Red Wharf Bay to Beaumaris with a bus to help

Walk: Pentraeth to Beaumaris using the Wales Coast Path from Red Wharf bay to Beaumaris

Distance: A long one. probably 16.5 miles in all but done in two bits with a bus journey in between

Parking: Free parking on a designated car park, on the Wales Coast Path, about a mile along the road to Penmon Point - the south east tip of Anglesey. 3.5 miles east of Beaumaris

Bus Route: The number 50 bus from Beaumaris to Llangefni via Pentraeth

After a period of carp weather (think misspelt profanity rather than good fishing conditions) this year (2024) , Rosie the swamp hound Springer and I were gagging to get out and about. The weather forecast finally gave no rain for a mid April Tuesday but did give a stiff and thin wind blowing from the northwest. A quick look at the map and bus timetables threw out an obvious candidate for a reacquaintance - the section of the Wales Coast path between Red Wharf Bay and Beaumaris on Anglesey. Its a long walk but can be done in two bits with the bus journey in between for a sit down. Being on the south east side of Anglesey and being best (view wise) to do from north to south meant it was sheltered from the wind and where it wasn't sheltered the wind would be behind you. Ideal.

The No. 50 bus isn't very frequent but the 11:10 service from Beaumaris was perfect giving ample time to pack a lunch, drive to the car park and yomp the first section of the walk (about 2.5 miles) along the Menai Straits section of the Coast Path into Beaumaris. As it worked out, there was even time for a coffee in the sun before the bus came.

The car park we used is along the scenic lane that leads to the National Trust site at Penmon point (Trwyn Du). It is right on the coast path with beautiful views across the Menai Straights to the mainland and is hard to miss being well signposted down a small track under a height restriction barrier (2m I think). Watch out for the 'P' sign just as the lane meets the coast, about a mile after leaving the main road (B5109). There are other places to park on this section of road if you have a taller vehicle or top box. There was actually a van in the car park; the driver must have had nerves of steel though as I must admit I actually ducked and winced as I went under the barrier in my relatively low-slung estate. Top tip by the way, to get on the Coast Path proper, go back out of the carpark and back over the small road bridge to get you onto the correct side of what, after the 'carp' weather we had had, was quite a tricky little river to ford on foot.

The Coast path into Beaumaris is along the rocky beaches so can't really be rushed too much. Also the views and old maritime industrial ruins had me stopping every couple of minutes to take yet another photo. It took us about an hour to walk. About a mile out of Beaumaris, you are best going up onto the pavement alongside the road as it parallels the beach on this section. A slipway gives access through the small sea wall. A few hundred meters further on you are welcomely redirected down some steps onto the next section of beach, thus avoiding further walking on the trafficked highway. At the end of this section of beach is a ruined industrial building with a lagoon on its seaward side (see photo). The path goes up behind this building and 100 paces later you are in Beaumaris.

Beaumaris is, as the name suggests, a really pleasant place. It is home to what I think is one of the most picturesque of Longshanks' North Wales castles. It's the one I would have most liked to have been billeted in - or to attack even - depending on what side I found myself on. It's the sort of castle Lawrence Llewelyn Bowen would have designed if he had been around in the 13th century and had no other TV commitments. It has flounce and is not at all grim.

The bus stop is nearby on the main street - aptly named Castle Street - just outside a fish and chip shop and alongside a Spar supermarket on the south side of the road. Maybe a hundred meters up from the Castle. There are free toilets further into town on the left and plenty of places to eat and drink (to restock your losses). The bus was on-time, uncrowded and great. Rosie really liked it too, I think she knows that it means more adventures ahead. The bus driver dropped me off just outside the Memorial Hall in Pentraeth. This is quite a bit before the bus route tips out onto the main road to Benllech and is opposite the end of the lane that leads to beach road and eventually Red Wharf Bay (i.e our route).

Once off the bus, follow the lane opposite the Memorial Hall and then turn left onto Beach Road. Eventually, you will reach the car park giving access to Red Wharf Bay beach and the Coast path. There is an earlier lane turning right off Beach Road also signposted as Wales Coast Path. I guess this forms an alternative in the case of a really high tide, We look the lower route.

The footpath skirts the Bay through an area that is somewhere twixt land and beach. There is evidence that the sea had been up this far recently, probably the high tide that accompanied the solar eclipse earlier that month. Not that I noticed an eclipse, as I only had the television to help me hold onto the hope that the sun still existed at all. There is a lot of sky in this part of the world and there certainly was on the day we were there. Very restful on the eyes and ears and, away from the swampy bits and particularly when near to patches of flowering gorse, the nose too. It was generally sandy and well drained and very pleasant to walk.

As you continue around the bay you come to a section of sea wall that has had a railing fitted seaward and thereby been converted to part of the coast path. I don't remember this from last time I did the walk. Its good though. We liked it. Needless to say, after a while, the lure of the swamp became too much for Rosie who exited stage left, then couldn't get back up. The big feet made short work of the swampy half mile she faced before we met again at the end of the walled section. I'm happy to report that dogs can look embarrassed.

Shortly after the walled section you join a lane near to the small free carpark at Llanddona and the No Dogs signs of the Blue Flag Beach opposite. It's April though (pre ban period) so we headed seaward and got our blue-flag fix while we could (rather than continue on the lane). We were the only souls on there. Lovely.

At the end of the beach, which is also the end of the bay, its time to head up the hill and circumnavigate the peninsular around to the Penmon Lighthouse and Puffin Island and Ice Cream..

The path up from the beach is to the left of the garden of the white house visible in this picture. The coast path leads up across pastureland and is very well signposted. I expected this bit to be muddy after the amount of rain we'd had but it was pleasantly dry and wonderfully green. The mud was yet to come.

This is perhaps the only bit of the walk where the views are better behind you (across Red Wharf Bay) than in front.

The walk continues generally uphill, eventually reaching a little plateau that marks the highest point of the walk. If I hadn't been greedy and ate all my lunch in a 'oner' at LLanddona, this would have been an ideal spot for a bit of blue horizon gazing and sandwich chomping. Just further on you get your first views of Puffin Island and an idea of how far you still have left to walk. Actually, its worse than it looks as after passing through a field with some wind bent trees and upright horses in it, the path turns uphill again, heading inland and away from the direct route. This is where the mud started and it didn't let up until you had reached a gate and a footpath that took you, alongside the well manicured lawn of a cottage, out onto the lane that leads into the little hamlet of Mariandyrys.

If I was to do this route again, and it had been wet, I would divert left, off the signposted coast path route, onto a short (50m level track), just after the first muddy uphill. This allows access to the end of a dead end road that joins the coast path route just as it drops down out of Mariandyrys. The only thing you'd miss out on is the great view of the old wind mill from the height afforded by slogging uphill through the mud. The dead end road passes below the mill. I'm not quite sure why this hasn't been offered as an alternative. That muddy section is pants.

Whichever way you decide to go, the next section heads off the lane that falls away from Mariandyrys and up the drive of Tros-Y-Marian. Whoever Marian was, she certainly knew a thing or two about where to put her Tros if the drive is anything to go by. This is a beautiful part of the world on a sunny April afternoon, out of the wind, with the birds singing their absolute hearts out. Actually Marian translates to gravelly ground (no mud!!) and Tros means 'over' so Tros-Y-Marian describes the unseen property at the end of the drive that sits 'over the gravelly ground'. After the drive, the path jiggles cleverly between various properties between here and the settlement of Caim. Well done the route planners, this is next-level jiggling.

At Caim, coast path signs take you down in what is more or less a straight line toward the Penmon Point Lighthouse (and promise of ice cream). We eventually gave up on the path here, which in the drier months would be really pleasant as it follows old walls of what might have been a monastic settlement, but today it was just too muddy. We ended up joining the lane down to the lighthouse as soon as the opportunity afforded itself. Thankfully, we got to the café just before it closed. Raspberry Ripple Rapture!

Even Rosie was starting to look a little bit beaten up at this point (see photo for evidence).

After both taking on some carbs though, we headed off on the coast path route back to the car, still more than two miles away.

Away from the sheep and lambs, Rosie was able to be unleashed again and happily managed to get herself cleaned up in the sea. And I was able to put the mud of the last few hours behind me and soak in the views of Snowdonia while heading west along the Menai Straits back to the car park from which we'd set off 8 hours earlier. The last leg of what had turned out to be an epic BusPassNBoots day out.