Yns Mon/Anglesey: Natural and Industrial Beauty

This is a walking event with 2 halves. We will be exploring the AONB in the NE corner of Wales's biggest Island.

First of all we have a 4 mile circular walk to look at the unspoilt coastline where Grey Seals and Dolphins are often spotted and then pass through 3 historic sites at Din Lligwy, managed by CADW, the Welsh national heritage organisation (all are free to enter).
We will return to our cars and have our packed lunches at the beach nearby.
Next after a short drive, we will visit the extensive and surreal landscape of Parys Mountain. (Don't worry its just a hill really) This was once the biggest copper mine in the world, and shows the scars to prove it. This legacy of this industrial heritage isn't great for the environment, but it does have a beauty of its own. The walk around the mine will be 2-3 miles long.

Read on for more information. 

To discover more about the first part of this event you could watch the first part of this BBC TV Programme, which follows the very route we will take: Weatherman walking series 8 Programme1 Moelfre and Dyffryn

DIN LLIGWY

The Hut Circle:
Huge blocks of white limestone megaliths make up this ancient village site. The place has a feeling of the old times. Victorian excavations produced hundreds of Roman period pot shards. There was also evidence of iron working, smithing and perhaps smelting. (A hut circle is a circular or oval depression in the ground which may or may not have a low stone wall around it that used to be the foundation of a round house. The superstructure of such a house would have been made of timber and thatch. Most date to around the 2nd century BC.)

Capel Lligwy:
Standing in a lonely spot overlooking Lligwy Bay, little is known about the history of this ruined 12th-century chapel. The stone structure that stands today was probably erected on the site of an older, timber-built Celtic church in the 12th century, when Viking raids on Anglesey came to an end. Its likely there was once a sizeable community here.

Lligwy Burial Chamber:
Dating from late Neolithic (New Stone Age) times, would have originally been covered by an earthen mound. The current capstone is estimated to weigh 25 tons. When the tomb was excavated in 1908, the bones of men, women and children were found along with animal bones, shells, flint implements, pottery and a bone pin.

PARYS MOUNTAIN

Parys Mountain is one of Anglesey’s most interesting locations. We will explore the network of walks around the weird landscape. Shaped by miners using nothing more than picks, shovels and gunpowder, the spectacular opencast site has an artist’s palette of colours. The area has distant views of Snowdonia. 

People have mined the metals here since the Bronze Age, but things really took off when a mass of copper ore was discovered in the late 1760’s.  Yields were so great that Amlwch came to dominate the world copper market for a decade. Even today, there are thought to be about 6 million tonnes beneath the old mine workings.  Whilst the landscape appears barren, it supports a variety of wildlife, including birds such as skylark, meadow pipit and chough.  There is nowhere quite like Parys Mountain!

Photos: Andy Martin event leader
 
Dogs are welcome to join us on this event but please note the following:
This route passes through areas with livestock.  Your dog needs to be well behaved or on a short lead.
Please also appreciate the fact that not everyone is a dog owner or lover- especially when we stop to eat
If your dog is uncontrolled, the leader is supported by the OutdoorLads board of trustees to ask you to leave the event as this is not acceptable behaviour
We cannot guarantee that this route is dog friendly - there may be styles to carry your dog across.
Your dog needs to have the stamina to keep up with the group. 

IMPORTANT! - Participation Statement

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