Monday August 28th 2011 - Another grey day

I woke that morning to the sound of light rain on the tent, so far from it being the sunny day I'd hoped for it was damp and very grey. There was no point rushing to go out so I put Sophie and Sugar on their line outside the tent while I made toast and a brew, then went back to bed with a couple of camping magazines to read. When I finally got up properly it had stopped raining so I took the dogs for a walk round the site while I thought about what I was going to do for the rest of the day. Quite a lot of campers were already packing up and leaving and in view of the grey weather I did briefly consider doing the same, but the thought of being stuck in endless queues of traffic didn't exactly fill me with joy so I decided to stick to my original plan to stay until the following day.

Stuck for somewhere to go I decided to drive down to the Marquis of Anglesey monument near Llanfair PG - someone I had been chatting to on a previous weekend had told me that there are really good views from the top if you don't mind tackling the 115 steps to get up there. The column itself is built on a rock surrounded by woodland and from the car park just off the main road it made a good dog walk to get to it, but when I reached the garden at the base of it I found there was a charge to go in. It wasn't that much, but in view of the very grey day and low clouds there was no point paying to go to the top when I wouldn't see much so I turned and retraced my steps back to the car park - I could make a proper visit another time when the weather was clear and sunny.

From there I drove down through Menai Bridge town and along the coast road to Beaumaris where I managed to find a free parking space in a corner behind the main street, then leaving the dogs in the van I went to indulge in coffee and cake in the Castle Bakery cafe. On my way back to the van I had a brief look in the shops along the main street, and it was in one of those shops that I found it - one of the best, and most interesting (to me at least) books I've seen in a long while. Written by an Anglesey photographer it was all about photographing various locations on the island - some of them off the beaten track - and included directions to them, best camera settings, best light conditions, and a whole host of other information probably only of interest to an amateur photographer. Flicking through the book I realised that far from having seen everything on the island, as I'd first thought,  there were many places I hadn't yet seen or been to. The price of the book hardly broke the bank at only £6.99 and I was so impressed with it that I bought it straight away - I would enjoy reading it over a brew later on.

From Beaumaris I headed back towards Benllech but when I reached Pentraeth I swung off the main road and drove down to the beach - there were no dog restrictions there so Sophie and Sugar would be able to have a good run off the lead. The tide was out and the flat expanse of sand stretched as far as I could see - I walked out for quite a distance before I turned round and headed back to the car park. With the dogs towelled down to get rid of the sand they'd managed to collect I put them back in the van and went a little way back up the lane to take a few photos. Just beyond the parking area was a tidal creek with a hump-backed stone bridge across and on a sandbank in the creek was a yacht, moored to the bank on each side by long ropes. In the distance, although not really that far away, was Red Wharf Bay with its white cottages and boats beached on the sand waiting for the tide to return - on a sunny day with blue sky it would have been a lovely view.

Back at the camp site I connected the awning back to the van, put the kettle on for a brew and prepared to settle in for the rest of the day and evening as there was nowhere else I wanted to go to in such grey weather. The hours until bedtime were spent on my laptop and reading my new book - which was so interesting and useful that I wished I'd found it months ago - then after taking the dogs for their late night walk round the site and settling them on their beds I retreated to my own bed in the van for my final sleep of the weekend.