With the weather a bit ropey during our trip to North Wales, I found myself spending quite a bit of time carefully scanning the Met Office satellite maps tracking rain showers and looking for locations that were looking less cloudy!  When the weather was bad over Snowdonia, it tended to be a bit clearer over on Anglesey, so we crossed the beautiful Menai Strait a few times during the week seeking some sunshine.

Early in our week, we made a quick detour on the island to visit the longest place name in the UK!  Crazy!

One day we headed right up to Holyhead in the North West of Anglesey for some coastal walking.  We chose a route up Holyhead Mountain, the highest point on the island (220m!).  I love coastal paths and was delighted to find that the path hugged the cliffs for much fo the early part of the route as we walked away from our starting point in the Breakwater Country Park.

Soon we headed inland to the ‘mountain’, following a really fun scrambling route up to the top.

Here’s the obligatory cairn photograph!  The weather was really clearing up and we could see for miles in all directions including all the way to Snowdonia.

In minutes, the clouds had given way to beautiful blue skies so we found a quiet spot to enjoy a picnic and watch the many climbers working their way up the mountain cliffs.

Soon we were heading back along the coastline enjoying the glorious sunshine and the dramatic scenery.

The South Stacks lighthouse marked the farthest point on our walk. We debated climbing down the 400 steps to visit the lighthouse, but decided against it!

It was built in 1809, but was opened to the public as recently as 2017. I can’t imagine how remote this must’ve felt 200 years ago!

We followed an inland route back to the car.  Feeling like a cake or ice cream was justified after our walk, we did a quick google for a good tea room. We were directed to the Wavecrest Cafe in Church Bay which apparently had the very best scones on the island. Sadly, it seemed that all tourists on Anglesey had the same idea and when we arrived there were no scones left! But we managed to grab an ice cream and hit the beach to enjoy the warm sunshine.

Church Bay was beautiful – with a lovely sandy beach and plenty of rocks for rockpooling and scrambling.

We regretted not having any suntan lotion as the day got really warm (although Sophie couldn’t be persuaded to head into the sea for a dip!)

A couple of days later, we found ourselves back on Anglesey for another walk – this time to Penmon on the South East corner of the island.  We parked at the Penmon Priory, ruins of a thousand year old monastery (at which we took no photographs at all!).  We walked from there out to Penmon Point where we enjoyed views of the Trwyn Du Lighthouse and Puffin Island.

The beach was deserted and we whiled away an hour exploring the rock formations and rock pools.  There’s a fabulous little cafe at Penmon Point that served up a delicious lunch and cakes – well worth a visit!

Anglesey was lovely and I’m keen to go back and visit again.