May 28, 2015: Beaumaris to Penmon Priory
After some shore walking we head inland from the beach at Aberlleiniog along a stream – with hawthorns in bloom.
Many homemade jams decorated the breakfast table – including one featuring five hedgerow berries – as we settled down to our morning fare on the third day of our walk. Adrian had discovered that his injured eyeglasses could not be repaired since the town optician was closed today and would open too late tomorrow to be of any use to us. But my brother-in-law had other plans for the day. After our walk he wanted to take a boat trip up to Puffin Island and it looked like there would be time for this venture since we had only half a day’s walking ahead of us. I had decided that the distance to the the end of the next chapter in our guidebook was a bit too long for us, especially after yesterday’s lengthy stage, and that we would therefore walk only to the Penmon peninsula today (where we would make contact with a pre-ordered taxi) and return to this spot tomorrow for the rest of the route to Pentraeth beach.
So there was no need to pack our bags, for we would be spending a second night in Beaumaris, nor even to worry about any food – though Naomi did provide us with our daily bags of trail-mix, a concoction made up of nuts, raisins and chocolate drops. We left at 9:45 – the only time on this trip we were able to do so without vehicular assistance. It was bright enough outside but it was also extremely windy and cold and by the time we had climbed the first grassy hill to the north of the town I had paused to put my rain jacket on. From this point, incidentally, there were magnificent views in all directions, especially ones back to Beaumaris Castle, which we had examined last year, and across the head of the Menai Strait.
For a while we walked along the main road but eventually we were directed down to the foreshore itself and here began one of those struggles to find appropriate footing in the sand, shingle and kelp. Adrian was well out in front here, his eyes fixed at his feet as he searched for specimens of sea glass. Both he and Naomi again carried a walking pole on this venture, though my sister-in-law insisted that next year she wanted two. We continued along the beach as far as Aberlleiniog, where we returned briefly to the road along the banks of a delightful stream. A car park was our signal to look for a wooded lane back to the beach (Adrian would often signal back to us with his pole when he came to a junction) and so we were soon crunching our way forward once again.
Penmon Church.
At a concrete embankment we made a final return to the road – which we could follow all the way to Penmon Priory. There was a good deal of tourist traffic on this surface and we often had to step to the side as, in the latter stages of our transit through lush countryside, the road climbed steeply. Ahead of us at last was the Penmon church – it conjoined an interesting ruin and a graveyard and at the end of the parking lot there was also a second ruin and a dovecot. We spent a good deal of time poking around here and I asked the chap who collected tolls hereabout for some advice on how to reach the coast path on the northern side of the promontory.
Then, having to pay no toll ourselves, we continued on to the end of the peninsula, climbing steeply at first, passing several inviting links to the northern coast, and at last beginning a descent to Penmon Point. This was a very dramatic setting, with a lighthouse to our left and, straight ahead, the solid circle representing Puffin Island. Opposite this spot the tourists were lined up, straining in rapt attention (as had the jet watchers at RAF Valley) for any sighting of the puffins themselves. Quite a few of these visitors had binoculars with them.
From the tip of the Penmon headland a view of Puffin Island.
We had talked about waiting for lunch until we returned to Beaumaris but, the noon hour having arrived, the decision was now made to visit the Pilot House Café. Most of its customers were braving the windy weather outside but we took an interior table and ordered our sandwiches from the counter. As in the bistro at the Sea Zoo this was a busy and noisy place and you had to obtain a key from the staff in order to use the local loo.
Instead of returning to the priory, our pick-up point today, we now began a brief section on the coast path itself, heading west along the northern escarpment. I had suggested doing this as a way of shortening tomorrow’s stage and that was why I was so interested in finding links from this side back to the toll road. I must say that it was extremely pleasant walking along here, with wonderful displays of wildflowers, especially bluebells. We soon passed the fisheries road (the attendant’s link nomination) but ahead there was a long stone wall that we had already spotted as even likelier place where we might find a path back to the toll road. This was easily accomplished and we completed the link (which we would use in reverse on day four) and dropped back to the toll road and the parking lot.
I couldn’t get a signal on my mobile phone but Naomi succeeded and we summoned our Beaumaris taxi again. While we were waiting Naomi and Adrian used a circular route to view the abbey from different angles. We then had a short ride back to town and reported to the Liverpool Arms on the high street for a celebratory drink. By reaching Penmon Point I had at last gained a major milestone in my walking career on Anglo-Celtic footpaths – I had walked 5000 miles.
Adrian and Naomi went off to see about boat trips to Puffin Island but there was a disappointment here. A combination of cold, windy weather, choppy seas and the absence of customers meant that this afternoon’s sailing had been cancelled. (There was no guarantee, unlike our cruise to the Farne Islands, that any puffins would be spotted anyway. Rachel had told us that there were now twenty breeding pairs on South Stack.)
We had a nice afternoon rest at our b&b and at 7:00 we returned to the nearby Ye Olde Black Bull for our evening meal. We shared a starter tray and then I had the Bull Burger again. I must say that as pleasant a location as this was, with much glass providing lovely light, the service was laconic and lax and it took us a long time to get through our meal.
My relatives used every evening to connect to the available wi-fi (and the rest of the world) and then they watched TV. I checked my email on my iPad and did not watch TV ever; I come on these walks for a respite from the rest of the world.
To continue this journey you need: