Anglesey must ride roads and cafes

[gloomyandy]

Going to be staying on Anglesey for a week with the bikes, will be staying near LLandegfan (close to the bridge) and looking for recommendations for day rides and good cafes and places to visit. First time in that area with the bike (I've climbed there in the past), so everything is new! Will have our touring bikes with us so nothing too "off road" and probably a max of 50 miles for a day loop (but happy with shorter days as well). Will have the car (with bike rack) so can drive out to other locations if there is something special a distance away, but would really prefer to just ride out from "home". I had some great recommendations for a visit to the Lakes last year and Shetland this, so looking forward to see what comes up this time, thanks in advance!

[Jon Lucas]

My partner actually comes from Llandegfan and we go back there several times a year, so we should be able to give you some ideas. If you go up to the village from Menai Bridge, you will climb steeply up and then a bit more gently into the village itself, past the Spar shop, and from here the road has some of the most spectacular views in the whole island, looking out across the Menai Straits to most of Snowdonia. That lane, which it becomes on leaving the village, snakes through stunning landscapes and ends up above Beaumaris, where you have two hills you can descend, both very steep. I would recommend the first one, which is very quiet, again snakes its way up and down and then finally rewards you with amazing views over Beaumaris and out towards Great Orme. That ride is certainly in my top rides anywhere in the country.

When I have a bit more time I'll post some other ideas. When are you going up there?

[Cyril Haearn]

There was a thread about this a while ago, on Ynys Mon one has great views of the mountains on the mainland
There is an art gallery at Llangefni, in some parts of the island the percentage of Welsh speakers is very high, +1

[gloomyandy]

We will be there in a weeks time (from 5th October). Looking forward to reading any recommendations! Hope the weather is kind for our first cycling visit.

[PDQ Mobile]

If you are interested in pre- history there is much of interest.
Bryn Gelli Du is a remarkable mound tomb and place to visit. It's quite near to you.
Farther away on the West Coast is Barclodiad y Gawres also remarkable but rather restored.
The island is dotted with neolithic stones and tombs.

[rotavator]

The riverside cafe at Malltraeth (SH 408 689) is popular with cyclists and you could fit it in with a loop around Newborough Forest gravel tracks and it is on the safe but rather dull cycle track to Llangefni (nearby cafe at Oriel Ynys Mon SH 460 766 is also popular) and Cefni Reservoir.

There is a posh cafe (Marram Grass) near the roundabout SE of Newborough SH 431 651.

Another good destination cafe is at Pen Mon SH 638 811.

[Jon Lucas]

+1 for the Riverside cafe in Malltraeth. It is a lovely ride from Llandegfan to there, taking the back lane west from beside the church, going via Star and Llandaniel Fab, Llangaffo and Pont Marquis. Most of this southern part of the island is gently rolling hills with very quiet lanes, all worth exploring. Newborough Forest track is certainly worth a trip, and if you have a sunny and fairly calm day, walk out onto Llanddwyn Island.

My favourite lanes in Anglesey are those in the eastern tip close to Llandegfan. After visiting Penmon, explore the myriad of lanes closest to the north-facing coast around Caim and Glan-yr-Afon to Llanddona and Red Wharf Bay. This area is very hilly but the landscape is stunning. There is a track along Red Wharf bay but it gets extremely muddy, as it can be covered by the highest tides.

The large bulk of northern Anglesey contains wonderful cycling terrain, very quiet lanes where you will find far more sheep than people. I especially like the area around Llanfairynghornwy in the north-west. Cafes are very few here, but I did once find a very cheap but quite decent cafe in Amlwch, though on a more recent visit there we couldn't find it, and the one cafe we did find was sadly not worth the effort. There is a cafe in Amlwch Port in the loft of an old building where the floor slopes down alarmingly.

Hope you have a good time there. If the weather is poor, I would recommend trips to Beaumaris, where you can sit outside the Pier Head cafe with their blankets wrapped around you and enjoy the view down the Menai Straits, or if too wet, the lounge of the Bulkeley Hotel.

[Cyril Haearn]

Holyhead mountain looks like a great walk (not been there)

[Jon Lucas]

Holyhead mountain looks like a great walk (not been there)

Yes we've walked around the coast from Holyhead to North and South Stacks. It is a great walk in the right weather, as the sides of the hill are very steep and dramatic in places. I wouldn't attempt it in very windy or wet weather.

There is now a coastal path around the whole island, about 110-120 miles I think. We've now done most of it and it gives a very different view of the island that most people have.

[gloomyandy]

Brilliant thanks! Unfortunately the current forecast is looking rather bad, but it may change. Looking forward to spending some time in that part of the world. Yes Hollyhead Mountain is a great spot, I've climbed there and in the South Stack area in the past, but hopefully on this visit will be exploring a little more on the bikes (and sampling a few of the cafes!). Will let you know how we get on.

[sizbut]

The road and then bike path from Malltraeth up to Llangefni is great - just for being the only flat route on the whole island. The part beyond Llangefni is fun too though not flat.

[Cyril Haearn]

We will be there in a weeks time (from 5th October). Looking forward to reading any recommendations! Hope the weather is kind for our first cycling visit.

How did you get on? Why do you call yourself gloomy? You seem quite ungloomy to me

[gloomyandy]

How did you get on? Why do you call yourself gloomy? You seem quite ungloomy to me

We had a good week, though not as much cycling as we would have liked due to a combination of...
1) My partner having a cold.
2) It was very windy and wet on several of the days.
3) Some idiot managed to take one of his SPD shoes and one of his partners SPD shoes and cycling in flat shoes on SPD pedals was not a lot of fun. Luckily I managed to get a pair of new SPD shoes for £35 from the Bangor Halfords (i needed new ones anyway)!

The Riverside cafe was unfortunately closed, but we had a grand day out exploring the cycle paths and spent an enjoyable half hour chatting with some local cyclists in the Red Squirrel Cafe. We had a ride out to visit Plas Newydd which was pretty good (though we failed to spot any Red Squirrels other than the stuffed ones!). We had a great walk around the coast to visit North and South Stack and spent a fun afternoon exploring Beaumaris castle. All in all a good week and we definitely go back to cycle some more of the nice quiet lanes.

I'm not really that gloomy, just a long time fan of A. A. Milne's Eeyore!

Thanks everyone for the recommendations.

[Jon Lucas]

We've just had 3 days in Anglesey, and fortunately all of them were sunny, so had a wonderful time. We went to Trearrdur Bay, near to Holyhead, where we discovered the Sea Shanty cafe, which is worth stopping off at. Its name belies it, as it is a large cafe designed to serve the campers and caravaners there, but it does a one price breakfast where you go to help yourself, and the building is excellently decorated and adorned inside.

Our coastal walk series continued with a walk from there south around Holy Island, which has some lovely sea stacks along the west coast.

Hopefully gloomyandy's next visit will be in similar weather, but Anglesey can certainly be very windy at times, and occasionally very wet, though usually not as wet as the mountains it overlooks. Having said that, there was a dramatic storm earlier this year, which washed away the front wall of one of our relation's gardens (having formed 2 rivers on each side of the house), and our Christmas there a couple of year's ago was spent watching the water pile up outside the house as it rained torrentialy the whole time!

[Cyril Haearn]

Happy (rather vague) memories of Radio Brynsiencyn [no relation] by Ian Skidmore on radio Wales