We set the alarms for relatively early this morning and then just slowly packed up the tent before heading off just after 9. There was a decent drive ahead of us, all the way up the West Coast and up Anglesey to the South Stack on Holy Island. I’d read online that alongside Skomer Island in Pembrokeshire (which was closed when we were there), and Puffin Island, further north-east on Anglesey, this was a common spot where you could find puffins nesting. We followed some windy roads and challenging driving (roads blocked by trucks with impatient SUV drivers behind us) before eventually taking the coastal road around to the RSPB car parks overlooking the clifftops.   Unfortunately, when we arrived, the lady manning the information booth at the start of the trail explained that the puffins were gone. Disappointing!! She explained that there were only 10 breeding pairs there now, which I hadn’t realised, down from hundreds a century ago. They’re pretty silly birds, very picky about their mates, burrow spots and foods to eat, so they’re highly vulnerable both to climate change and predators.   We headed off on the coastal path regardless, although avoiding the clifftop walk that she warned was not great for those who don’t like heights. The path ran along the cliffs (although a fair way back), with fantastic views over the ocean, leading to Ellin’s Tower, a bird watching tower that also overlooked the South Stack lighthouse. There was also a view of the Holyhead to Dublin ferry coming over!We climbed further up the cliffs to where there was a parking lot, following a path up the rocks to some more impressive views down over the coastline and the lighthouse. We were told it was 400 steps down to the bridge to the lighthouse, but the bridge and lighthouse were closed so we didn’t bother with that particular hike.

After following the path back the same way towards the parking lot where we’d left the car, we crossed the road and followed the signs to the ‘Ancient Hut Circles’. These were stone circles left from Iron Age huts in a settlement later overlooked by a Roman fort. Apparently there were 50 when they were discovered in the mid 1800s, but now there are only 20 remaining. They were remarkably intact, although overgrown by dandelions and wildflowers. We explored the area for a while and then headed back to the car. Toast doesn’t cut it for breakfast and we were both getting hungry so we headed back in to Holyhead.  After doing a few loops of town trying to find parking, we got a spot on the street just up from the little brewery we were wanting to visit. We found our way inside what looked like an old house or pub, and found the nanobrewery right there in the front room. The lady who owned the brewery with her husband was there and we had a good chat to her. She explained that the name of Holy Island in Welsh is Ynys Cybi, named after the saint, St. Cybi (pronounced ‘cubby’), who was a son of the King of Cornwall who settled on Holy Island in the 6^th Century. He founded a monastery within the remains of the old Roman fort, which is right next door to the brewery, so they named their brewery Bragdy Cybi. The logo of the brewery is also based on the saint, although she joked that her husband is bald and attempting to grow a beard like the saint so many people assume it’s him. We grabbed the four beers that were on the shelf to try and asked her for some recommendations for where to grab lunch before heading off again.

We tried to find a pub nearby because we wanted to sit down for lunch, but none of the ones nearby were doing food. As a result we instead moved the car to a longer-term parking spot and checked out the church which is now located inside the old Roman fort. There was a bit of information about the original Roman settlement, but there were some dodgy-looking people hanging out in the church yard so we didn't stay for too long. One of the pubs had recommended the Boathouse, but upon searching on google we found that it was much further than we were willing to walk, so we ended up walking along the beach a little way and then backtracking to a cute little café. This ended up being a perfect spot to stumble upon and I was able to get a gluten free sandwich and Peter had a Welsh rarebit (basically a grilled cheese sandwich with onions). At around 2ish we headed back to the car as we were aware that we were on a timeline to get the car back to Llandudno Junction at 4 for our 4:40 train. Luckily it was highway driving most of the way back, although with one more stop.

After getting off the highway and having our last little testing stretch of wiggly skinny roads (and turning off onto a dirt road accidentally again), we found our way to the carpark for Bryn Celli Ddu, a Neolithic burial chamber. Crossing the road and following the signposted path between hedges, we were surprised at how far we had to walk to get there. However, once we arrived, we found that it was just in the backyard/field of what looked (and smelled) like a dairy farm. It was a pretty amazing monument though, a grassy mound surrounded by a little ditch (like a moat), lined by stones, and with both a front entrance held up by two stones, and a little ‘window’ at the back. Apparently (I googled later) radiocarbon dating of pine charcoal from two of the pits at the monument are dated to around 4000 BC, but the initial parts of the monument are thought to have been constructed around 3000 BC. After waiting for some people to exit, we were able to enter the thin passageway that led into a small inner chamber – parts of the roof have been reconstructed with concrete to hold up the original stones but a lot of it is original. This site is particularly significant amongst British Neolithic sites because it is built so that on the summer solstice, the sun rising shines directly into the open doorway, lighting the inner back wall of the chamber. It was a very cool spot to visit! After doing another circle and reading the little information plaques around the site we headed back to the car.

The rest of the drive was fairly easy, just stopping off to get some petrol (and give the sides of the car a little rub to minimise any little hedge-scraping-marks), and then driving all the way back to Enterprise. We had perfect timing, pulling up to drop off the car at 3:50 just as thunder exploded above us. Fat droplets of rain were starting to fall as we were given the ok to leave and made the walk back to the station via the Co-op for some train snacks. We got to the train station a little earlier than expected, but the security guys at the station told us to hop on a 16:25 to Chester, rather than the 16:40 we’d been expecting. It was very busy and I was quite uncomfortable with how many people were on the train, but at least it was a short trip, and we definitely kept our masks on the whole time! This ended up working perfectly too, as we arrived in Chester just as the train to Crewe was about to leave, instead of having to wait another 25 minutes, so we jumped on that one early as well. This one was virtually empty, so we were much more relaxed for the 20-minute trip to Crewe. We were expecting a 40-minute wait for our 18:29 train to London, but we ended up arriving a few minutes before the 18:00 train to London arrived, so similarly we just jumped on that one (we had an ‘off peak return’ ticket booked so that was ok). This meant that we arrived back at Euston at 19:40 instead of 20:07, giving us a much better home arrival time. It was SIGNIFICANTLY warmer in London than in Wales – which aligned with our London friends’ complaining over the last few days, and we sweated our way through the tube and DLR home before getting back and opening all the windows and doors to cool the apartment back.

Once we got back we were a bit baffled and annoyed to find that despite Susan telling us that she’d made an appointment with the real estate photographer for Tuesday afternoon, they didn’t appear to have come. Everything was the way we’d left it (tidy, but with my plants bundled into a corner of the balcony, which we’d assumed she’d display for photos), the mail was on the floor in the hallway and as Peter pointed out, the toilet seat was up, which they wouldn’t have done for photos. It’s hard to tell though, so we sent a slightly passive-aggressive email asking how the photos went and hopefully she did take them, because that would be very annoying to have to re-organise again, and is dragging the timeline out significantly from the original ‘4 week listing during August’. We were wrecked after another big day so after settling back in, it was time for bed – the end of another fun little holiday!