Beautiful Anglesey, off the north west coast of Wales, aka Ynys Mon, the Druid’s Isle…

With thanks… Sunday October 23…
Today I am grateful for an awesome day with Juz, exploring the Neolithic monuments of Ynys Môn (Anglesey) – this island has the highest concentration of prehistoric sites in Wales – and enjoying the gorgeous scenery, since the entire rural coastline has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which is definitely warranted.
I woke up at 6.45 again – and you can tell that winter is drawing close, because it stays a bit darker for a bit longer every morning – it wasn’t fully light until 8am this morning – and today was the first day we really felt the cold. And boy did we feel it!
We began with a quick wander through sleepy Sunday morning Beaumaris, with few shops open, but an impressive castle ruin that was fun. And I will never get bored of the sky from the shore of Beaumaris, looking over the Menai Strait to the Snowdonia Mountains – every time we stand there it’s a totally new view, with heavy clouds, or blankets of mist obscuring the peaks, or blue skies and sunshine, or black skies and rain drops…
Then we took a detour to Holyhead, on the other side of the island, since we ended up on the “freeway” west, and went on a long, chilly search for a café so we could order a pot of tea and get our bearings. It’s not the prettiest or most inviting of towns, but we explored Caer Gybi, a small Roman fort circa the fourth century CE. In the sixth century, the old fort was given to Saint Cybi, who founded a monastery there. The Church of St Cybi still stands on the site today, with a small detached chapel (Eglwys y Bedd) that reputedly stands over Cybi’s grave…
Then we set out for Barclodiad y Gawres, a Neolithic burial chamber famous for its decorated stones, and located on a beautiful part of the southern coastline. We borrowed the key from a store a few miles away so we could go inside, and it was fascinating.
Even more spectacular was Bryn Celli Ddu – the Mound in the Dark Grove – a burial chamber that is the best-known prehistoric monument on Anglesey, constructed to protect and pay respect to the remains of the ancestors.
From there we visited Caer Leb, a low-lying rectilinear enclosure, defined by double banks and ditches, which was fascinating in a different way.
After a weird lunch, and Welsh coffee (which was not especially great, sadly), we headed back through Beaumaris to Penmon, and the ruins of St Seiriol’s Church, along with its well-preserved dovecot, restored church and St Siriol’s Well, built by the monks of Penmon and believed to have healing powers. There was also an adorable cat that followed us around the grounds and between the grave stones.
Then we walked down to the coast to see the Trwyn Du Lighthouse, located in the ocean between Dinmor Point and Ynys Seriol (Puffin Island), and the sky colouring with the approaching sunset, and the site of several wind turbines off the northern coast of Wales. It was sooo cold, which we quite liked after being too hot in Fishguard – we had our scarves, gloves and beanies on…
Then it was back to Beaumaris for a Sunday roast dinner…

With thanks… Monday October 24…
Today I’m grateful to Juz for another day of climbing mountains and clamouring through kissing gates to find Neolithic burial chambers and chapel ruins, and for hot showers and clean clothes…
We started by heading back to Holyhead to wash our clothes, then going to the awesome Holyhead Mountain Hut Circles, then we climbed Holyhead Mountain (possibly the smallest in Wales) for the most gorgeous views back across the water to the cloud-capped Snowdonia Mountains.
Then we went on the hunt for the Presaddfed Burial Chamber, along a few different roads then down another tiny one-car-width, blackberry-hedge-edged laneway. It was quite a mission to find it, but it was really cool, across a sheep-filled paddock, under blue skies on one side, hazy white-grey on the other.
Then we went on another search expedition, and found the Din Lligwy Hut Circle, the remains of an ancient village that was approached through a beautiful faery wood, and was really fascinating, along with Capel Lligwy, a ruined chapel nearby that was much more recent, but very cool – and kinda creepy, with a burial chamber under the floor which I screwed up my courage and climbed down into (since I’ve been climbing into ancient burial chambers and all)… Then we walked back along the narrow laneway to the Lligwy Burial Chamber, a cromlech from the Neolithic era, which has a crazy-heavy capstone, and was a little different to others we’ve seen…
And then we made our way back to our apartment in Beaumaris for a chilled out evening at home. My knee has been really sore, but life’s too short to worry about that – we’re still hitting around 20,000 steps a day…

With thanks… Tuesday October 25…
Today I am grateful for the beauty of nature and the elements, and all of Rhiannon’s white horses that I keep seeing in Wales…
The mornings are so beautiful here, looking over the stillness of the sparkling silver waters to the mountains wreathed in mists and clouds. We headed back over the bridge, to Llanberis, a village on a gorgeous lake, where we were going to get a train to the top of the tallest mountain. But there wasn’t one today, so we had a pot of tea then meandered on, stopping along the way to take photos of the breathtaking scenery, before making it to the village of Capel Curig, one of Snowdonia’s oldest hill stations, which has amazing views over the lakes to the mountains, and a sweet historical church, Saint Julitta’s, the smallest of the old churches of Snowdonia, which was built on the location of a spring that apparently cured a woman of a skin disease. The cemetery is the last resting place for generations of people from Capel Curig as well as many of those killed in mountain accidents, which is sobering…
We made it to the pretty town of Betws-y-Coed, Sanctuary in the Wood, for lunch, and were surprised by how many people there were – it’s a tourist mecca, which was a bit of a shock after our days on Anglesey. We went on a massive adventure in search of the nearby Fairy Glen – not my wisest move, because we walked for miles, without finding it, and by the end my knee was making me cry. But we’d gone so far that we couldn’t give up, and in the end we went back to grab the car and keep searching – turns out the “just off the intersection” meant “a long freakin’ way”… Had to laugh when we finally did find it – and it was a 30-minute walk, with loads of crazy steep and slippery stone stairs. We weren’t sure whether to curse the faeries or kiss them by the time we finally made it there. Lucky it was really pretty!
So, not our best day so far, thanks to plans falling through and my pesky knee, but still pretty awesome!

With thanks… Wednesday October 26…
Today I am grateful for beautiful skies, and no rain, and our intrepidness 🙂
We began the day marvelling at the sky as we gazed across the Menai Strait at the mountains – every moment is a new view, the clouds cloaking the summits, then moving away to reveal the peaks, the sun piercing through the mists then hiding, then sparkling on the water all golden bright.
Then we headed off to Castell Bryn Gwyn – Sacred White Hill – a prehistoric grass-covered circular clay and gravel bank, thought to have been used before the Neolithic as a religious sanctuary, then during it, then during the Iron Age, then by the Romans. It’s fascinating, to see the henge and imagine its past, and people being there for thousands and thousands of years. We met the guy who lives in the cottage right next to it – he was feeding the crows, with his cute cat Buddy – and chatted for a while, thankfully as it turned out, since he knew where the nearby Bryn Gwyn Standing Stones were (and was surprised we even knew about them). He directed us over one fence, across a paddock or two, over another stile, through a kissing gate – and there they were, the three Bryn Gwyn Stones, once part of a stone circle, and one of them the tallest standing stone in Wales.
And then the real adventure began – trying to find the Bodowyr Burial Chamber. It was aligned with the Bryn Gwyn Stones – but down a few laneways and across some more fields, and our instructions had left out a few crucial steps, so we found ourselves going round in circles a few times, desperately trying to find them. We almost gave up a couple of times – but we are determined – and stubborn – so we gave it one more shot, and finally tracked it down. Lucky it was an impressive one!
Our search had made us hungry though, so we found a café for lunch (after one unsuccessful – and nerve-wracking – jaunt down a dirt track), then headed back over to the mainland and through the mountains to the cute village of Beddgelert – supposedly named for the story of the legendary hound (quite a gruesome tale, and not a happy one – Juz was horrified when I told it to him) – although the story, at least of the dog’s grave in this village, was made up by an enterprising hotelier in a bid to lure more tourists to the town – which worked! A few of the town associations in Wales (and probably everywhere) were invented, such as the name of the village of Llanfairpwllgwyngllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch – which means St Mary’s Church in the Hollow of the White Hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of St Tysilio near the Red Cave – which was dreamed up in the nineteenth century to get the tourists in – which continues to work well 🙂
After a pot of tea, we headed a mile north to Dinas Emrys, said to be the place where King Vortigern unsuccessfully tried to build a castle, and was told by Merlin that a red and a white dragon within the hill were fighting, and would not stop until the red dragon, representing the Welsh, triumphed over the white dragon of the Saxons. A good excuse for us to climb a mountain 🙂 We set out up the path, but the route (to what we later realised was Dinas Emrys) was closed off – so we ended up climbing the much higher and steeper mountain, which had breathtaking views, despite the boggy bits and the very steep rocky sections and sliding bits…
Then it was “home” to our cute little apartment in Beaumaris, above a chilli shop, for our last night. We’re sad to be moving on, because this island is truly beautiful, but we’re excited about our next adventure too!