7th May 2017
Day 3 of the weekend and the plan was to join up to Bangor. We decided to park in Llanfairfechan and get the bus to Bangor. Unfortunately we missed the stop to get off; ended up in the town centre and had to walk over a mile back to get to the coastal path!! But on a beautiful day like today we weren’t going to worry too much.
We passed Bangor university on the way to Bangor pier….the 2nd longest pier in Wales and number 10 in the UK.
The photograph is slightly deceiving as the pier reaches about halfway across the Menai Strait, but here is looks like it is almost touching Anglesey in the background. This is about as close as we will get to Anglesey until we start walking it (amazingly Anglesey is 50 miles more walking than the whole of Chester to Bangor – it will take 11 days and 130 miles to get right round Anglesey).
After a brief walk along the coast the coastal path turns abruptly right and heads inland through the woods. This might change in the future if Penrhyn Castle ever gives access across it’s land.
But the woods were beautiful with the bluebells in full bloom.
Eventually we turned off the woodland path, near a ford and along a road. A new section of coastal path diverted us off the small lane and onto a pavement through an empty area earmarked for an industrial estate. Then we walked through fields and roads, zigzagging our way back towards the coast.
We then reached a nature reserve and here we should have stayed on the road and down to the car park, but we were so distracted by the unique opening gate that we entered the reserve instead.
No harm was done and we popped through an opening and out onto the beach where we sat on the picnic blanket for lunch.
From then on we stayed on the coast, sometimes on the beach, other times on a path besides the beach.
Bonnie showed off her balancing skills along the wall, but sadly wasn’t quite as skilled when she reached the duck lake where she leant forward too far and fell in. We discovered Bonnie can swim but she needed a helping hand to get out, and looked like a drowned rat afterwards.
Only in Britain would there be children playing on the beach in bathers in 15 degree weather.
Before we headed back to the car we stopped for an ice cream and a little snooze!!
So that was the end of another wonderful walk in sunshine with 10 miles of coastal path completed today. We have now walked the first 82 miles of coastal path from Chester to Bangor, and the last 81.5 miles of coastal path from Southerndown to Chepstow.
Overall we have now walked 280.2 miles and have got 589.5 miles to go… below 600!! A wonderful weekend of walking and we have really enjoyed the North Wales coast, it is very beautiful.
