Sunday 6th May – Newborough, Anglesey

The reason that we chose the Awelfryn Caravan Park was that it is ideally positioned to visit Newborough Forest, Newborough Warren and Llanddwyn Island. The air temperature was quite low but there was very little wind, so it felt much warmer than yesterday. Walking straight from the campsite, we were in the forest within a few minutes. There are red squirrels in the forest but, needless to say, we didn't see any all day.

We emerged from the forest with Llanddwyn Island in front of us. However it was clear that it was very nearly high tide and we knew that the island is cut off for an hour around that time. Sure enough, when we got there the water was flowing between the island and us. Quite a number of people were waiting for the causeway to clear but some people decided to take shoes and socks off, roll up their trousers and wade across. One man did so and then carried his wife across. Jane pointed this out and said that she thought that it was a good idea – I said that I didn't!

We had a pleasant chat with another couple and it was soon shallow enough for us to walk across to the 'Lovers' Island'. St. Dwynwen was a maiden who, after resisting the advances of Prince Maelon, became a hermit on the island. An abbey was built here in the 16^th century as the island became a place of pilgrimage but only ruins now remain. We walked past these ruins to the lighthouse at the tip and then on to the small sheltered beach where we had lunch. Out of the breeze and in the sun, it was very warm here and people were actually sunbathing. Meanwhile, the mountains over the other side of the Menai Strait were covered in thick cloud that was depositing considerable amounts of rain. In fact, the rainfall over the mountains continued all morning and well into the afternoon whilst we enjoyed sunshine.

Close to the lighthouse and the old lifeboat station are four pilots' cottages. Two of these are now the warden's accommodation whilst the other two house an interesting exhibition. One is furnished as an original pilot's cottage – cosy could describe it but small it certainly is. It must have been a tough life out on that very exposed island, especially in winter.

We walked back down the other side of the island and across to the mainland , the causeway now surrounded by acres of sand as the sea had receded a great distance. There are over three miles of beach stretching east from here and I can hardly say it was busy but there were a lot of people out for a Sunday afternoon stroll. We walked for a mile along the beach before walking through the dunes and into the forest. We met many people on the walk through the forest and soon arrived back at the campsite. It was interesting to note that there was new snow on the mountains of Snowdonia whilst we had almost continuous sunshine and no rain.

Photos: Waiting for the tide; The centre of Llanddwyn Island with the ruins of the abbey and the lighthouse in the background; The pilots' houses.