Road Trip The Coast of Wales
North to South - Pt4
St Cwyfans church on Anglesey
Welcome back to my tour around the coast of Wales. If you missed part 3, you can catch it here.
To get to our next unmissable stop on Anglesey, you’ll need to keep your eye on the tide times…
St Cwyfan’s church is also popularly known as the “Little Church in the Sea” and for good reason. St Cwyfans sits on a tidal island, so at high tide, it’s just out there, in the sea, only accessible by boat. But at low tide, you can walk to it over a rocky causeway, sit on a bench against the lime-washed walls and soak in the sea views.
At one point, St Cwyfan’s was attached to the mainland, but over the centuries, the little church and the land it stood on got separated through erosion, to become the island it is today. In around 1893, the stone seawall you can see was built around the church. This was because due to the relentless waves eroding the tiny island, some of the graves started disappearing into the sea…plop. Bon voyage granny!
You remember at the beginning of this, I said you’d need a week or more to see everything Anglesey has to offer… well our next stop could easily take up a majority of your time. Especially if you like outdoor activities. Welcome to Newborough National Nature Reserve & Forest (including Llanddwyn Island)
At around 2269 hectares, (23km2) half of which is forest, Newborough forest, beach and dunes can keep you occupied for days on end. The numerous forest trails are well marked out and the going is easy for the most part. Newborough forest is also one of your best opportunities for spotting one of the UK’s rarest mammals, the red squirrel, which thrives in the mixed arboreal habitat.
Cross the rich plant and invertebrate habitat of the dunes and you’ll come to one of Anglesey’s if not Wales most spectacular beaches. It’s a shallow expanse of sand, so if you’re with a young family, this could be the perfect spot to set up for a sunny day. To one end of the beach are Llanddwyn Island and lighthouse. This is another tidal island, so come at low tide and you can walk over to and around the island with its ruined remains of St Dwynwen’s Church.
Newborough and Llanddwyn are so picture-perfect in fact, that Hollywood has used the location a couple of times for big-budget productions. Funnily enough, the week I decided to go and take some photos for this section of the road trip, Newborough and Llanddwyn were just being taken over for filming the next instalment of House of the Dragon…
For the best information about Newborough National Nature Reserve, I’d direct you to visit Natural Resources Wales - https://naturalresources.wales/days-out/places-to-visit/north-west-wales/newborough
We’re almost at the end of our tour around the coast of Anglesey. But before we end this part of my drive around the coast of Wales, I thought I might suggest a gift to take home for yourself or someone you might like. Now, as gifts go, this might sound a bit… odd, but bear with me. Sited on the banks of the Menai Strait, is Halen Mon (pronounced moan). This small business is owned and run by two graduates of Bangor University who happened to realise just how fresh and clean the seawater running through the Menai Strait was (due to studying how well the notoriously fussy seahorses bred here). If these fussy little blighters could thrive in the briny waters they realised, there may be potential to produce exceedingly fine salt…
And that’s exactly what they did. Halen Mon Sea Salt can now be found in 22 countries around the world, being used by top chefs. It’s been served at political summits, royal weddings, the Olympics and enjoyed by US Presidents. It’s a vital ingredient in Green & Blacks chocolate and you dear reader can treat yourself or a loved one to some of the world's finest condiments for as little as £1.95. Halen Mon has a very modern facility on the banks of the Menai Strait, with a gift shop and you can even have a tour around the facility to see how their product is created.
And that’s it. I say that’s it, but of course, I’ve only been able to scratch the surface of what Anglesey has to offer. Our next stop takes us back over the Britannia Bridge and into Caernarfon…
Wait, you didn’t think I’d leave Anglesey without popping in here, did you? Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, the meaning of which is - St Marys church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool of Llantysilio of the red cave. Now more commonly called Llanfair PG, it got its world-famous long name as a publicity stunt in the 1880’s, by an enterprising local businessman. Recognising Wales was becoming a popular tourist destination and wanting some of that income to come to their village, Llanfairpwll was changed to the name you see today. The early marketing stunt worked, and to this day, people from all over the world come to simply have their photo taken by one of the village name signs.
