10th-11th July 2021 Stanley Embankment to Church Bay

Another long weekend, and the furthest possible drive to the top of Anglesey (185 miles) for our 4th walking weekend on Anglesey and this time we are going to finish the island off.

We had already completed a small part of the Porth Swtan (Church Bay) to Holyhead section, and had left about 10 miles still to do. With no buses running on a Sunday and with our campsite halfway between the Stanley Embankment and Church Bay, we decided to walk both ways from Llanfwrog to Church Bay on the Saturday and likewise from Llanfwrog to Stanley Embankment and back on the Sunday.

I’ll start by describing the Sunday walk down to Stanley Embankment.

We started off along the beach, and got so carried away that we missed a sign which would have taken us off the beach and inland to avoid the river – we just carried on enjoying the views 🙂

At the end of the beach you reach the mouth of river Alaw and have to turn left and go inland.

The tide was out but even still there was too much water to get across the estuary without the bridge, so now we have to rejoin the coastal path.

Once back on the path it went through some grassland, and then through the middle of a corn field. The threat of rain never far away – we set off early today as we know rain is due between 1 and 2pm. This detour won’t have helped our cause.

And then, after a coffee and cake break, the bridge came into view.

Without this bridge the walk would be a further 1 mile in and out of Llanfachraeth to get over the river, so thank you bridge.

Unfortunately the other side of the river is not a well walked bit of the coastal path, and the brambles and stinging nettles were quite high in many places.

And there was even a bit of a bridge/wall to walk along.

For the last bit of the walk the coastal path takes you in through the housing estate, but actually we could have stayed on the beach, as we found out on the way back.

Here is the Stanley Embankment (and that Chimney again that we were forever seeing on Holy Island) and the end of today’s walk – except it isn’t as we now have to walk back – hopefully a bit quicker if we don’t get lost.

Back through the brambles….

But this time we found the right path and got back more quickly, so this was a 10.7 mile walk in total, but the way out was 5.7 miles and the way back was 5.0 miles which is the figure which goes towards the coastal path total.

This write-up now moves on to the Saturday walk – which is again from Llanfwrog to Church Bay (and back again). And for the first time I can reveal how we keep the dogs fresh before and after a 10 mile walk – we let them ride in luxury from the campsite to the walk start…..

Here is the starting point, the same sign as we finished with yesterday.

but this time we walk up the track and turn right through a gate and up through two fields of cows.

and down the other side towards the first beach of the day.

Across the water we have a great view of Holyhead port and the large ferries going to Ireland.

The path then heads right through the middle of a working farm and along a road which goes through the middle of a campsite at Porth Tywyn-Mawr.

After climbing the steps off the beach we decided to stop for lunch and a snooze (the snooze was Bonnie). Lola meanwhile decided to bring back various sticks and flowers for us to look at.

We then walked along Porth Tredadog and up the road beside this house.

The rest of this walk is then mainly clifftops and small beaches down below.

Bonnie finds a bit of energy to chase Lola for a change and we head up to Porth Trwyn.

The coastline then shows about 4 or 5 jutty out bits (to be technical) ahead of us but actually Church Bay is before most of these, and they are to be saved for our walk on Tuesday.

Over a little bridge…..

past Porth Crugmor…..

and we find Church Bay.

With a lot of people looking out to sea.

For those undertaking this route, there are no shops in Church Bay, but there is a lovely Cafe called the Wavecrest which does meals and drinks Friday to Monday and then has a coffee and cake van Tuesday to Thursday.

This is Porth Swtan, Church Bay.

After a drink and an ice cream we turned around (5.1 miles completed) to do exactly the same walk back again – with some different views and photos on the way back.

And talking of waves – here is Sharon with Lola having a paddle on Porth Penrhyn-Mawr.

Back along the cliffs, through the campsite and the cow fields to the finish point.

And even better -the bikes are still where I chained them this morning. Today was 10.2 miles, of which 5.1 miles counts towards our coastal path total.

That makes 10.1 miles across the two days to finish this section and for our grand total it now makes 690.1 miles completed and 214.4 miles to go, although if you add up from the walks left we still have 226.7 miles to go which just shows how some walks are longer than the book says.