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.
