About Me

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Hi! I'm Eunice and I live in Bolton, Lancashire, with my two dogs Sophie and Sugar and an assortment of cats - well it used to be Sophie and Sugar, now it's Sophie and Poppie. I first began camping back in 1997 when my then partner took me to Anglesey for my birthday weekend. We slept in the back of the car - a hatchback - using the cushions off the settee at home as a mattress, and cooked and brewed up on a single burner camping stove. The site was good, the views were great, the weather fantastic and I was completely hooked. Following that weekend we got a two-man tent and some proper accessories and returned to Anglesey two weeks later, then over time we progressed to a three-man tent followed by an old trailer tent, then a new trailer tent, a campervan and finally a caravan. When my partner decided that the grass was greener on the other side of the street - literally - in April 2009 and I suddenly found myself alone after fifteen years, I decided there was no way I was going to give up camping and caravanning if I could cope on my own. This blog is the story of my travels, trials and tribulations since becoming a solo camper - I hope you like it

Monday September 24th 2018 Part 2 - Llanddwyn Island

Having driven into Newborough village, which wasn't far from where I'd parked, I pulled up in the small car park just off the main road and went in the nearby corner shop for a sandwich and a can of Coke as my breakfast had long since worn off and I was feeling quite peckish. From there I drove along the lane to the start of the road going down through Newborough forest - it's a toll road and the first time I went down there it cost £3 then a couple of years ago it had gone up to £4. It was now £5 and the automatic pay machine and barrier had been replaced by a toll booth with a young woman operating the barrier. Normally I wouldn't pay so much to park but I could have as long as I wanted and with the weather getting better and better it would be worth it for once for what I wanted to see.

 Down at the car park I found an out-of-the-way space which was well shaded by some overhanging tree branches, demolished my sandwich and can of Coke then set off for Llanddwyn Island. I didn't want to leave the dogs behind but they aren't allowed on the island until after the end of September, however in the shade of the tree and with a cool wind I knew they would be okay until I got back. The walk through the forest took me fifteen minutes and when I emerged onto the beach the view almost took my breath away. The grey clouds over the mainland had gone and the mountains stood out clear against the blue sky - well worth a photo before I went any further

Another few minutes walk across the end of the beach got me to the island, though I thought at first I was going to be disappointed. A young woman stopped me just by the gate onto the island itself and I thought at first she was going to tell me I couldn't go any further but she only wanted to tell me that there was a BBC film crew on the island and I couldn't go near the old cottages, other than that I was free to go wherever I wanted to. That would do for me so I started off on the north west side of the island, which I hadn't really seen before, and worked my way round the coast in an anticlockwise direction, though I did deviate briefly to the centre of the island to take some shots of the ruined St. Dwynwen's Church.

When I got to the largest lighthouse at the far end of the island I found that the door was open and the film crew were using the downstairs part as a base - I got talking to a lovely young guy who told me about the programme they were making and when it would be shown on tv. After chatting to him for a while I made my way over to the other, older lighthouse and from there I managed to get a zoom shot of the cottages set up for the programme with fishing nets and lines of washing, then I continued my walk along the south east of the island.

Back at the start of the island I checked the time and realised I'd been out long enough, it was time to get back to the dogs so reluctantly I left this beautiful place, walked back across the end of Newborough beach and back through the woods. The dogs were asleep when I got back to the van, just as I knew they would be, but they were eager to come out so to make up for having left them I took them onto the dog friendly part of the beach before setting off back to the camp site. The stupid thing is, in spite of dogs supposedly not being allowed on Llanddwyn Island for another week I'd seen several people with dogs there and no-one seemed to be bothered, so maybe I should have taken Sophie and Poppie with me after all.
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11 comments:

  1. Eileen H5 October 2018 at 07:35

    Lovely photos, it's a beautiful place for sure. I always think the dog restrictions on our beaches could be moved forward to a date mid-September or at least once the children have returned to school. I know if I was to break the bye-laws I'd be the one to be caught! I went to our beach carpark yesterday and on my return, I'd only been just over half an hour, out of half dozen cars, two had parking tickets attached. Shocking money grabbing by the Council and I think £5 to park out of season is a bit steep at Newborough too.
    Rant over, your visit was worth it :)

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    1. Tigermouse5 October 2018 at 10:47

      My opinion of car parking fees is the same as yours, that's why I try to find somewhere that's free if I can, and if this was just an ordinary car park in a town I wouldn't pay that much but this one is worth it. The £5 is for all day, it's a well set out very pleasant car park with toilets, a shower, baby changing facilities, barbecue area, catering van and ice cream van, and in the forest itself are picnic areas with tables, horse riding, walking, running and cycling trails, an orienteering route and a boardwalk over part of the dunes. The place is also home to a colony of red squirrels and other wildlife and is still a managed forest with tree felling and replanting to cope with the effects of a changing climate - none of it has anything to do with any council, it's managed by Natural Resources Wales so I suppose it all has to be paid for somehow. I could have parked for free in the village car park but it's a long walk from there - over two miles - to get to the beach so it was worth it just to be able to drive there. There are other car parks which are free but there are no facilities and it's still a long walk from any of them.

      Llanddwyn Island often has herds of wild ponies, sheep and/or cattle on there (I've seen them before although there were none when I was there this time) so that's probably why dogs aren't allowed on during the season, although as you say, there's no reason why they couldn't be allowed on the beach once the kids have gone back to school.

      Incidentally, there are a number of disabled parking spaces in the main car park and it's not far from there to the beach - just a short path through the dunes - so if you ever wanted to go you just show your blue badge at the barrier.

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    2. Tigermouse5 October 2018 at 11:02

      I forgot to say the disabled parking is free :)

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  2. nashvillecats25 October 2018 at 08:36

    You certainly do get to see some wonderful places Tigermouse. Awesome pictures, thanks for sharing.

    Yvonne.

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    1. Tigermouse5 October 2018 at 10:50

      Newborough beach and Lladdwyn Island are beautiful and the weather that day really did come good for me so I got some lovely shots :)

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  3. Jules5 October 2018 at 09:58

    It looks simply beautiful Eunice. Other than when tourist beaches are busy during the Summer months, I don't understand the rule about dogs not being allowed. X

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  4. Tigermouse5 October 2018 at 10:54

    It's a gorgeous place Jules, I've been there a few times now and there's always something a bit different about it whether it's the sea, the sky, the cloud formations, or the light in general, it's a fascinating and very photogenic place :)

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  5. Anabel Marsh5 October 2018 at 11:17

    Another gorgeous place you have found,

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  6. Tigermouse5 October 2018 at 12:05

    It certainly is Anabel. The island seems to have a bit of a magical quality about it and when the weather is good it's truly stunning :)

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  7. Anonymous7 October 2019 at 13:25

    Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I've truly enjoyed browsing your blog posts.
    In any case I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again very soon!

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  8. Tigermouse7 October 2019 at 14:42

    Thanks for your comment, I'm glad you've enjoyed reading my posts. Unfortunately unforeseen circumstances meant that my September holiday this year was cancelled so this blog won't be updated now until Easter next year (2020)

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I really appreciate good comments - who doesn't? - but due to a recent tide of spam from anonymous readers all comments will now be moderated, and only those with a direct bearing on this blog will be published. I'm sure my regular blog readers/commenters will understand the need for this - and to anyone whose comment isn't published, you know why.

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