Saturday
This morning, we drove out to Holyhead Island, to Treaddur Bay, and walked along the coast for a while. Then we drove to Aberffraw. Bernard stayed in the car for a rest - he hadn’t slept very well, while the rest of us had a coffee at a cafe before going for a beautiful walk along the river down to the coast, with a long sandy beach on the other side of the river - see collage in extra. As we walked the sun broke through and graced us with its presence for a while! Next we drove to Newborough National Forest and Nature reserve, a gorgeous area in the southeast corner of Anglesey near the Menai Straits.
We had been here on our previous visit with Jen and Laura. Newborough Warren is one of the largest and finest dune systems in Britain. To reach the beach, you drive through quite a large area of forest - Corsican pine trees planted between 1947 to provide timber and stabilize the shifting sand dunes, and home to some red squirrels, though we weren’t lucky enough to see any today. We all walked one of the forest trails, offering occasional glimpses of the beach through the trees until we reached a viewpoint over the beach. At this point, John, Roger and I continued along the beach, while Janet and Bernard returned. My blip was taken where the land narrows to Llanddwyn Island which can be cut off in high tides.
We then began our journey home, but stopped off in the lovely town of Conwy, and enjoyed fish and chips sitting on a bench overlooking the harbour.
On the way back we stopped at a service station for toilets, and also hoping to get some fuel. There is a fuel shortage at the pumps in the UK at present, due to a shortage of tanker drivers. We tried three stations in total on our way home, but whilst some had petrol, they were all out of diesel, which our rental car is takes! Janet and John were ahead of us and were going to Morrison’s supermarket for a few things, and they texted us to say they were totally out too! By this point we were getting a bit anxious, as we are supposed to be going down to my sister’s on Monday. When we got back, Roger used his phone, and found a station on the motorway near Lyme that showed as having fuel. He called them to check before he left, and they confirmed that they did - relief!!
A great few days away, which Bernard had really enjoyed too.
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