South Stack to Holyhead Mountain

My diverse mountain lifestyle continued this morning - with a small group of students, I started off the day with some bird watching at the RSPB reserve at South Stack on Anglesey. While I've been rock climbing here, on the cliffs of Gogarth many times, I'd actually never been into the RSPB reserve. Acting on a tip-off from a colleague, I went in and was able to hire (at a very reasonable £3 for the day) a pair of good binoculars, as well as loads of good beta from the friendly wardens. Armed with these and my bird book, we hunkered down in the lee of Eillen's Tower and scanned the cliffs. We saw a few Chuffs (which are the reason there is a reserve there, as they're quite rare). There were thousands of Guillemots down on the cliffs by the light house, as well as the regular Guls and Fulmars. Later in the day as we walked along by Holyhead Mountain, we saw two Peregrines as well, so all in all, some good spots!

 

There was a bitterly cold and surprisingly strong wind blowing from the south, so we followed the coastal path along to North Stack, to gain a little bit of shelter. Seeing the view, reminded me of the big traverse of these cliffs that I did last summer, before escaping through the back of the big cave at the end of the headland. Crazy, but fun!

 

One of today's objectives was to reach the summit of Holyhead Mountain (some might say hill). The walk is pretty short and well paved as we approached from the North, but up at the summit, I could barely stand up in the wind! We literally, had to cling to the Trig Point to get a summit photo, before dropping down to get some shelter by a stone wall, where we could appreciate the views of the Harbour a bit better. While walking down from the summit, sunlight began to burst through the clouds, sending beams of light onto the sea, which looked very peculiar - like a UFO landing perhaps?

 

With the wind reducing our enjoyment and my ability to teach much, we left early and stopped off by the Menai Straits, where the weather couldn't have been more different! - Calm blue skies and sunshine made for a tranquil hike along the promenade!

 

We finished up, looking for Egrets by our old house below Menai Bridge. What a place to have lived!