Beaumaris to Pentraeth (14 miles)

 It's been nearly a year since the last walk. A bad knee held up progress, and then a number of other things took up our time. But yesterday we got back to it. In the meantime, Volume 2 of the official guide has been published, and we had this by our side as we walked.  

We parked at Pentraeth and took the 50 bus to our starting point at Beaumaris. There aren't many of these buses, and none at weekends, so it required a bit of planning, and limited the time available. In retrospect, stopping off at the Bulkeley Hotel for elevenses when we got to Beaumaris wasn't such a good idea, as it left us less time for the walk itself.

From Beaumaris to Penmon, the path follows the coast closely. sometimes on the beach , sometimes just above it on road or footpath. The tide was out so we could avoid the inland diversions, and between Fryars and Lleiniog this allowed us to see the spectacular erosion of boulder clay cliffs.

Penmon is the classic stopping-off point for views and refreshment, although we had chosen a misty day, and distant views over the sea were just mist: we couldn't see the Great Orme. We ate our picnic (brought with us) then bought an ice cream at the Pilot House Cafe before continuing. 

As we have found in Gwynedd, the path continues to be well signposted in Anglesey, which was important after Penmon as there are many twists and turns. The guide book also told us where to go, but is perhaps a little too over-reliant on the signs also being there.

We have walked much of this before, when it was the Anglesey Coastal Footpath, but since we did this stretch in 2006 a new line has been opened up on what is now also the Wales Coast Path. This the National Trust site of Fedw Fawr, which was a truly extensive area wild vegetation (and what might have been a good viewpoint were it nor for the mist yesterday). We stopped for our flask of coffee. The guide book warns of mud, and there were indeed some very wet areas to traverse, despite a week of dry weather: a warning not to do this after wet weather unless well prepared.

Steps took us down to the beach at Llanddona. After a long level road walk, we joined a path by salt marsh. This then climbs onto a sea wall - which in the 2006 blog I had said was "not altogether comfortable", and it felt much the same this time, although it does afford good views over the salt marsh and beach.

A long slog for tired legs took us back to the Pentraeth car park at sunset. The book said this was 12½ miles, but we logged it at nearly 14, with hardly any diversions on our part.