Two Welsh Walks: 2 - A Circular Walk From Moelfre

This walk, about 4 or 5 miles, contains everything that is interesting about Anglesey. It starts with a stretch along the Anglesey coastal path heading north. It is best to avoid the car park by the harbour as it is: 1. Small. 2: Expensive: 3: Difficult to get out of as it is very busy! Unlike the walk from Cemaes Bay the path is wide and climbs and descents are gentle. The rocks are different as well, gently dipping beds of massively bedded limestone. It is also a coast of wrecks and signs of this are apparent in this part of the walk. At least two monuments to wrecks stand on the coast and there is a museum dedicated to the lifeboat and their crews just outside of Moelfre.

The path passes a small, low island covered with sea birds and leads eventually to the wide sandy Ligwy Bay. Despite it being the height of the school holidays the beach was not crowded and there was a welcome bothy selling ice-creams which made for a satisfying break before heading away from the coast and along a series of quiet inland lanes.

Along this stretch of the walk you see signs of human habitation from the eolithic to the Middle Ages. First you see the ruins of Chapel Hen, a chapel of ease. Most was built in the 12^th century but extensions, including a 16^th century burial vault (great for all you D&D enthusiasts out there). Now it is a roofless ruin but the setting is very striking.

From here you walk into the woods and find the ruins of a Romano-British settlement. The stone walls of two circular dwellings and several more rectangular buildings on a low hill surrounded by a wall built probably to keep animals in rather than invaders out. The larger rectangular buildings are thought to be workshops and barns, the circular buildings living quarters. A striking site and well worth a visit. From here the lane leads to third, final and by far the oldest site. A huge capstone set on a circle of smaller stones. The remains of twenty or more men, women and children have been excavated from here and dated to about 2500-3000BC.
From here the walk returned to Moelfre via field paths and some very steep stiles until the welcome site of Ann's Pantry hove into view where a much needed cup of coffee and a slice of cake set us up for the drive back to the cottage.