Saturday
It rained all night in Bangor and all through breakfast too. Bangor has
some indoor things to do, but I couldn't stay because every room had been
taken by parents of new students arriving for freshers week. Fortunately by
the time I was ready to leave the rain had stopped.
Leaving Bangor was a slog up a big hill but worthwhile for the views of the
Menai Straits that separate Anglesey from the mainland. Bikes can be ridden
over the oldest suspension bridge in the world, built by Thomas Telford,
but I walked to stop and take photos.
Most of the traffic on Anglesey uses the new A55 dual carriageway, so the
older A5 is reasonably pleasant to cycle, with more great views of the
Straits. The first town inland is Llanfairpwll or
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllahtysiliogogogoch to give its full
name, the longest place name in the world. Bit of a cheat though, as the
name was artificially lengthened by a committee. What I don't understand is
why the big attraction in town is the James Pringle Weavers shop that is
Scottish, not Welsh.
Most of Anglesey was already booked for Saturday night; it took the tourist
office a couple of hours to find a B&B for me that wasn't either halfway up
a hillside or unfeasibly far away. The train extended my options so I ended
up in Y Fali, more familiarly known as Valley, where there's an RAF base
that does search and rescue missions.
Had a short afternoon ride in sunshine to Four Mile Bridge and then across
the embankment to the coastal park at Penrhos. The one grey cloud in a
bright blue sky scudded in my direction while I was sitting at Penrhos so I
started back. Halfway across the embankment, where the road and railway
cross about a kilometre of open water, the rain cloud caught up and the
deluge began. The sunshine all around created an excellent rainbow, but
this wasn't much compensation for getting soaked.
Total for the day 14 miles, all sunny but some wet too.
Steph Peters
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