Shardlows Highs

A trip closer to home this time, but still over the sea –  a few days with the dogs in Anglesey. We started with a winding route across the A55 along the north of Wales.

First stop was Talacre – the lighthouse on the end of the Dee Estuary, set in a large sandy beach. As this was April, not many visitors were around.

Reggie loved dashing around the sand, and Tez managed to find the muddly puddles by the lighthouse.

As this was only a pit-stop, and most of Talacre was shut (including the loos) we grabbed a quick drink and carried on our way.

Next stop was Llandudno – Kirsty and Jason had stopped there a few days earlier and suggested we call in. First we parked in a Multi-storey car-park and had to travel down 3 flight of stairs with Metal treads – Reggie did not enjoy this, and had to run down them all, dragging me behind.

We wandered down the prom, and tried to get the beasts to sit and have their photo taken, with limited success.

Next we drove through Conwy, and found out why they use Open topped buses :

I’m not sure a normal bus would fit.

Eventually we crossed the Menai Straits and reached Anglesey, and as time was getting on, we went direct to our cottage.

We were staying in a renovated Gamekeepers cottage amidst the woods on the 500 acre Carreglwyd estate.

We unloaded the car and went to investigate the cottage. It was an upside down cottage, with a steep open flight of stairs up to the lounge, and we soon found that neither Tez or Reggie were willing to climb them.

As our plan for the week was to walk to beaches and pubs, we set off up a footpath towards Church Bay, but our plan failed, after passing through a field of very new born lambs (I daren’t try to use my camera), we came to a stile made of large rocks imbedded in a stone wall, and for the third time that day found that the dogs were on vertical strike, and so were we when we saw the huge puddle the other side, so we retraced our track and started out the main drive towards a pub, but once we reached the village, and had a decent phone signal, we checked opening time, and found it was shut until Thursday, so back to the cottage for salad.

I did get a lovely shot of the view from the drive on our return, looking across to Holy island and Holyhead.

The next day, after being woken by the local pheasants, we started with a drive down to Church Bay, which was deserted, so Reggie had a good run around while Tez pootled about

We walked a short way along the coast path before finding our way blocked by several young cows, who wanted to check out the dogs, but not before, we found these wonderful kissing gates, and this private staircase down to the beach.

The breeze was cool, so we got back to the car and drove north up the Island, looking for a warm drink, as again, the beach café was shut.

A sign to a Jam Factory offering Cream teas caught our eye, and a wonderful quirky place we found. Following storms that removed most of their slate roofs, they had only just started production and opened their café, which appeared to be the farmhouse lounge, but the owners collections, and a lovely cream tea in front of the fire did the trick.

We also bought some jam to take home.

Next stop was Cemaes, which turned out to be a lovely coastal village, with quaint shops and a lovely harbour.

Do you think that chain is big enough to hold the boat?

It was getting a bit gloomy, but I couldn’t resist the pastel cottages.

We had lunch and travelled on to Moelfre, with a stream falling thought the middle of the village

Another walk on a beach and my sea-glass collection was improving

We walked round to the RNLI station and looked around the lifeboat

This is for you, Kelsey and Andy – it’s called Kiwi

Last town of the day was Beaumaris, a delightful town with castle and posh shops

And back to the cottage, with this lovely view over a walled garden

and the gate through the wall

As part of every sea-side holiday is fish and chips, Ian kindly drove back to Cemaes to buy dinner – yum.

Day 3, we started with a beach just south of the cottage, again, all to ourselves.

and then crossed over to Holy Island, and visited the South Stack lighthouse, but as the steps were steep, and the dogs on strike, we left them in the car.

and this tower is the RSPB observatory, rather grand.

Our last trek for the day was a longer walk around the south coast of Holy Island to Silver Sands Bay. The car park was accessed via a zig zag narrow road, with several right angle bends – a bit scarey, but luckily nothing came the other way.

Starting in the bay, we walked the Coastal path over the headlands.

The full path does a figure of eight around the car-park, but Tez declared she had done enough walking after the first section, and she’s an old lady, we agreed

After another busy day, we ventured to the local pub as it was now Thursday and open, and it proved well worth the wait. The Black Bull was very friendly, allowing dogs in, and the food was delicious.

We started our last day back down on Church Bay, but the tide was further in, so less room to run, but we still got Reggie out of breathe. Ian then started skimming stones, and Tez decided she’s try to catch them resulting in a wet dog in the car going home!

Again, on Kirsty’s suggestion, we travelled back via Betwy-y-Coed, and then on to Llangollen, which we realised, despite having travelled past many times, we had never stopped in. We found a park next to the river to enjoy our sandwiches, and sadly left Wales behind for now.