The place with the longest name

Today we go to Anglesey, where we will meet up with Jonathan and co again. We arrive via the new bridge, designed by Robert Stephenson, but we want to see the old one. We find a viewpoint where it’s possible to see both bridges, as well as a fish-trap in the middle of the Menai Strait.

We walk down to the river for a better view, then double back to Llanfair PG – as the place with the longest name is called for short. Alex has been wanting to come here for ages, and has worn his T-shirt from the name of the unpronounceable Icelandic volcano specially. We buy one from Llanfair PG, naturally. The railway station still operates, but the station house has been bought by a retailer and it has become a shopping destination.

Next stop is Beaumaris, where we have another castle to explore. This one becomes my favourite. It has plenty of round towers and double skinned walls full of tricky little passages. We enjoy exploring those for a while, then look for somewhere to have lunch before meeting Jonathan. The smart hotel on the seafront has just finished serving lunch and we end up in a pub called the George and Dragon.

 It starts raining as we leave, so I go back to the car for jackets while Simon and Alex skim stones from the beach. We’re meeting Jonathan on the jetty to go crabbing, and he soon phones us to say they are there. They’ve kindly bought Alex a crab line so we get stuck in. It’s easy enough to catch crabs, using a string bag full of bacon, but it’s harder to land them – it’s a long way up from the sea to the jetty and they drop off on the way. We manage to catch an impressive number of crabs between us, and Alex is particularly proud of catching the largest crab, who he dubs The Beast.

Alex, Cerys and Rhianon take the crabs to the beach after to release them and watch them race to the water, but they just sit there in a clump. The children pick them up one by one and nudge them in the right direction. We’re keen for them to reach the water before the gulls get them.

Next stop is the Red Boat ice cream parlour where Jonathan buys ice creams for everybody (except Simon, who doesn’t like it) – Alex chooses Ferrero Rocher and I choose strawberry, marscapone and balsamic. They’re excellent. Then we say our goodbyes and return to our respective holiday homes. The weather has been changeable all day but it’s a lovely evening and I go out to find the viewpoint from which our picture was painted. I find it, at a gazebo near the top of the wild place. This is our last evening eating in, and we have the rest of the chilli Simon made earlier in the week, then a game of crib before bed.