Back in the UK, Anglesey & Home

The Stena Line ferry from Dublin in the Republic of Ireland docks at Holyhead on Anglesey in North Wales, known as Ynys Môn in Welsh. It’s pronounced un-iss mon, as far as I can tell, Welsh is as alien to me as Irish Gaelic. When we arrived at the start of June, the sky was cloudless and the island felt in summer holiday mood.

Ju used the Out and About app on her phone to find the Camping & Caravanning Club (CCC) had a temporary holiday site (THS) just a few miles from the port. These sites each open for between a few days and a few weeks each year. The ones we’ve used have been simple fields, with a service point but no shower block or hook-up, and cost about £15 a night per pitch. The Caravan and Motorhome Club have a similar scheme.

The one we stayed in on Anglesey was next to the Tyn Rhos campsite, a 15 to 20 minute walk from the coast and south of Trearddur Bay (N53.269411, W4.610231). The site was signposted with little cryptic arrows attached to posts, just the letters NLDA on them. NL stands for North Lancs, and DA for District Association, the group within the CCC which organised the site. Other THSs we’ve used had similar little arrows, but with the NL replaced with the letters for the local DA. Lots of acronyms to get a grip of in the world of UK camping clubs!

Some THSs ask you to call ahead and book in, and Ju had phoned up and checked they had space for us. Each site has a warden in a tent or van close to the entrance, and a friendly chap popped up as soon as we arrived. Ju jumped out, checked-in and paid, and the chap walked us to our space in the large field, a good gap from adjacent pitches. Leveled up on the ramps, I’d soon a hot brew in hand, we sat and looked out over the green countryside around us and at the distant outline of the mountains of Snowdonia. Fighter jets and helicopters from the nearby RAF Valley had us craning out necks around the sky.

We couldn’t help but notice our neighbour had a novel water capture system installed on his roof. I had a quick chat with him about it, finding he loved his gadgets! The guttering system had a filter and a meter attached, so he knew he got a few litres on rainy days. He’d 7 solar panels on the roof and a huge LiFePO4 (Lithium) battery block alongside the standard lead-acid battery system. He told me he’d a big enough inverter to power a halogen oven, microwave and so on. He also had a ‘solar TV’, a new one on me, a telly with a built-in Lithium battery and it’s own solar panel. It has enough juice for 10 hours of TV watching. Finally he had a wind turbine, but had forgotten to bring it. What a set-up!

We’d really enjoyed our month in Ireland, but after a few night’s poor sleep were ready for some downtime before we headed back to Nottingham and home. Over a couple of days our main activities other than sleeping were walking and running the Wales Coast Path (www.walescoastpath.gov.uk), which handily crossed the site entrance.

The path’s an absolute delight. 95% of the Anglesey Coast is an area of outstanding natural beauty, all secluded coves, characterful cliffs and roving moorland. A sea arch had me manning up and edging down the narrow path for Ju to grab a photo or six of a tiny me stood on top. On less dramatic sections I had a slow peek around the sea pools, while Ju grabbed photos of the sunset over a headland.

We stared at the houses and static caravans majestically sited with enviable views of the coast. Coming from the Midlands, we’re about as far as you can get from the sea where we live, and we often wonder what it would be like to live alongside it.

Time quickly caught up with us, and we needed to be home. The route to Nottingham was much easier than heading down to Fishguard, and we’re sure we’ll head back up here to properly tour Anglesey. The last time we were up this way was about 18 years ago with a young Charlie (our long-time travelling pooch). That was in our Autosleeper campervan, and we’d forgotten just how lovely the island is.

Back home and life’s again caught up with us. Things rushed our way (well, at Ju to be fair) which suddenly needed taking care of, so it’s useful we were heading home anyway. Ju’s now ploughing through the mountain of care-related stuff which has again fallen in her lap. Ju’s mum has had Alzheimers for some years, and Ju has power of attorney for her. Even though her mum’s now in care (before that her dad did an outstanding job caring for her at home), there’s still a steady set of new challenges and issues which need attention and energy.

Alongside the work Ju’s doing for her mum we’ve cranked up the running again now we’re home. We’ve both run the local Parkrun, then the Ramathon (the Derby Half Marathon) the following day. I (probably a bit stupidly) ran 3 races in 4 days taking part in a local race series with our club yesterday, and now we’re both a bit knackered again!

Zagan is back in storage up the road. He’s waiting for a few issues to be fettled, including a slight but awkwardly-positioned leak on his fresh water system (skinned knuckles time!). I’ve sent my passport off to be renewed, with the government website saying it’ll take up to 10 weeks for a new one so we’re not heading over the Channel any time soon. Our plan now is to enjoy a few weeks of summer at home, and we’ve a vague plan to head to the French Alps when my passport appears.

We learned a few bits and bobs about motorhome travel to Ireland on our trip, so we’ll pop up another post in the coming days. Hopefully it’ll prove useful but in the meantime if you’re thinking of heading over there, we can heartily recommend it.

Cheers, thanks for reading, Jay