Sue and Martin in Mallorca 2019

Sue and Martin in Mallorca 2019
On the Archduke's Path in Mallorca

Tuesday 24 April 2018

Tuesday 24 April 2018 - The Anglesey Coast Path - Stage 9 - Church Bay to Holyhead

20 km, 200 metres ascent, 6 hours 20 minutes.
Martin did about 14 km of bimbling.

Drizzly start, turning slowly to steady rain.

Joyce has been running her B&B at Pen yr orsedd since 1980. She showed us a newspaper cutting from then, lauding her efforts to make farming pay with the help of this sort of diversification. She's good at it. The rooms were great and the breakfast was excellent. She gets very high marks from us. She gets a lot of custom from coast path walkers and is ready to collect and drop off people who are staying with her.

By the time I'd taken the others back to Church Bay it was 9.40 and starting to rain. So, not wanting to walk too far today, I took Polly to the car park for Penrhos Coastal Park, just beyond Telford's Stanley Embankment. Radio 2 kept me entertained, with brilliant contestants in the Popmaster quiz.

Having finished the excellent book - 'Where the Missing Go' last night, a visit to a café called 'Coffee Cups' at The Toll House filled in a bit of time before I set off to meet the others, eventually coming across them after over 5 km a little beyond a sturdy iron footbridge over Afon Alaw. They were wet. And my own plans to take flower photos today were largely thwarted as the Lumix camera was stashed in the depths of a waterproof bag. Never mind.

At least it was a good path alongside fields and then a pleasant beach walk back to the embankment. The pavement across the embankment was just about far enough from the vehicles to spare us from a soaking from the spray of passing traffic. It was with some relief that we dripped in to the Coffee Cups café. We stayed for some time. We were the only customers. Baked potatoes and toasties warmed us up and fuelled us for the rest of the day.

I joined the others for the walk through Penrhos Park and on the way back to Polly I enjoyed watching a few of the red squirrels for which the park is famous.

Then it was round to the long stay car park at Holyhead, our departure point nine days ago, and where the coasters arrived at 4 pm just before heavy rain set in, duly completing their perambulation of the island apart from the southerly loop from Newborough on Stage 3 (we will return for that), and the two short road sections dealt with by car on Stage 4 (we won't return for them).

Congratulations to Sue, Jeanette and Paul, for this magnificent achievement. Some statistics, an index, and a few more photos will follow.

Next time? The Dales High Way?

5 comments:

Gayle said...

Excellent stuff!

It's only four years since I walked the Anglesey Coast Path, and many of the place names I've read over this set of postings have been familiar, but I'm struggling to remember any details about them. As I enjoyed the path so much, it must be a sign that I need to go and walk it again to refresh my memory.

Sir Hugh said...

Looks like Martin will need to do the same Gayle.

Well done all - it looks like a good trip.

Phreerunner said...

I walked quite a bit of it Conrad, and apart from the 'Newborough Loop' I don't feel the need to go back and walk the whole path. There are lots of day-walk loops that should be enjoyable from a fixed base (holiday cottage) though a highlight of this trip was the friendliness of the local people, the excellent B&B accommodation, and really good restaurants.

Perhaps you do need to go back, Gayle, though I'm sure there is more on your list.

AlanR said...

Caught up with you now Martin. I read it all in one go. You should probably do a coffee shop guide book now.
Loved the first day with the rough seas and crashing waves. I am sorry to hear of your impending op, but as Conrad has already mentioned, you can be up and running pretty quickly nowadays.
Good to see the blue Fordson tractor. I’d forgot what tractors look like. BTW, Man Utd now are sponsored by Yanmar Tractors.

Enjoy your Majorca rest.

Phreerunner said...

Thanks Alan, you'll see from today's entry (Monday) that we really are having a very restful time...