Anglesy

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Thursday. Anglesey.

We only have 2 nights to stay at our farmstay apartment outside Conwy so this is our only full day on the north coast of Wales. I had been interested in seeing this area so we planned a drive through the coastal towns and across the bridge to Anglesey.

Our first stop was Bangor. The coastal promenades seemed almost deserted, as it is not really holiday season yet and the pier is being restored, so there is scaffolding and barriers everywhere. We walked quite a way in the hot windy conditions through the steep curving backstreets between the foreshore and the city centre. Lots of small guest houses in the dark stone with slate roofs, for the holiday makers and much larger new student accommodation for the university. The central shopping mall was quite busting with normal commercial activity but one gathers it can be quite seasonal.

Crossing the bridge over the Menai Strait we drove swiftly up the motorway to Holyhead. I wondered why the traffic and the great road but I quickly realised it is the main ferry to Ireland. There are quite extensive port facilities which seem to dominate the town. We had lunch on a wharf-side bar at Holyhead. Right over the water. I had a large bowl of mussels again. This is served with great slabs of bread to mop up the light cheesy whey sauce. Really enjoyable.

There are a lot of very old neolithic stone monuments on Anglesey. We stopped at Bryn Celli Ddu (goodness knows how you pronounce that). This is a passage tomb consisting of large stone slabs buried under an earth mound, around 25 m long underground. One can sidle through and wonder about how some of the concrete lintels were made in the Mesolithic but it appears the site was excavated in the 1920’s and then reconstructed.

I always find these stone circles and ancient monuments fascinating and this was one of the best.

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Comments

[Kate]

cockles and mussels alive alive oh !
Yet again I am tasting your mussels :) There were a lot around in Ireland too, (when I was there ) that and a very tender eye fillet on boxti potato are my sweetest culinary memories. Sounds gorgeous up there in north wales, and having a car would be fabulous and a little bit scary too. I heard from Jo she said she had rung Owen and you rang her back from England ! She was actually quite thrilled I think :P Please don't worry - both Laura and I have had phone calls and she is OK, had a week I think going to outpatients an argument or two with Glen...... not belittling her stuff at all, just letting you know we are here and supporting her as much as she wants/can. She said she would get the case manager to help with the "lease form". Hugs and love to you both. Kate