Walk: 8 miles, 830ft of ascent
I didn't show times for today's walk as it was actually split between two locations just 3 miles apart; we were away from the cottage from 10am to 6:30pm, that however included a trip to Waitrose in Menai Bridge before coming back 'home'
The weather forecast for today was spot on, the folks at the BBC said low cloud this morning followed by clear skies, and that's exactly how it panned out. We left the cottage at 10am and although it was cloudy we could in the distance see pale blue, so the early signs were positive.
Our drive across to the south-west of the island was about 20 miles and around 35 minutes, the A55 North Wales Expressway was our route of choice, the same road that brought us across the north coast of Wales last Friday and a lovely smooth quiet run across it was. We parked at the RSPB visitor centre at the top of South Stack, paid our £5.80 each, and after making a short visit to Ellin's tower to see the webcam footage of some of the birds on the cliff we headed over to the top of the path down to South Stack; and yes it was as steep as it had looked in photos. 41- steps and around 500ft down to the bottom.
After crossing the water on the old metal bridge we were on the island and enjoying the sights and sounds of the Seagulls nesting on the grass. The cliffs were covered with all sorts of sea-birds, but only the Gulls are brave enough to nest in amongst the visitors to the island lighthouse. The visit also included a walk up the spiral staircase to the top of the lighthouse to see the views, and listen to the volunteer telling us it's story, and all about the area. After making our way back down to the bottom it was now time to walk back up the 410 steps to the top of the hill. The lady volunteer had told us that from the top of the cliff, up the lighthouse and back up the cliff is 1,126 steps!
Now I won't say that was the easiest path up a hill that I've ever taken, I found it hard so I can only imagine what it was like for Donna with her chest injury; but she made it up with no complaint, whereas had it been me I would have been huffing and puffing all the way up. At the top we took a seat and had a deserved drink and our packed lunch, before stopping by the RSPB cafe for a piece of home-made Cherry Bakewell and a drink.
If I remember correctly it was now around 1pm so we drove the short distance across the headland to the Breakwater Country Park where we parked up ready for our second walk of the day. The country park is worth a visit just by itself, a lovely setting and so much history as it was here that they quarried, prepared and shipped out the stone to build the breakwater; at 1.48 miles in length (or 1.7 miles according to Wikipedia) the second longest in the world, with only San Diego being able to beat Holyhead at Top Trumps.
We took the path along the coast and then onto the breakwater itself, it snakes it's way around part of the harbour and if you are in luck you catch sight of the passenger ferries leaving the port on the journey to and from Dublin. What was surprising was how few people we saw as we walked along the breakwater, in fact we saw a total of one person on our long walk to the lighthouse and back so Blackpool Pier it was not.
After returning to the car it was time to head 20 miles back to the west of the island for our shopping trip, then back to the cottage for Spanish Omelette and a quiet evening.
I didn't show times for today's walk as it was actually split between two locations just 3 miles apart; we were away from the cottage from 10am to 6:30pm, that however included a trip to Waitrose in Menai Bridge before coming back 'home'
The weather forecast for today was spot on, the folks at the BBC said low cloud this morning followed by clear skies, and that's exactly how it panned out. We left the cottage at 10am and although it was cloudy we could in the distance see pale blue, so the early signs were positive.
Our drive across to the south-west of the island was about 20 miles and around 35 minutes, the A55 North Wales Expressway was our route of choice, the same road that brought us across the north coast of Wales last Friday and a lovely smooth quiet run across it was. We parked at the RSPB visitor centre at the top of South Stack, paid our £5.80 each, and after making a short visit to Ellin's tower to see the webcam footage of some of the birds on the cliff we headed over to the top of the path down to South Stack; and yes it was as steep as it had looked in photos. 41- steps and around 500ft down to the bottom.
After crossing the water on the old metal bridge we were on the island and enjoying the sights and sounds of the Seagulls nesting on the grass. The cliffs were covered with all sorts of sea-birds, but only the Gulls are brave enough to nest in amongst the visitors to the island lighthouse. The visit also included a walk up the spiral staircase to the top of the lighthouse to see the views, and listen to the volunteer telling us it's story, and all about the area. After making our way back down to the bottom it was now time to walk back up the 410 steps to the top of the hill. The lady volunteer had told us that from the top of the cliff, up the lighthouse and back up the cliff is 1,126 steps!
Now I won't say that was the easiest path up a hill that I've ever taken, I found it hard so I can only imagine what it was like for Donna with her chest injury; but she made it up with no complaint, whereas had it been me I would have been huffing and puffing all the way up. At the top we took a seat and had a deserved drink and our packed lunch, before stopping by the RSPB cafe for a piece of home-made Cherry Bakewell and a drink.
If I remember correctly it was now around 1pm so we drove the short distance across the headland to the Breakwater Country Park where we parked up ready for our second walk of the day. The country park is worth a visit just by itself, a lovely setting and so much history as it was here that they quarried, prepared and shipped out the stone to build the breakwater; at 1.48 miles in length (or 1.7 miles according to Wikipedia) the second longest in the world, with only San Diego being able to beat Holyhead at Top Trumps.
We took the path along the coast and then onto the breakwater itself, it snakes it's way around part of the harbour and if you are in luck you catch sight of the passenger ferries leaving the port on the journey to and from Dublin. What was surprising was how few people we saw as we walked along the breakwater, in fact we saw a total of one person on our long walk to the lighthouse and back so Blackpool Pier it was not.
After returning to the car it was time to head 20 miles back to the west of the island for our shopping trip, then back to the cottage for Spanish Omelette and a quiet evening.
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