Better than average

The Pen y Cefn Guest House at Amlwch must rate as one of the very best B&Bs that I've ever visited. Hosts Colin and Jenny seemed to have thought of everything. If anyone is heading to Anglesey, I can heartily recommend them. See their website. As well as a discounted rate for the room, I was presented with a packed lunch. My message in their visitors' book was "I'll be back!"

Most days I average about 7 miles an hour. That may not sound much, but that includes stops for lunch, snacks, photos etc. It means that I need to be 'on the road' for up to ten hours a day. That's why I try to leave reasonably early. If I'm camping, I'm usually away by 08.00; if at a B&B it's more like 09.00. Ideally I try to reach my destination by 18.00, but it has been as late as 20.30.

This evening I continued past my planned stopover point (Plas Newydd) as there were no camp sites nearby, and continued over the Britannia Bridge and turned left towards Bangor, where I found a quiet camp site near the old Menai Bridge.

The day had started with a visit to Cemaes Bay, where an attractive harbour was well stocked with boats. Then it was on to Holyhead, where I enjoyed meeting up again with Sue Morris, Stena Ports' Personnel Manager, whom I knew from my days with British Ports Industry Training. I hadn't seen her for at least ten years. I spent a couple of hours in Holyhead, which included a brief tour of the port with Port Manager Alan Williams and a photoshoot for the Stena newsletter.

In days gone by, before there were bridges across the Menai Strait, there were many ferries operating between Anglesey and the mainland. My aim this afternoon was to visit several of these locations. I failed with the first, Plas Penrhyn, as it was at the end of a private, gated road, but succeeded with the next two, at Foel and Moel-y-Don. The fourth, at Plas Newydd, was within a nursery which was closed for the day.

So that's Anglesey circumnavigated; now it's on to the Lleyn Peninsula tomorrow, which I'm really looking forward to. And the weather seems promising.