Monday 27th June 2022

Day 7

So after all this time of BAD (Blog Avoidance Days) it’s now come down to the planning and resource department (Steve) to pen a few words about the day’s activities. Your normal blogger (Dee / Deirdre) decided to abstain from today’s walk when she saw the guide book had described it as strenuous!

So, it was with some apprehension that Dave and I set off for Cemaes on the first part of the journey, in two cars as we needed to leave a car at the end of the walk before driving to the start.   

First duty though in Cemaes was breakfast. The town was deserted other than the Harbour Hotel, which initially looked a little upmarket but was in fact pretty much the opposite … breakfast guests were outnumbered by dogs in the restaurant, there was a guest with a pint of beer at 9.00am and another guest with gold boots on  … you can only guess?

After discussion we agreed that the small breakfast would suffice, it was £2.00 cheaper than the large breakfast and the only difference was one piece of bacon!

Having parked the first car we then headed off from Cemaes in the second car to our start point known as Church Bay or Porth Swtan, just five miles by road but eleven miles when we walked back around various headlands and, of course, the many up and downs.  The guide book was very correct in the strenuous description.  Whilst the views over to Holyhead were spectacular it was advisable to keep a keen eye on your feet as we traversed the edge of steep cliffs and so, so many steps up and down.  Even at this point of North Wales there’s a sight to see and the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin was out there in the bay on the start of its journey. Strange to think that Ireland is just over the water.

As it turned out it was the first three or so miles walking that was really difficult following which we cruised along cliff tops and through fields, passing fellow walkers going in the other direction.  We had given a lot of thought before choosing which way to walk to ensure we had the wind behind us whilst walking.  It’s been a real surprise for me that the sea is really blue and turquoise. I always  had visions of the Irish Sea being dull and grey but not so, there are fantastic views from the top of the cliffs that always keep you watching.  This all came to a change as we approached a power station right on the cliff tops, remarkably big, grey and extremely quiet although meaning a slight diversion inland through the woods until we emerged the other side and the gentle stroll down into Cemaes.

Telepathy played its part at this stage as I’m just thinking about coffee and cake at the beach cafe in town, when my trusty partner chirps up with “shall we have a coffee in town?”  And how pleasant it was even though the seagulls were a little keen in the area but our needs were greater than theirs!  Overall we covered eleven miles in three and a half hours for a very rewarding sunny day in this wonderful countryside of ours, we truly are very lucky!  Next time though I’ll skip the hills at the start ……