Day: 16    25/5/86   Pontllyfni to Nefyn 

Distance:  21 km (13 miles)    Total Distance:    225 miles

After packing up camp and waving goodbye to the campsite I’d used a fair amound recently, I drove south. I returned to the good cafe in Dinas Dinlle I’d found yesterday and enjoyed a good breakfast. I parked in the hamlet of Pontllyfni to start the days walking. The walk along the seafront until the pier at Trefor was quiet,  mainly along the shingle and sand.

I thought I was doing rather well but just before the beach at Trefor I stood in a massive mud puddle. A group of people who had been following my progress since I started that morning stopped and chatted to me from which from which I gained encouragement.  There seemed to be nowhere open in Trefor for refreshments.  A crane on the pier was busy demolishing a building on it. 

Trefor Pier

The terrain changed in the afternoon. It was a long uphill walk up through a quarry on Yr Eifl with steep climbs and good views back upalong the coast towards Caernarfon. The mist had come down by the time I reached the top and I had to use a compass to guide me across the plateau. 

The ascent of Yr Eifl

I kept to the road after that because access to the coast via the farms seemed impossible.  I eventually got down to the beach at Nefyn.  Now I was out of the mist the sun was up again.

It was good to see an open café on the beach.  I walked up through Nefyn and got a lift in a new Montego.  I returned to Nefyn to camp in a deserted camp site in Pistyll, for just £1 a night.  That night I went to an Italian restaurant and had a jolly good pizza. There were no alcoholic drinks available though as its still ‘dry’ on the Llyn peninsular on a Sunday.

End of the days walk at Nefyn

Day: 15    24/5/86    Llanfair PG to Pontlyfni 

Distance: 34 km (21 miles)    Total Distance:    212 miles

I drove up from Coventry and camped in Bangor overnight at the same campsite just off the A5 I'd used earlier in the month. Little did I realise at the time that my house was being burgled overnight. My hi-fi, including a nice old Leak valve amplifier, and my record collection were stolen. I recon I got my own back though as among the LPs was a couple of Leonard Cohen albums.  There must be one depressed burglar in the Coventry area now.

My old Leak amp - I saved up my pocket money to buy that.

I parked near the post office in Llanfair PG and walked along the road and over Britannia Bridge. This was one of the first legal transgressions of the walk.  You are not meant to walk over it but it was safe enough and I was not caught!

Britania Bridge (Wiki)

I had to keep to the main road all the way to Caernarvon but as it was my first days walking of the week my moral was high and it was a fine morning.  I did some exploring of Feninheli (Portdinorwic).  Its a little port and was crammed with expensive yachts with people preparing them for upcoming outings.  I had a break near the Alcan works just outside Caernarvon.

It was quite busy in the town.  I got some provisions and eventually found a good outdoor pursuits shop. I bought a hat as I had forgotten to bring one and a map case.  The Caernarvon Castle looked good in the sunshine.

Caernarvon Castle

Past the town there was a road/track following the sea for a while.  I then had to go on a path and follow the River Gwyrfai, a rather pleasant river, for about one mile, and back along the other side.  I then started a race against time – I could see the weather was closing in and I wanted to get around the peninsular today.  I made it past the tip before the rain began but the wind around most of the way was strong.  The building at the tip was peculiar. Fort Belan had with cannons pointing out to the strait.  I don’t think I should have been looking around the grounds but there were no clear signs saying not to. The fort was built in 1775 as a defence against attack from the Americans.  It would have been a long way for them to come and I don’t think this one fort would have been much of a deterrent.   

Fort Belan cannons

The walk back south to Dinas Dinlle was tough along soft sand, but was rewarded in the end by finding a great café and gift shop which I stayed in till the rain had eased off and enjoyed sandwiches, cake and tea.

Feeling much relieved I decided to carry on till Pontllyfni where it was only a short walk back up to the main road.  Fortunately I didn’t have to cut in to avoid the River Llifion but could cross it on the beach.

 By the time I finished it was raining and I got a lift from a young woman and her mother. It was only the second time I remember hitching and getting lift off a woman.  This lift was to Caernarvon.  My second lift was off some old farmers, very Welsh who kindly took me out of their way and over the bridge to Llanfair PG - very kind of them.  I camped in Bangor for the last time on this journey.

Day 14      9/5/86   Newborough to Llanfair PG 

Distance: 23 km (14 miles)    Total Distance:    191 miles

Today was not a very successful day walking today at all!  The weather was poor – drizzle on and off all day with a hard wind at times. This was particularly when I tried to walk out to Traeth Melynog.  Here the wind and rain were appalling and I could not find the path so I was forced to backtrack.

There then followed two other attempts to get nearer to the coast and access better scenery. One route was blocked by a river where stepping stones were marked on the map but if there were any they were way under the level of the river. Again I had to backtrack.

This also appeared to be an area of few public footpaths. Even when they were marked on the map there was no sign of them on the ground.  I gave up in the end and kept to the road for the rest of the day stopping in a pub in Brynsiencyn for lunch. 

I suppose the highlight of the day was going to the bookshop in Plas Newydd, a National Trust House and finding a book on Dylan Thomas in the sale – I got one for myself and one for a friend from Swansea.  The coincidence here is that he swears one of the pictures in the book is of him. I also bought some love spoons for friends in Coventry (this must have worked as I ended up marrying one of them later).

The Love Spoon (one of three!)

Dylan Thomas (going cheap)

The walking for the week finished in Llanfair PG.  It had been quite a trek and it had only rained on the last day.  I got a lift back to Newbourough from a chap on his way home from working at Sellafield – not in people’s good books after the accident earlier in the week at Chernobyl. 

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch - the longest place name in Europe

 I was later to find out that Anglesey was one of the worst affected places by radioactive fall-out from the accident (I wonder if that’s why I have a thyroid problem 20 years later – all that radioactive rain that fell on me?).  I camped in Bangor again that evening going to visit some aunts and uncles, before heading home the next day.

Postscript: I had a wonderful time walking around Anglesey in a week.  The scenery is spectacular and varied.  I was frustrated at times that access to the actual coastline was forbidden or impossible to find.  I understand things have much improved some 25 years later and access is now much better.   

Day13   8/5/86   Rhosneigr to Newborough 

Distance:  28 km (17 miles)    Total Distance:    177 miles

Today was another mainly sunny day which clouded over only towards the end. The first point of interest was the cairn at Barclodiad-y-Gawres, a Neolithic burial chamber which had been restored. In English it means It means the Giantess's Apronful – though I admit the translation was beyond my rudimentary Welsh.

There was also a good view back over the beach towards Rhosneigr. There was a lot of barbed wire preventing me going along the coast at Porth Trecastell so I ended up having to cut inland a bit. The old army camp looked eerie. At Porth China I took time to explore 12th Century St Cwyfan’s Church situated on a small island with a causeway leading to it.

St Cwyfan’s Church

St Cwyfan’s Church interior

 It was then around the coast to Aberffaw and lunch – a pint of Guinness and a packet of nuts in a very Welsh speaking pub. The locals were busy organising a day out at the races.

The next stretch to Malltraeth was quite laborious and away from the sea as there wasn’t a coastal footpath available. I remember feeling particularly tired walking over the bridge at Malltraeth till I reached the Newbourough Forest. Finding the path around the outside of this was particularly tricky though it improved after the ‘Tower’. The path was always slightly in from the sea so the view was never excellent. The island at the tip, Llanddwyn offered a good view but I did not actually go out on it. The walk up the east side of the forest was not too interesting.

Llanddwyn Island & Newborough Forest (Contemporary photo)

Llanddwyn beach

I walked to the outskirts of Newborough and got just one lift back to Rhosneigr off a bloke and what may or may not have been his son. The seemingly an ill matched pair were going for a drink in Rhosneigr.

I camped in Bangor again that and went for an awful Chinese meal and then to the Waterloo again for a beer.