Anglesey 2 - Penmon Lighthouse/a big breakfast and a toll road /Go Dutch

---

The car with no name needed a trip out . We had tried earlier in the week to get over to Anglesey. Ynys Mon - a smallish island about one hour and forty five minutes drive from home. The home known as the mother of Wales and home to the Druids pushed back over the years. But that was thousands of years ago. The A55 North Wales Expressway runs from near where we live and we can join just south of Chester and travel right along the coast with the Irish Sea to one side and pretty welsh villages and towns to the other . There is always a lot of traffic on the Expressway as it runs from east to west taking traffic from and to the port of Holyhead and then on to or from Eire .

As we drove my thoughts were going round on the book I had found about a roadtrip to Holland . I had a number of Tesco club card vouchers due to run out at the end of next month . Around £35 worth which under the new exchange rate would convert to £70 off the price of a trip on the tunnel . Not as good by any means as the three times value which would have probably paid for one single journey to France . Another batch of vouchers were due to run out in May so they would pay for most of the return journey . I had found them piling up due to Covid restrictions where we were not able to travel for the best part of a year and a half . At least three trips missed in Gabby .

Perhaps some serious thought needs to go on a trip perhaps mirroring the one in the book Go Dutch . A circular trip had caught my eye . A tour described as a visit to the Netherlands where I would be wondering at impressive feats of engineering , wandering around WWII battlefields , whetting my appetite on the local tipple and weighing up cheese . Travel times and distances had been already estimated although those probably for a motorhome rather than a car . Nothing that could not be adjusted . The tour could take 10 days as a minimum but 14 would be more comfortable . It was making interesting reading to go back to when we got home .

i guess it might have been the cold grey Irish Sea that set me on the crossing the channel thoughts . We passed by Rhyl , Abergele and Prestatyn with miles and miles of caravans. I wondered how many were filled in the summer months now that the pits had closed . The miners loved their seaside holidays and the towns on the north Wales coast were jammed packed during July and August . We travelled through Colwyn Bay and Llandudno where I spent many hours on courses . Gradually we moved along the coast with Anglesey is site across the Menai Straits. Penrhyn Castle in the distance . Bangor with its university and cathedral . The area which became popular after being showcased on the welsh noir detective series Hidden. Across the water we could see Bangor Pier stretching into the straits , small islands and Plas Newydd - another popular National Trust House .

Beaumaris with its closed castle looked lovely in its setting watching over the Menai Straits. The pretty coastal houses looked good to live in with their views. The town houses were all pastel painted . Beaumaris looked busy with its many small independent shops lining its one main street . The road gradually became quieter as we headed towards Penmon which was situated at the head of a cove. One road in and the same narrow road out . We could see the sea in the distance.

We reached the Dovecote and the church which was to be our second destination of the day . We could see the even narrower road ahead of us . We were stopped in our tracks but a rather large young man who emerged from a hut. He pointed to the toll road sign which we had missed . £3.50 he said . We are only going down to the cafe for breakfast . Bit steep charging to go to a cafe. We paid it making sure that we would not be charged again when we came back to park up and visit the church. £3.50 seemed OK for the walkers who might spend all day on the beach but for others like us just dropping in for a coffee and a bit of breakfast it seemed a bit steep.

Having paid we trundled down the narrow road hoping nothing would come the other way . The Pilot Cafe was at the end near to the Lightboat houses . A lifeboat station was situated along the way. There was ample parking but it was extremely muddy We left the lighthouse for later and headed for the warmth and welcome in the cafe. It was a bright place with meaningful statements on the walls. Everything felt of the sea from the shells to the surfing gear . Cyclists were in having breakfast and using the facilities . A toilet outside with a sign saying Patrons only. The lock upside down and the keys held in the cafe . All to confuse . Pictures of surfing and of old Volkswagon campers on the wall. It felt of Cornwall . No welsh was spoken which surprised me . The breakfast choice was breakfast . Bacon or sausage baps, a big Breakfast , toast and scrambled eggs. I chose the bacon bap and the driver a big breakfast . Priced at £10.95 it was at the higher end of big breakfast prices . When it arrived it was large enough for two of us to share had we wanted to. We stayed for a while drinking coffee and eating breakfast slowly reluctant to go out into the cold again . But go out we must . We picked our way through the mud to walk to the headland . The lighthouse cottages looked private and may have been holiday lets. There were rather a lot in this area . Holiday home for sale signs everywhere .

The lighthouse was one of those lovely things you always want to stand and admire . It had two names . The english version of Penmon Lighthouse or the Welsh more pretty Trwyn Du . Named after the Black Point which was the water between where we stood and Ynys Seiriol or Puffin Island . The words painted on the lighthouse suggested that the route to one side was treacherous and shipping should keep to one side of the black and white stripped lighthouse. islands. The first lighthouse was erected in 1838. The cost £11,589. There had been a call for a light at this location for some years by master shipmen in the nearby city of Liverpool after the steamer Rothsay Castle rang aground with in 1831 with the loss of 130. . The lighthouse we were looking at was built between 1835 and 1838. It reminded me of the phare on the Isle de Oloron in France although this was considerable smaller with only a height of 95 foot . It was the first sea washed tower and a prototype for many others. The base had been changed to hopefully reduce the force of the water and it was more vertical than gracefully curved . The black and white bands stood out and wording NO PASSAGE LANDWARD warned of the danger of coming too close to land. The light source had been changed over the years.

It was in 1922 that Trwyn Du became the first of the Trinity House Lighthouses to be automated . Watching the ships in the distance it was hard to imagine just how welcome that light would be at night helping them avoid the dangers close to the land. The lamp was converted to solar power in 1996 during a modernation programme. The light can be seen 12 miles away and a fog bell sounds once every thirty seconds. The tower has been unmanned since 1922 and is checked from the control centre at Holyhead . We wondered what it must have been like living in the confines of the lighthouse . A few small rooms to live and work in. The loneliness of the life and the dangers of working there in the winter. Did boredom creep in after a few days . The only exercise climbing the staircases to the light and down to the sea. It would have not been everyones idea of a good job .

We stood for a while just looking out to sea. Then it was back on the toll road to the parking at our next stop. An abbey or the remains of the abbey, a church with medieval stones and a dovecot . Coming this far for the day out it made sense to see everything there was to see. Lighthouse ticked off and on to the next one.

---