30th/31st May Menai Bridge to Newborough

So after the long walk yesterday it was clear that Lola wouldn’t manage another very long day today, plus the bus timetables on a Sunday are very limited (one bus each way all day), so we decided to split this walk into 2 with Llanedwen being the midpoint. So on Sunday we walked from Llanedwen back to Newborough, and on Monday we walked from Menai Bridge to Llanedwen. To try and keep a sort of flow I will write it up with Monday first and so this page will describe from Menai Bridge to Newborough in total.

After getting the bus from Llanedwen to Menai Bridge (£3.10 single again) our starting point is right underneath the old Menai bridge, but first we had to find an ice-cream shop for an amazing rhubarb crumble ice-cream – absolutely delicious.

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There is a little detour through a wood – just to admire some views, and then up the hill before dipping down to a lovely path alongside the Menai Strait.

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The path continues around, dipping in and out of the forest and briefly up onto the main road. Where it was marshy in places there was a nice boardwalk to stop us getting muddy.

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Just after the bridge we stumbled across a hotel/pub/restaurant – certainly not the cheapest but on a hot day the cider was calling…..

The path then turns left, down a hill and through the churchyard of St Mary’s church and back down to the shoreline, and here you can walk right up to the statue of Nelson (not Napoleon Sharon!!).

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We then walked up a hill and hit the A4080 which the coastal path then follows for about a mile before cutting across some fields (not all well marked and hence we had some fun and games dodging a herd of cows heading for the milking shed).

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As this was near the end of our day’s walking we detoured off here to have a look at the 5000 year old Bryn Celli Ddu Burial Chamber – it is about 400m off the main path but I did wonder why they didn’t decide to build it nearer the car park to be honest.

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Then we walked along the path and up to where the van was parked to end this day with a BBQ of burgers. Of course, for the purposes of this write up we are now going to continue with the Sunday walk which joins us up at Newborough.

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So now we are parked in Newborough, and got the bus (£3.10 again) back to Llanedwen. The walk continues left up a lane, and across the A4080 at the crossroads, past a very posh static van estate and then (annoying) turns right before it has a chance to hit the coast.

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At this point there is a choice to be made – right to follow the field route or left and down the hill to the shoreline – left is the low tide option but it would have to be a very high tide for the shoreline not to be the better option (as you can see from the seaweed on the pictures below), so down we went.

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After a stop for coffee we continued along the shoreline and then turned right and up through some woods. Time for a family pose or two….

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Lola is already bigger than Bonnie at just 15 weeks!! After some woodlands….

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and a quick dip in the stream, we hit the coast again, and this time along a road where we found the Sea Zoo and the Angelsey Salt manufacturer – we chose the latter to stop for a coffee and toilet break (but note that even on a sunny Sunday bank holiday weekend the coffee shop shuts at 3pm).

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Then along the road, past the Mermaid Inn and back onto the beach (with Caernarfon now right opposite us).

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It wasn’t long till we again headed inland, along a road and then across a very soggy field which caused wet feet and muddy legs for the rest of the day. Lola also decided it was time to hide from the sun.

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We then followed the river Braint for a bit until we could cross it on some stepping stones – and this time Andrew strode across them with confidence – not looking back once.

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There was then one more lane to walk along before a left turn and back past the bus stop to end our walk.

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Back to the van and Chilli for tea tonight. So over the 2 days we walked 14.6 miles in total, which takes our total to 645.2 miles completed and leaves 230.4 miles to go. One more day of walking tomorrow and it looks a longer one on a hot day.