Sonder Bikes
Nicola Whitbread finds magic in the air on the Isle of Anglesey. Her 130 mile hike past sweeping beaches, craggy coves and sea-stranded churches is a reminder of the adventure to be found on our coastlines.
I started from Bangor train station and caught the bus to Menai Bridge. It only takes a couple of hours to leave the bustle behind. The path shifts from ice-cream coloured houses to open beach, pebbles crunching underfoot. I see the first of the many lonely beach houses I’ll fall in love with, wistfully dreaming of isolation amid a moody landscape.
Hedgerows are plump with Spring’s floral bounty, and the trail lined with bluebells and wild garlic. I had a surprise encounter with a weasel - we were both shocked to witness each other as it darted across the path.
No trespassing
On weary feet I look for a place to camp but there’s plenty of ‘NO TRESPASSING’ signs. Yet, as always, the trail provides and I spot a potential lead; a glimpse of a wide ledge below the path which disappears from sight. Shimmying under a barbed wire fence, I drop my backpack and downclimb. My instinct was right - a series of flat, grassy edges with uninterrupted ocean views and privacy. A rare and beautiful thing. The sea is flat and milky, merging with the sky. As I’m cooking dinner I have a second surprise animal encounter of the day - dolphins crossing the bay, barely leaving a ripple.
My next few days follow a rhythm of empty beaches and small towns, gorse-strewn headlands, picturesque lighthouses and camps in unexpected places: a beach by an abandoned brickworks, the red bricks aflame with the sunrise, and on the edge of an estuary, where the silent, creeping tidal river reached its highest point a mere couple of metres from my toes.
The trail is full of surprises and, curious as a child, I explore every hidden cove, finding wooden beach shacks and a cave so devoid of sound it raises the hairs on the back of my neck. One day I pass the ‘church in the sea’. St. Cwyfan’s is only accessible at low tide, standing sentry on its rocky outcrop, and I feel like I’m at the edge of the world.
Last of the Loveliness
Charming Aberffraw with its sand dunes and snaking river is a welcome sight and I pause in a café for tea and cake. It’s the last of the loveliness before miles of inland walking and I feel suddenly robbed, bereft of lapping waves and sea salt in my hair. Then, finally, the first glimpse of majestic Newborough forest. I reach the tidal island of Ynys Llanddwyn early one morning and walk its white-shell paths, brew tea and breakfast on Welsh cakes in one of its sandy coves. When I say there’s magic on Anglesey, there’s nowhere I feel it more keenly than here.
It’s impossible not to fall in love with Newborough beach, with its sweeping fine gold sand lined with dunes and pines, views of Eryri in the distance. A few miles later I reach the Menai Strait. I’m on the home stretch now, and can hear Caernarfon across the water, mainland Wales a suspension bridge away. I share the final steps with the oystercatchers and gulls and cross the bridge, my soul happy. @nicola.navigates
Walking the Anglesey Coastal Path
- 130(ish) miles in 8 days
- Alpkit gear: Hunka bivvy bag, Pipedream 400 sleeping bag, Numo sleeping mat, Kraku stove, MyTiMug 650ml titanium pot, Titanium snap fork.