South Stack Lighthouse, Holyhead Island, Anglesey

Normally we do absolutely no research before visiting somewhere (you can probably tell from some of our posts), instead we stumble upon places as we go. As we’ve just under three weeks to explore Anglesey, and we move very slowly these days preferring 2-3 nights in one place, we thought we’d take a look before we set off to see what’s here. Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t spend hours on the tourist information website, we just watched a few videos on YouTube and picked out places that interested us. One of these places was the South Stack Lighthouse.

One video by the fabulous duo Kinging It (we love their adventures) suggested we could park up right by the lighthouse. Sadly that’s probably only possible in the depths of winter these days, it’s rammed up there. As we’re visiting in peak season, we found a campsite which is just a mile down the road to leave Zagan the motorhome in peace and explore the area on foot.

Ty Mawr Farm Campsite is another Camping and Caravan Club Certified Site (CS), but anyone can stay at it. It’s a back to basics site with a sloping field looking out across the sea, a couple of water taps and a loo emptying point. There aren’t any bins and grey water goes into the hedges, but for £12 a night in such a fantastic location it’s well worth it. There are also a few electric hook-up points which are priced at £18 a night.

Arriving on a Sunday evening we were met by the wardens who asked us to park anywhere apart from by the electric hook-up points and the front of the field as it would spoil everyone’s view (there was already a van and car parked there). We tried to find somewhere flat to pitch up, but with heavy rain forecast for the following day, we didn’t want to be too far down the field in case we struggled to get out. So we treated ourselves to some flatness by paying the extra for electric hook-up.

Settled in, we walked up the road towards the lighthouse and soon found ourselves at a small, but very full car park. From here paths weaved among the colourful heather to take you to an RSPB view tower, along the cliff tops or up to the RSPB visitor’s centre, which had a slightly larger but equally full car park.

We popped into Ellis Tower for a while to see if there were any puffins about, sadly not at the moment. However the tower gave us our first glimpse of the South Stack Lighthouse, sitting out on it’s own island with a narrow footbridge over to it. From here we walked back up to the road and along to the tiny car park by the steps down to the lighthouse.

There were cars everywhere, 4x4s on the grass verges, less agile cars abandoned where they hoped they wouldn’t block anyone in. We were so glad that we didn’t drive Zagan up here, it would have been carnage. If you are driving here in your motorhome in peak season and don’t want to stay at the campsite, our tip would be – don’t go to the very end car park (the free one). Cough up the £5 for the one at the RSPB visitor’s centre, as you’re much less likely to find yourself having to perform a stressful 100 point turn.

You can pay to go into the lighthouse, but we weren’t bothered about doing that – we’d already enjoyed learning all about lighthouses from the one we visited in Mizen Head in Ireland. The main attraction for us was the view over it and the 400 odd wiggling steps leading down to it (which you don’t have to pay to access).

After a look around we retreated back to Zagan for a few hours, venturing out at sunset. Sadly there was a bank of cloud on the horizon, so when the sun dipped behind that we walked back to Zagan. Half and hour later the sky turned the most amazing shades of pink. We may have missed a stunning shot, but we were tucked up nice and warm with a brew.

Having electric hook-up prompted me to do a search on the Remoskateers Facebook Group to see what I could rustle up for dinner. Who knew you could cook a full meal in it? We’ve even seen folks cooking cakes in one. So every meal while on hook-up has been done in our Remoska (apart from breakfast), from Sunday dinner of meat, spuds and veg to vegan stirfry. Although we have been limited by what food we had in, as we don’t shop for oven cooking when we’re away in the van.

Monday was a full on rain day, so we got some admin done, watched some TV and read a bit. As the rain eased Jay got out for a run – he even ran up and down the lighthouse steps, before we both took a stroll up to see the Iron Age circle huts. There are several of them tucked away just across from the first small car park, a little grey sign being the only clue they are there. The large circular stone bases would have had wooden roofs on them, and like the village we saw near Moelfre, you can easily imagine what a community it would have been here.

In the evening we ventured out again at sunset. Once more the sun went behind a bank of cloud, and we hoped for a repeat of the spectacular show, but sadly it wasn’t to be. We didn’t mind, it was still a beautiful sight to see.

With sun promised later in the day, today we set off today to walk to the top of Holyhead Mountain. I’m not sure it technically is a mountain, as it’s only around 200m above sea level, but it still got the blood pumping. Paths criss-crossed the land like a spider’s web, crossing each other and only really sign-posted for either the Coastal Path or occasionally Summit. With hands on my thighs I must have done a half hour step class by the time we reached the top. It was worth it for the view though.

Here we paused for a few minutes to take in the view before setting off down the other side to find Caer y Twr – the remains of an Iron Age Fort. All that remains are parts of the 4m thick rampart walls, but you can imagine the work that must have gone into making those on this side of this hill.

From the fort we followed more paths down to North Stack. There isn’t a lighthouse on North Stack, but it did used to house a fog warning station which was a couple of cannons that were fired in the event of fog. During the rain on Monday we could hear the fog warnings coming from South Stack which has now taken over the job – possibly because it is much easier to access.

We only walked just over five miles in total, but there was so much uppy-downy (as I call it) that by the time we got back to Zagan, I was shattered. Jay cooked up a tasty lunch (in the remoska) of sausages and roast spuds before he went out on another run to tackle those pesky lighthouse steps. This evening we’ll have our wander back up to watch the sunset, such a lovely way to end the day.

We’ve had a great few days here exploring the area and are really pleased that we didn’t just drive up, see the lighthouse and leave. Tomorrow we’re heading south for a couple of nights near in Rhosneigr for a couple of days by the seaside, oh and RAF Valley just in case there are any planes about. Yes, we didn’t see enough at the air show!

Ju x