Sunday August 27th 2017 - Parys Mountain & Benllech beach

I woke early that morning to glorious sunshine, and with no sign of life from the tent I took the dogs for a walk along the lane then got back in the van and whiled away the time with my book until I knew my son was awake. After a leisurely breakfast and some time spent relaxing in the sun we set off late morning for the 43-mile drive to Anglesey. It seemed strange going back there just for a few hours when only six weeks previously I'd been camping there for over a week but I was going for a specific reason - to photograph Parys Mountain with the heather in full bloom, which it hadn't been back in July.

There was no way my son could come with me on my walk round the mountain as most of the terrain was far too rough underfoot for someone hobbling around with a broken ankle, so I left him to explore Amlwch port and went up there on my own with the dogs. As soon as I left the car park my vision was assaulted by the pink and purple colour of the heather - it was everywhere, in huge swathes and smaller patches dotted with ferns and occasional wild flowers, and it certainly made the landscape look different to that of six weeks before.

As I got further round the mountain the colours of the land became richer, with the sunshine really showing up the oranges, yellows and golds of the rock in contrast to the purple heather; if I'd been using an old 35mm camera I would have soon run out of film.  Eventually I came to the edge of the Great Open Cast and on the spur of the moment decided to walk down into the bottom of it; the general advice is for people not to do that and had I been completely alone like the last time I wouldn't have done, but I could see several other people walking about down there so it seemed to be safe enough. It was worth going as I got several more photos down there and I even found what I assumed to be the access door for going underground.

Back at the top I continued my walk in a clockwise direction, following the same paths I'd taken last time until I eventually came to the precipitation ponds not far from the road. It wasn't worth walking right over to the far side of them so I just took one last shot of the nearest pond then made my way back to the van, and after phoning my son to find out exactly where he was I headed off back to Amlwch to find him.

He was waiting at the car park next to the road through the village, which was where I'd dropped him off, but for some reason in the intervening time the car park had been cordoned off and I couldn't even drive round and back out onto the road so I ended up driving right along to the one overlooking the fishing dock and turning round there. I did stop briefly though to photograph a peculiar little campervan which looked to be a home made affair; there was a couple sitting in there so I didn't get close enough to intrude but I did notice a sticker on the back which made me smile - "On an adventure before the dementia".

From Amlwch I drove all the way round the coast road to Penrhos Coastal Park; I've often told my son how good the cheeseburgers are from Pete's Burger Bar and as I was feeling quite peckish by then I thought it would be a good opportunity for him to try one for himself - and he did agree that they are exceptionally nice. From Penrhos I drove back through Valley and onto the A55 as far as Llangefni, then another fifteen minutes saw us in Benllech where I parked up so we could spend some time by the beach near to where I usually camp. It was strange to think that the last time I was on that beach, six weeks previously, there was no-one there, but now it was really busy; I don't remember ever seeing so many people there before.

Eventually though it was time to head back to Manorafon; it had gone 6pm by then and even though the day was still sunny and very warm I wanted to get back to the site well before the daylight started to fade. In less than an hour we were back on our pitch and enjoying what was left of the sunshine before it disappeared, then as the daylight faded later on I took the dogs along the lane for their last walk before bedtime. Thinking back over the day things couldn't have gone better; I'd achieved what I set out to do, my son had finally set foot on Anglesey soil after more than ten years, we had each had a delicious cheeseburger and the weather had been fantastic - I don't think we could have asked for anything more.