan and Camping is a large campsite just on the outskirts of the town which is more inclusive for us sweaty touring types.  We entered the site looking for somewhere to pitch; we found a suitable field, however we couldn’t see anywhere to pay!  Jenny went over to someone who was already there to ask where to go; in the meantime, a silver Rover 25 pulled up next to me and asked me if I needed help.  I explained that we were looking to stay the night – it turns out I was speaking to the owner of the site, who booked us in there and then, in a reverse “drive-thru” style!  The site at Rhosneigr was more reasonably priced at £6 per adult (so £12 for us); showers were free to use, too.

We set up camp and then headed into Rhosneigr to meet Sharon and Jenny’s parents for dinner.  On the way there, Jenny’s parents drove past us and pulled over – her mum asked if we wanted a lift, as it was quite a long walk into Rhosneigr.  We declined and they carried on into the town centre, as did we at our ambling, post-55km bike ride pace; by the time the car was parked up, we had made it to the centre anyway (of course, it wasn’t far at all).

We took a walk to the beach first, which was quite pleasant in the evening sun – the sea was as still as a millpond, on account of the easterly wind; normally, I expect Rhosneigr is a place for surfers.  Indeed, my impression of the place is that it is set up for Cheshire types to come and holiday and do watersports, much like Abersoch (a.k.a. Hale-on-Sea) on the Llyn Peninsula.  This was a view reinforced by an apartment complex that was being marketed by Gascoigne Halman estate agents and someone else; the numbers to ring for more information were 0161 (Manchester) and 01625 (Macclesfield).

We ate at Sullivan’s, which was very pleasant in terms of food, decor and atmosphere, but priced nearer to Alderley Edge than Amwlch!  I asked Sharon if Rhosneigr was regarded by islanders like Abersoch is regarded by everyone else on the Llyn Peninsula – she claimed not, however I’m not so sure myself.*  After the meal, Sharon and Jenny’s parents headed for home, while Jenny and I went for a nightcap at Sandy’s Bar and Bistro.

We picked up a friend, who I am quite sure would have stalked us all the way back to the tent, had we not taken a diversion via the toilet block first in order to shake him:

We headed back to the tent for our final night; this time we had made sure that the tent was especially taut, in the hope that the wind would not disturb us as it had the night before.  Indeed, this was much better!

Here’s a map of day 3 of our journey; again, a more detailed map is available: http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?lnk=http://marchie.net/upload/20110501.gpx

* The story goes that Gwion was out in Abersoch and he was going in bars asking for a drink, but the bar staff were looking at him like he had fallen out of a tree.  Why?  He was trying to order his drinks in Welsh!  He went up to the next town along and started to order in English, at which point he was asked “Why aren’t you ordering in Welsh?”  Gwion explained the trouble he had had in Abersoch, simply to be told “Ah… Abersoch.  They’re all wankers!”  I don’t know if something got lost in translation there…!

Day 4: Rhosneigr to Llanfair P G

We headed back into Rhosneigr for breakfast; we had intended to eat breakfast at Mojo’s, a creperie that we had seen the night before that had piqued our interest.  We were lucky to get a table and we sat down to look at a menu.  We were told that the food would be half an hour because they were busy, but we could get drinks right away.  We initially placed an order for food, but upon realising how close we were to Aberffraw and a lovely little cafe that we knew there, we quickly changed our minds and just ordered a tea and coffee.  Meanwhile, a suitably affronted Cheshire family stood in the street next to us and proceeded to bitch and moan to each other about the fact that they couldn’t get a table and which of them was to blame for this.  We’d have been gone inside ten minutes had the drinks arrived, but they hadn’t… we ended up waiting practically thirty minutes for a cup of tea and a coffee!  Two minutes later and we’d have walked out anyway.

The easterly wind meant that our journey back to Llanfair P G was mostly into a strong headwind, which meant that the cycling wasn’t as easy as we had found it on previous days.  Again, we avoided the main road which ran near to the coast and took the quiet back roads.  Traffic consisted of animals rather than cars!

Indeed, we very nearly chased a cow into Aberffraw!  We were cycling past a farm when all of a sudden a cow shot out of the gate and started high-tailing down the lane!  The farmer came out of the gate not long after and gave chase on a quad bike.  We blocked the road to try and direct the cow back into the farmyard (as we have done at Byrdir before now), however it would seem that the cow was scared of us (probably on account of my not having showered for four days!), so she started bolting back down the lane again!  The farmer gave chase again and we hid away out of sight until the cow was back in the yard.

 

We arrived in Aberffraw and made our way to the Llys Llewelyn Tea Rooms; we have been here before with Sharon and very much enjoyed it.  The service is exceptionally friendly and the Welsh Afternoon Tea is fantastic!

Suitably refreshed, we headed off back towards Llanfair P G.  The south coast of Anglesey has some very large beaches and nature reserves; though we didn’t get chance to on this trip, we have enjoyed a walk on Aberffraw Sands before and saw plenty of wildlife.

Our route back took us along quiet roads as much as possible, however time was running short so we had to cut the corner around Newborough and take a more direct route to Llanfair P G.

 

In hindsight; we’d have probably been better sticking on the main road and heading to Newborough, as we hit a furious headwind riding alongside the Afon Cefni and the road was pretty quiet judging from the section of it we had used through Malltraeth.  Then, on the approach to Llangaffo, we hit the steepest hill of the trip, probably a 1 in 6 gradient.

Of course, Jenny walked!

From here we were following National Cycle Route 8.  We passed down some pleasant country lanes and saw an ancient burial chamber in a field at Bodowyr.

We had a one mile stretch along the A5 to get into Llanfair P G, which wasn’t pleasant, however we made it back to the town with about half an hour to spare before our train, so we went and got some food for the journey from the Co-Op and then waited on the platform.

Here’s a map of the final day of our tour; a more detailed map is available here: http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?lnk=http://marchie.net/upload/20110502.gpx

Postscript

The journey home was a bit of a nightmare.  The type of train from Llanfair P G was an old “Sprinter” class, which nominally has room for two bikes, but the space provided for these is very tight indeed.  As it was, someone had already taken up one of the spaces with their bike and our reservations seemingly counted for nothing.  However, we were able to get the bikes on, although Jenny had to sit and hold hers for the journey.  At Bangor, a lot of people got on, each with huge amounts of luggage – students returning to university, perhaps?  This just ended up being piled around us.  More of the same at Llandudno Junction.  Funnily enough, there ended up being about six or seven bikes on the train by the time we reached Chester!  At Chester, everybody wanted to get off the train, including an especially self-important type “who had a connection to catch”, which of course entitled her to attempt to push past everyone else who had been waiting patiently.  Well, that was until Jenny unleashed two hours of pent-up frustration at her!  We ended up getting the slower connecting train to Manchester ourselves, because we knew it would be quiet and there would be plenty of room for our bikes on board.

So, 154 kilometres or 93 miles in old money.  Four days of glorious sunshine – I was as red as a lobster by the end of the tour.  We did nothing in the way of forward planning and the only thing we forgot to bring was soap and a towel.  Both our bikes have been in need of some tender loving care for a while now (the wear indicators on my rims are a distant memory), but we had no mechanical issues at all.  Bike touring is the best way to explore – fast enough so that you cover the ground, but slow enough so that everything doesn’t whizz past you in a blur.  If you see something interesting, just stop and take a look.  It’s great!  All in all, we had a fantastic time!

Here’s a link to a detailed version of the full tour route: http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?lnk=http://marchie.net/upload/Anglesey.gpx