Monday June 11th 2018 - Part 1 - A visit to the doctor's & Cemaes Bay

Weather-wise another glorious day arrived and with it my quest to find and photograph the old Porth Wen brick works on the coast between Cemaes Bay and Bull Bay. I'd seen and read about the brick works on Ruth's blog the year before last but since then I'd been told by more than one person that it was very difficult to find and get to, so difficult in fact that some of the locals didn't even know how to get there. Internet research and my map book had given me a rough idea of its location and it seemed that the best way of finding it was via part of the Anglesey Coastal Path, so I set out that morning with the intention of driving to Cemaes Bay, parking the van and walking along the coastal path until I found what I was looking for.

Before that happened however, I ended up at the doctor's surgery in the village! The day before I'd been bitten just above my right elbow by a horse fly, and though I thought no more about it just then by the time I was going to bed that night the top half of my arm had swollen up to twice its normal size and felt really heavy, sore and itchy. So before I set out on my day's travels I went to the pharmacy in the village to get something for it, whereupon the assistant took one look and advised me to go to the doctor's as it was so swollen. 

The health centre was only just along the road so I went straight there, registered as a temporary patient, and was seen half an hour later. The lady doctor was very nice and gave me a prescription for some antihistamines, saying that I would find a marked difference in my arm after taking the first one, so after collecting the tablets from the pharmacy I took one straight away and by the time I'd driven up to Cemaes Bay my arm was already feeling much better.

Parking in a lay-by just above the bay I thought that even though the tide was out I may as well have a quick wander round and take a couple of photos while I was there, and it was while I was over on the harbour wall that I got talking to a lovely old gentleman who told me how to get to Porth Wen without walking all the way from Cemaes, although much of the route was very up-and-down. To walk from Cemaes would be at least four miles one way so to be able to drive some of the way sounded much easier, however I didn't know then exactly what I was letting myself in for....

Driving out of Cemaes Bay and heading back the way I'd gone I took a left turn off the main road - I'd been told to follow the lane all the way down and round to the right and eventually I would find a farmer's gate where I could safely pull in off the road, and opposite I'd find a footpath which would take me across the fields to Porth Wen - except things didn't quite work out like that....