Ages: Colin was 71 years and 166 days. Rosemary was 68 years and 308 days.
Weather: Wet and windy, but not at all cold.
Location: Rhosneigr to Malltraeth.
Distance: 10 miles.
Total
distance: 3563 miles.
Terrain: Grassy/muddy paths. Some track.
A little bit of rocky beach.
Tarmacked lanes. Undulating.
Tide: In, going out.
Rivers: No.423, Afon Ffraw at Aberffraw.
Ferries: None.
Piers: None.
Kissing gates: Nos.642 to 651 on the footpaths.
Pubs: None.
‘Cadw’ properties: None.
Ferris wheels: None.
Diversions: No.77 inland from Porth Cwyfan because the
beach was impossible. No.78 inland from
Afon Ffraw because the official coastal path actually went under water! No.79 was a short cut over the dunes because
it was windy and rainy, so we thought the path round the coastal side would be
too unfriendly.
How
we got there and back: Two days ago we
drove from home to a cosy little holiday cottage near Criccieth. This morning we drove from there to
Malltraeth where we parked in a car park right next to a bus stop. From there we caught a bus to Aberffraw, then
another bus which dropped us by the car park in the dunes where we finished the
last Walk.
At the end we
finished at the car parked on the edge of Malltraeth. It was too cold and windy to stop in that
exposed car park by the river for more than a few seconds, so we drove
straightaway to a forest picnic site about a mile away where we were a lot more
sheltered. There we had our tea and
chocolate biscuits, then we drove back to our cosy little cottage.
It rained incessantly, sometimes
torrentially, for most of this Walk, so photography was very difficult. I didn’t take my camera, and we struggled to
take a few pictures with Colin’s trying not to get it wet. Then they accidentally got deleted before we
could transfer them to the computer!
It was two years before we were in
the area again. So, on a bright sunny
day, we took a few photos of some of the places on the Walk that we could
access by car.
The toilets we
had used at the end of the last Walk were padlocked – as we thought they might
be because there was a notice saying they were “seasonal”. We set off along the dune path in pouring
rain and a strong wind, but it was not at all cold. We would have been able to see Rhosneigr
behind us if the visibility had been better.
The dunes came
to an end and we had to continue on a clifftop path, but it wasn’t too
unpleasant despite the wind and rain because it was so mild. We came to a restored chambered cairn which
we could get inside out of the rain. There
was what seemed to be a stone circle inside, but it was behind padlocked
gates. We could sit on a stone in the
entrance out of the rain, so we took the opportunity to eat our slices of
quiche.
Then we read the notices about
this burial mound:
“Legend has it
that this mound was carried here in the apron of a giantess. The true story is even more remarkable. Five thousand years ago New Stone Age
(Neolithic) travellers used their knowledge of the movement of the sun and
stars to navigate their way across the sea.
They brought with them ideas from the Boyne
Valley in Ireland,
the west coast of Portugal
and Spain, the Orkney
Islands and Brittany. The people from these far-flung places were
united by a shared tradition of rock art and tomb building. The burial chamber beneath the large mound of
turf and earth was reached by a long stone-lined passage. You can enter the tomb and enjoy an ancient
display of European art.”
Except that we couldn’t
because of the padlocked gates – and it was dark in there! (The flash photos revealed a lot more, but we
couldn’t see anything.) We read another
notice:
“Barclodiad y
Gawres is the largest Neolithic tomb in Wales. Dating from 2500-3000 BC it was built at the
same time as the pyramids in Egypt
and the stone circles at Stonehenge. This was a public grave for the local farming
community. Built without the use of
metal tools, its construction would have required considerable organisation and
it would probably have acted as a focus for religious ceremonies over several
generations. During excavations two
cremated male burials were found in one chamber, and in the central area there
was evidence of a fire on to which had been poured a strange stew consisting of
wrasse, eel, frog, toad, grass snake, mouse shrew and hare, then covered with
limpet shells and pebbles.”
Sounds like a witch’s
brew! Another notice (yes, there were
four!) told us:
“The mound
covers a cruciformed inner chamber used for the burial of the dead, and approached
by a covered passage. Three of the
stones at the junction of the passage and chamber and two at the back of the
side chambers bear original decorations.”
That’s all very well, but we
couldn’t get past the gate. The fourth
notice told us:
“Of prime
importance at Barclodiad y Gawres is the exceptional decoration on the massive
stones forming the burial chamber. Here
can be seen zigzags, chevrons and spirals, similar to the decoration found in
the tombs of the Boyne Valley in Ireland,
emphasizing the close association across the Irish Sea. There is only one other example of this
Neolithic art form known in Wales
(Bryn Celli Ddu). Such decoration is
equally rare in England and Scotland and Barclodiad y Gawres is
unquestionably the finest example in Britain. Unfortunately the decorated stones have
become increasingly vulnerable to graffiti and vandalism, so it is with regret
that Cadw is currently unable to allow unsupervised access into the chamber.”
So that’s it, a few bad
behaved louts spoiling everything for the many once again. B-----y vandals!
We continued round the little headland and came down to the beach where
there were two surfers in the water. (They
were so wet they didn’t mind the rain.)
One of them was quite good at surfboarding, he caught lots of waves.
It was only a tiny beach, we were soon climbing the next cliffs. The visibility improved, though the rain
didn’t, and we could actually see Rhosneigr in the distance behind us.
The views of the cliffs and the waves were good, but we couldn’t photograph them because of the rain. It stopped occasionally, but always started again within a few minutes so it was never worth shedding our wet-weather gear. I found that putting my cape over my kag and overtrousers kept me more or less dry, and kept my rucksack pretty dry too. Colin battled with his infamous umbrella in the wind — I ignored him. The path was muddy and a bit slippery in places, it was not easy walking. While we were still on the clifftops we had about ten minutes of pounding rain and a high wind — it was horrid!
The views of the cliffs and the waves were good, but we couldn’t photograph them because of the rain. It stopped occasionally, but always started again within a few minutes so it was never worth shedding our wet-weather gear. I found that putting my cape over my kag and overtrousers kept me more or less dry, and kept my rucksack pretty dry too. Colin battled with his infamous umbrella in the wind — I ignored him. The path was muddy and a bit slippery in places, it was not easy walking. While we were still on the clifftops we had about ten minutes of pounding rain and a high wind — it was horrid!
Further on the path led us inland, uphill across fields. The signposts were a bit elusive, but we
found them. It tended to be very muddy
where we were supposed to climb over stiles, but the adjacent field gates were
usually unlocked so we were able to avoid most of the mire. We came out on to a road. A farmer’s vehicle was approaching, and
seeing it a number of cows started moving towards the gate we had just come
through. One frisky cow slithered on the
mud — she didn’t fall but she stared at us as if it was our fault!
We carried on along the road, then took a track which led us down past
Anglesey Motor Racing Circuit. It was
behind grassy banks so we couldn’t see anything from where we were, but there
was nothing happening this wet Monday morning anyway. Colin was speculating on how “easy” it would be (it wasn’t) to scale the barbed wire
fence and brambles and get in free — I reminded him he was no longer a
teenager!
We came out on to a beach where there was a chapel on a rock. The rain stopped momentarily so I was able to
take a photo of it, but that was one of the photos that got deleted. The path disappeared under stones on the
beach. The tide was in, so it was rough
walking. Then we had to climb over rocks
which were slippery — we were not happy.
So when we got to the place where a road came down to the beach we went
inland along said road instead of continuing along the official Coast Path
which supposedly carried on along this difficult beach.
We followed the road for about half a mile. There was no traffic, but it was boring! So, at the first opportunity, we turned off
on a good track which led us down to the river and the official Coast Path
further on. But there the coast path
went down into the water! We were wet
enough already with the rain, so we backtracked to take a parallel path higher
up the hill into Aberffraw. We suffered
another torrential downpour as we did this.
In Aberffraw we passed a stone drinking fountain where the water used to
come out of a lion’s mouth. No water
comes out of it these days, of course, it never does. We sought out the public toilets — clean,
open and free. Thank you, Aberffraw,
especially as we had both forgotten our RADAR keys! It actually stopped raining as we walked down
to the packhorse bridge, so we took the opportunity of eating our sandwiches
there whilst sitting on large stones.
We had a choice of paths there — either take a minor road straight across
the dunes, or walk closer to the sea around three sides of the dunes on a sandy
path. We decided against the latter
because it was still very windy and that path was dodgy. As we walked across on the road, I took off
my cape and waved it in the air in an attempt to dry it. But then I thought it would be easier to dry
it just by wearing it. This worked quite
well, for it was still very windy. When
I thought it was dry enough I took it off and asked Colin to stuff it in my
rucksack, after all the sun was out and the clouds were breaking up. No sooner had he done this than it started to
rain again, so it all had to come out once more and get wet!
On the other side of the dunes the road went between two stone posts, and
the footpath led off to the left. It was
only marked as an ordinary footpath, yet it was the official Coast Path
according to the map. It seemed to bear
round to the left, yet the map said it should go straight on. A bit confused, we got out the compass and
made for the chapel at the top of the hill.
There we saw a beautiful rainbow, for the sun had come out before it had
stopped raining.
We left the official Coast Path there because, for reasons beyond our
understanding, that led northwards from the chapel to a main road which it
followed for nearly a mile. We took a
minor road — again no traffic — which was nearer the sea and led to the same
place. It led through woods and was very
pleasant to walk.
As we approached a cottage we could hear a loud squealing sound above the
noise of the wind, and wondered what it was.
We passed the corner of the cottage and saw that it was a stoat trying
to kill a rabbit! At the same moment we
came upon this scene, the stoat saw us, dropped the rabbit and dashed off over
a low wall. The rabbit was lying on its
side absolutely still. Colin gently moved
it with his foot, and there was no sign of life. “It’s dead!” he said, and looked over the
wall to see if he could see the stoat.
But I was still looking at the poor ‘dead’ rabbit when it suddenly leapt
up and bounded away in the opposite direction!
It gave me quite a fright! We
were left wondering if it did eventually survive because we didn’t know how
injured it was.
We reached the main road at the point where the official Coast Path left
it, and couldn’t think why the pleasant route we had just walked wasn’t the
official Coast Path. We took another
minor road downhill towards the river.
Just before it got to the water we turned northwards for the last half
mile. It was a lovely path taking us
sometimes through woods, but it was very narrow. The brambles and gorse needed cutting back in
places too. Duckboards had been put down
over the muddiest bits, but netting was missing in places leaving slippery
wooden boards. Colin slithered at one
point but didn’t fall. I walked very carefully — I’ve broken enough
bones in the past to last a lifetime! We
came out on to the main road through Maltraeth, just a few yards from the car
park where our car was waiting for us.
That ended Walk no.345, we shall pick up Walk no.346 next time at the car park by the river bridge in Maltraeth. It was twenty to four, so the Walk had taken us five and three-quarter hours. It was too cold and windy to stop in that exposed car park by the river for more than a few seconds, so we drove straightaway to a forest picnic site about a mile away where we were a lot more sheltered. There we had our tea and chocolate biscuits, then we drove back to our cosy little cottage.
That ended Walk no.345, we shall pick up Walk no.346 next time at the car park by the river bridge in Maltraeth. It was twenty to four, so the Walk had taken us five and three-quarter hours. It was too cold and windy to stop in that exposed car park by the river for more than a few seconds, so we drove straightaway to a forest picnic site about a mile away where we were a lot more sheltered. There we had our tea and chocolate biscuits, then we drove back to our cosy little cottage.
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