Plan Your Anglesey Coastal Path Adventure, Discover Sand, Sea and Woodlands
When you walk the Anglesey coastal path, you have before you up to 125 miles of exciting and varied scenery, from tidal estuaries to quiet, calm coves, small seaside villages to warm sandy beaches and rocky offshore islets. The coastal path scheme receives financial support from the Welsh Assembly and European sources and provides an excellent way for visitors to enjoy the coastline. You are best planning ahead which sections you want to cover and remember that the coastal path lies in one of only five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in Wales.
Leave St Cybi’s Church within the old Roman fort in Holyhead, once a small fishing village but now a major ferry port linking Ireland to Britain, and head for the Rocky coast, country park and old quarry. As you climb the path up the side of Holyhead Mountain, heading for North Stack, look back from the rugged clifftops and admire the panoramic view of Holyhead Bay, with the tidal Skerries and Carmel head sweeping down to Valley and the breakwater in the foreground. Continue to South Stack cliffs and lighthouse, see the marine birds and turn for the headland which takes you to Trearddur Bay and Rhoscolyn.
Leaving Four Mile Bridge southwards follow the Coastal Path almost parallel with the river as it flows strongly out of the inland sea to Cymyran estuary, passing sand banks where keen observers may notice various marine birds, while nearby is the edge of Anglesey Airport. Turning the corner at Cymyran brings you onto the first of many sandy beaches around Rhosneigr, exposed to the open sea and popular with surfers and sailors. Beyond the sandy stretches are a Neolithic burial chamber and a church in the sea at Porth Cwyfan.
On the south corner of Anglesey is the impressive Newborough Forest, planted in the 1950’s to hold the sand dunes together and a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and beyond these woodlands is Llanddwyn beach where Demi Moore filmed scenes from the movie Half Light. At Aberffraw in the west, walk the estuary to the coast and enjoy fine mountain scenes from the long sandy beach with high dunes and marram grass. Between these two points is a pleasant walk through peaceful meadows and woodlands, where you can see St Cadwaladr’s Church and Malltraeth which inspired wildlife artist Tunnicliffe.
Beaumaris Castle on the Menai Strait, Edward 1st’s last Welsh castle, is now an UNESCO World Heritage Site, and from here take the coastal path north eastwards, hugging the foreshore and through narrow country lanes, passing Penmon Priory and Dovecote to Penmon Point with a lighthouse and Puffin island nearby. Turning inland pass Dinmor quarry and you reach one of the highest points on east Anglesey called Arthur’s Table, with truly breathtaking sea views. Continue down beautiful meadows, then pass the wide, impressive and isolated Red Wharf Bay on your right with woodlands to the left, and from there you follow the coastal path signs for the village of Pentraeth.
From the north east seaside village of Moelfre, famed for the heroism of its lifeboat crew, to Amlwch Port, the ancient copper town, on the north coast, the coastal path walker will experience a mixture of small, sandy beaches, sheltered inlets and rugged, rocky coastline. North of Moelfre is a memorial to the 1859 Royal Charter shipwreck, seen from the coastal path. From here you will hug the sandy beaches of Lligwy and Traeth Ora, and the estuary at Dulas. Then the rugged coast reaches Point Lynas, where the lighthouse, built in 1835, still operates, and this is a good place to look out for dolphins offshore, before you head west past Porth Eilian to Amlwch, a town with a rich industrial heritage.
So we hope the above short glimpses have stimulated your appetite for making plans to visit the island and trying out some sections of the Anglesey Coastal path. One idea is to take two or more cars and go in a group so that you can get easily get back to your car at the end of the walk. Whether it is winter or summer, rain or sun, you can get a lot out of the many natural and historic variations offered by these coastal walks, and no doubt you will want to return time and again.
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