Saturday June 9th 2018 - Part 2 - The Dingle, Cefni Reservoir, and a windmill

From Dulas Bay I drove over to Llangefni to get a few items from the Asda store. Parking there is limited to two hours so knowing what I wanted and whereabouts in the store it would be I hurried round and got what I needed then took the dogs up through The Dingle nature reserve to Cefni reservoir. The Dingle itself is a heavily wooded valley with the Cefni river running through it and with several boardwalks and paths to explore but as time was limited I stuck to the main path - the reservoir was over a mile away but I don't walk slow so I was confident that I could get there and back in the time I had. 

Leaving the wooded area behind the path emerged into an area of open land with trees and bushes growing up the nearby hillside and with one single bungalow at the far end - very isolated but also very peaceful. Just beyond the bungalow the path took me under an old railway bridge and into more open land with a new wooden bridge across the small river and steps cut into the opposite hillside. Round a bend the landscape was different again, with tall grasses growing at each side of the path and stretching across the nearby field. I knew then that I wasn't far off the reservoir and another couple of minutes walking got me to the dam and the path round the water.

Llyn Cefni is the second largest man-made body of water on Anglesey and it's only the year before last that I was up that way but in that time the path skirting round part of the reservoir wall had become quite overgrown. Eventually I came to where it went through the bushes and continued along the old Anglesey Central Railway line which runs along an embankment, splitting the reservoir into two sections, and I had to smile at the 'no trespassing' sign - there was no other way to go! It wasn't easy walking along the tracks so mindful of the time I only went far enough to take a couple of shots of the smaller body of water before I turned round and retraced my steps.

Back at the dam I just had time to walk across the high wall past the pumping station to the far end and back along the path below it; I don't know if people are supposed to walk across but there are no gates closing it off and no notices saying not to, and I don't suppose I'm the only one to do it, so I did! At the far end a few fishing dinghies belonging to the Cefni Angling Association were tied up in a little creek and out on the water, a couple of hundred yards away, two people were fishing from one of the dinghies.

Back on the path to Llangefni I didn't slow my walking until I emerged from The Dingle, and as I walked back down towards the main road and Asda I noticed it - an old windmill with a strange top, sitting on a rocky outcrop above and just beyond the store. Of all the times I've been to Llangefni I've never noticed that before so I just had to go in search of it. I got back to the van with just about two minutes to spare and as I drove out of the car park I followed my nose to the windmill - with my good sense of direction it was easy enough to find, just two left turns took me straight to it and I was able to park up close by, though I left the dogs in the van this time as I knew I wouldn't be long.

Apparently known as Craig Mill it was built sometime between 1828 and 1833 but closed in 1893. The sails and machinery were eventually removed and by the 1930s only the empty shell was left. In later years a housing estate grew up around it and towards the late 20th century it became a bit of a trouble spot for local youths, but in the mid 1990s it was restored, the distinctive cap put on it, and it now houses mobile phone transmitter equipment with a mast on the top of it.

A path took me from road level up onto the rocky outcrop, and though I had to fight my way through overgrown ferns and brambles I was able to walk all the way round the mill. One side of it was almost completely covered in greenery while on the other side the lower windows had been concreted over from the inside and the door was securely shut so there was nothing much to see, but at least I'd got a couple of photos of it and seeing it had been a bit of a bonus.

It was getting towards a meal time when I left the mill so from Llangefni I drove straight back to the camp site and settled in for the evening, only going out again at 10pm to take Sophie and Poppie for their last walk before bedtime - and after two long walks during the day I don't think any of us wanted to go very far just then so along to the site entrance and back was far enough.