My Witching Hour...

I’m guessing that ‘the witching hour’ is that time in the day or night that has a sense of magic about it. I’d have to say that during the summer months it would be the early hours of dawn. While the rest of the world is still in slumber and the sun is still wiping the sleep from it’s eyes, this is the time to feel the true magic of Anglesey. There is a unique kind of stillness that you can feel, especially near to water. Four Mile Bridge (Named after the distance from the bridge to Holyhead town) is an inland sea that remains quite shallow even at high tide. An ideal place to practice your kayaking skills or to learn your new windsurfing tricks. The bridge also allows a great flow of water through its arch, as the tide rises and falls, and is favourite with the white water kayakers. But in the early morning mist while all around sleeps, I stand and stare and am bewitched in this special magic hour in this special magic place.

A Life on the Ocean Waves...

As a sea kayaker living on Anglesey, I’m often called on to act as a student to fellow paddlers training to become instructors in this wonderful sport. This gives me plenty of opportunities to get out on to the water while being instructed by supervised, trainee instructors. What would normally set me back £70 -£80 a lesson I get for free. It’s also a great way to learn about the coastline of this island, its tidal flows and currents, along with all the risks inherent in paddling the ocean waves. On top of all that, I get to pick and choose what kind of kayak I’d like to paddle for the day. (My wish-list is forever growing longer.) I get to meet like-minded people all sharing the same enthusiasm and passion for this sport and get to hear some great stories of kayaking trips from around the world. Dodging ice-bergs in Greenland or being surrounded by playful dolphins down in Florida. (A second wish-list is growing fast.) Anglesey is a Mecca for sea kayakers as it contains so many water features within such a small area. The famous tidal races at the northern end of the island out near the Skerries, along with the tidal flows and eddies of the Menai Straits. There is talk that in the next couple of years a regular kayaking festival will be held on the island and paddlers from all over Europe and beyond will come together to spend a week sharing their skills and experiences with fellow kayakers.
Sounds like a lot of fun…can’t wait.

Crackle and Pop...

One of our most favorite pleasures, come these chilly evening nights, is to chop a few logs and to get the wood burning stove fired up. There’s nothing quite like the crackle and pop of dry burning timber and the mingled aroma of pine wood and cherry wood. A glass of wine and some mindless tele sets us up for a splendid evening of boozing and snoozing…
Our motto as always is, “ it can wait...”

The Church in the Sea...

There are some fascinating locations all around the island, non-more so then Ty Cawyfan, the church in the sea. At high tide it is completely shut of from the mainland and has a history going back many hundreds of years. Not the easiest of places to get to, (unless you happen to own a kayak) but well worth the effort. I’ve included some information courtesy of Anglesey’s heritage web-site.

" Llangwyfan Church near Aberffaw The “Church in the Sea”. This old 12th century church originally stood on a cliff of clay overlooking the sea. A map drawn in 1610 seems to show it still attached to the mainland. It formerly had a second aisle on the north side, demolished in the early 19th century as the sea eroded more and more of the island. An arcade of blocked arches, once separating the twin aisles, may still be seen within. Replaced in 1871 with a new mainland church, designed by Diocesan architect Henry Kennedy, by 1893 it stood unroofed and neglected. It was then restored by the famous Llanfairfechan architect and archaeologist Harold Hughes. Erosion of the island was finally halted by surrounding it with a stone sea wall, at around the same time. The remains of the causeway linking the island to the mainland, once much larger, can still be seen. When the tides prevented services being held on the island, they were held instead in a room specially consecrated in nearby Plas Llangwyfan".

Of Man & Beast...

The welsh are a very proud people, after all, they were the only Celtic speaking nation within the British isles that held on to their native tongue. It is a fascinating language that somehow reflects the landscape in which it’s spoken. Rough hued mountains and smooth silky sands, with the ferocity of a gale force wind singing its way down the valley and out to sea… I’ll often sit at home watching a Welsh international rugby game on welsh television and listen to the entire match in Welsh. I’ve never been much of a linguistic but it’s a sound I’m so familiar with that living here without it would be like sitting on a beach without the sound of waves breaking or of rain falling.
For me, they are the most unassuming, laid-back nation of people I have yet to meet, friendly and generous to a fault. They have a great respect for their heritage and retain their links with the past with all sorts of events and festivals scattered around the island that reflect this connection. One of our favourite events is the horse drawn ploughing competitions where these wondrous & powerful animals, with plough all harnessed, are guided to till the ground in perfect straight lines. Man, beast and earth all working in harmony together.
It may no longer be a method that could feed a nation, but its connection to the islands past should never be forgotten…

Mother of Wales...

Someone once asked me, which of all my images that I had taken in and around Anglesey summed up my love of the island. Well, that would always depends on what mood I was in at the time of asking… But having lived here back in the seventies and now having returned in the new millennium, there is one image that I feel captures the beauty, the bleak, the wild and the melancholy that this place holds for me. (Or more truthfully, holds over me…)
This is an image of nature shaping the landscape. Of the landscape bowing and bending to the forces of nature, an image that has remained unchanged for thousands of years…
One could say that this image could be of anywhere, but I know that it is of Anglesey, the beautiful Mother of Wales.

Llanddwyn Island...

This has got to be one of the most special places, not just on Anglesey, but in the whole of Wales. There is so much to say about it I’ll let someone else do the talking…

Llanddwyn Island (Ynys Llanddwyn) is a magical place. Located at the far end of a pleasant beach near Newborough Warren, this narrow finger of land is an ideal picnic site during fine weather, but also an exhilarating place when the winter winds blow. Its rolling dunes, large rock outcrops and mixture of historic buildings makes it an ideal place for an afternoon of exploration. The name Llanddwyn means "The church of St. Dwynwen". She is the Welsh patron saint of lovers, making her the Welsh equivalent of St. Valentine. Her feast day, 25 January, is often celebrated by the Welsh with cards and flowers, just as is 14 February for St. Valentine. Dwynwen lived during the 5th century AD and was one of 24 daughters of St. Brychan, a Welsh prince of Brycheiniog (Brecon). She fell in love with a young man named Maelon, but rejected his advances. This, depending on which story you read, was either because she wished to remain chaste and become a nun or because her father wished her to marry another. She prayed to be released from the unhappy love and dreamed that she was given a potion to do this. However, the potion turned Maelon to ice. She then prayed that she be granted three wishes: 1) that Maelon be revived, 2) that all true lovers find happiness, and 3) that she should never again wish to be married. She then retreated to the solitude of Llanddwyn Island to follow the life of a hermit. Dwynwen became known as the patron saint of lovers and pilgrimages were made to her holy well on the island. It was said that the faithfulness of a lover could be divined through the movements of some eels that lived in the well. This was done by the woman first scattering breadcrumbs on the surface, then laying her handkerchief on the surface. If the eel disturbed it then her lover would be faithful. Warren Kovach