Anglesey #3 – A Lush Weekend in Wales by Frankie Annan
Anglesey weekend number 3, 11th -13th July, was a scorcher. A weekend of sea kayaking with light winds and sunshine, almost too good to be true. I was fairly sure that would mean a hideous journey from the South East after work, I was pleasantly surprised to arrive at Tyn Rhos campsite just before 11 pm to see several familiar faces sitting under the LCC shelter enjoying the last of the day’s warmth and the stunning moon. It would have been a perfect evening for a night paddle with calm waters and an amazing sunset.
Making the most of the weather and tides (HW Liverpool/Dover was on Saturday) the plan was an early (ish) departure for the short drive to Porth Dafarch for 8.30 am and an 8.45 am briefing to get on the water. Several people were meeting us at the launch spot, and to reduce our carbon footprint, we made sure that we had 2 boats per vehicle. This proved to be a great shout as the car park was almost full at 8 am.
Boat faffing over, after a brief briefing – something about it being too hot to stand around chatting, the tide rising and the fact that we were heading right from Porth Dafarch (i.e. with the flooding tide) towards Penryhn Mawr and South Stack and then onto North Stack and we’d see what happened after that. I think that was the briefing, then again, I could have made that up. So basically, the plan was the classic Stacks paddle from Porth Dafarch to Soldiers Point and back. We just didn’t know that until later.
We divided into 2 groups, and the self-proclaimed group A set off with Keith whilst the obviously superior group A+ set off with Ian (Ian Bell, Andy B, and Andy B, Lucy, Ian, Ella, Daniel and Frankie). We headed towards Penryhn Mawr, which runs on the flood but was dying down, so it offered some moving water without too much to terrify anyone feeling wary.
From there we carried on towards South Stack, Ynys Lawd (where once upon a time, with another club, someone’s boat was stuck in the gully for an hour and a half after a little mishap with an eddy line) where we completed the circumnavigation of South Stack, and Ella reported Puffin sightings. We must take Ella’s word for this, as there were no other confirmatory sightings.
From here we paddled towards North Stack and Parliament House Cave past climbers on the Gogarth Cliffs where the famous route ‘Dream of White Horses’ is located. There are some very interestingly named climbing routes along this very impressive sheer cliff face. At Parliament House Cave, we joined Keith’s A team and had elevenses or was it lunch or even a second breakfast?
The cave was shady and cool after mostly paddling in the bright sunshine. It was at this point that paddling around North stack to explore the caves, and possibly onto Soldiers Point, was mentioned. Just around from Parliament cave there are some excellent caves and arches to explore. So off we all headed and explore we did, all the way to Soldiers Point where a very short stop (second elevenses maybe) occurred before we made our way back to North stack before the overfalls got too impressive. From there, we meandered and explored our way back through the gully at South Stack, and as we were looking at the rocky beach that the ‘A’ group had landed on, porpoises were spotted. After scanning the seas for any further sightings, we decided to head across Abraham’s Bosom to a different rocky beach for our 3rd stop – was this afternoon tea? Here, Ian, Lucy and Daniel all went for a swim and enjoyed the water. I think it was colder than it looked, whilst the rest of the group enjoyed the sunshine.
Another early start saw a smaller coterie of sea kayakers (what is the collective noun for a group of sea kayakers?) head to Rhosneigr to get the boats offloaded and cars parked before it got too busy. The early start meant we (Keith, Ian Bell, Debbie, Olwen, Daniel, Lucy, Ian, Andy, Andy and Frankie) were on the water by 9.30 am, and wow, the conditions were beautiful. We set a course for Rhoscolyn Beacon, which was soon reached and rounded. From there, we headed almost directly to Rhoscolyn Head with some tidal assistance and then tucked in to the coast to explore the features, the White Arch and more. Just before the White Arch, we spotted a pair of goats enjoying some shade halfway down the rocks. Amazing climbing skills.
We passed some climbers of the human variety as well, making the most of the beautiful conditions. A visit to the secret beach for first elevenses and more swimming by some was enjoyed in the sunshine before more meandering onto Porth Diana, where we had second elevenses on a very quiet little beach that currently has no access from the road. Food and sleep and more swimming, but alas, no ice cream.