Anglesey at Easter

3 hours of smooth travel found us crossing the Menai Strait and heading for Anglesey in a completely unknown and minimally prepared kind of scenario.

In true Campervan Capers style, 2 weeks before Easter, I hastily contacted a few places. None of which could accommodate us satisfactorily. A couple of them could let us in, but either with no EHU or on the grass, which, quite frankly, did not appeal. I ended up reverting to the C&CC and found a new CS, surprisingly at £25 a night on hard standing with EHU. It was bang in the middle of the island on a farm, and it was top.

There was a little cabin with an ensuite kind of bathroom and a separate kitchen area, elsan and rubbish. Each pitch had a tap and a small drain. Pitches weren’t quite level, but not far off. It was quiet and we only had a couple of flyby neighbours all week. The smalls loved having a big field to muck about in.

They had been very accommodating, as foolishly I had booked a holiday when there was rugby to deal with, and they let us change the booking so that I could stay at home and pack for an extra day.

We were met by the very chatty mother-in-law who insisted on launching into a tirade of recommendations instead of letting us get parked and settled, but money was parted with, and the kettle got put on eventually.

The roads had been somewhat surprising. Home to the island was great – a detour through the peak district, then motorway all the way onto the island. Turning off the North Wales Expressway at Llangefni, and within 30 seconds, we were on single track roads with grass growing up the middle, and the sat nav was having a fit like we were on another planet.

We missed the turning up to the farm whilst the sat nav was disco dancing and ended up doing an enormous loop, almost off-road at one point.

But it was a gorgeous spot, and by all accounts, undiscovered by most being so new.

Our first excursion began at the place with the longest name: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. I copied that off of Google!

It was about 10 mins away from the camp, and had a huge car park that we managed to manoeuvre the Big Red Van into, despite the spaces being car or coach. We took the obligatory photos, waiting our turn patiently, whilst others took hundreds of carefully posed selfies, and then made our way to the gift shop, to be greeted by the Easter Bunny.

So many gifts

Well, that exhausted all of 20 mins, so we needed to find other entertainment and it was almost lunchtime. We drove around the coast in search of Beaumaris.

We found a parking spot just snugly big enough for the van in the car park just past the castle and the smalls enjoyed the adjacent play area, but not the crown green bowling lawn, whilst we made a plan. As it was raining, first priority was fish and chips in a cafe on the main street (poor) followed by exploration of the castle.

As it was ruinous, we were still exposed to the elements. On returning to the car park to leave, we learnt a new word in Welsh and promptly allaned.

We took a coastal tour of the east of the island and stopped off at Benllech, following Mrs Woman’s recommendation, and despite the howling gale and whipping wind, enjoyed some tomfoolery on the sand.

We returned to the camp, this time with no sat nav issues (Brian, we miss you 😢 ), and this time actually got to appreciate the views back towards the mainland.

We spent the evening in studious contemplation, evaluating the merits of the 2 local gins we acquired in Beaumaris. Final score: KB for Anglesey, LJ for Snowdonia.

Tuesday was the best day for weather, and after a leisurely start to the day, including an al fresco coffee at the picnic bench, we set off for Newborough beach having been recommended it as a good shout.

Spot on for a recommendation, 100% our kind of place. If we venture back to Anglesey, it will be to go there again.

We should have got there earlier, as the fine weather had brought out crowds and parking the Big Red Beast was looking unlikely, but eventually we bagged a spot in the car park quite close to the dunes and we were off like whippets.

We spent most of the day monkeying around on the sand, picnicking in the van, walking in the piney forest paths, enjoying a rather tasty ice cream, and playing cricket…

You really appreciate how old and asthmatic you are playing with this pair

Wednesday was a trip to Conwy, back on the mainland, not too far away. We parked in the motorhome aire, only just mind, not enough spaces for demand. We walked up to the town and enjoyed better fish and chips, a trot round the ruinous castle and a nose about.

Small house, massive queue, we dint go in

Thursday we explored more of the west of the island and headed out to Holyhead, with the idea of heading out to the rspb reserve for a bit of ornithological joy, however, most of Anglesey had the same idea, all the car parks were full and the approach road was single track, hairpin territory so we retreated to Holyhead town. Which was a mistake. It was like 1980s Rotherham, so we headed out of town towards the sailing club and eventually found a cheeky little waterside restaurant for lunch at the 3rd time of asking.

Sunny lunch by the harbour

We wended our way back to the camp via the top of the island, stopping off at Cemaes bay beach for ice creams.

As we headed back to camp the weather started to turn, with dark skies, wind and rain. There was a storm on the way over the Atlantic and predictions were that it would hit the west of the UK (so Anglesey) with possible gusts of 70mph by the weekend. Fingers were crossed for a change of direction.

Overnight it did get a bit blustery on and off, but we were parked semi in the shelter of a bank of trees so we weren’t affected too much and Friday we took an excursion to Portmeirion, back on the mainland.

We found the village easily enough and parked in the car park extension for larger vehicles. There is an aire there where you can stay overnight, but at 50 nicker, it’s a bit steep.

Gift shops were rinsed for produce, legs were lifted for a lunchtime refuel and we exited the village for a bit of woodland wandering before home time.

By the time we headed back to Anglesey we were back into stormy weather, and after another blustery night we decided to cut and run a day early, leaving on Saturday at dawn, to an awesome sunrise between the rain showers.