out and about - 2013
29 October 2013 ............ North and South Stacks
I took the opportunity of a dry but windy afternoon to go up to North Stack, then across to South Stack.
It is one of the best bits of the Anglesey coastal path, and well worth a trip if you are not paddling - it is a stunning bit of coastline, no matter how often you go there.
I took two cameras with me, because I wanted to compare how they performed - one of them has a considerably wider angle lens than the other one - I actually found that it made less difference than I thought it would.
As soon as you are out of your vehicle, you can look down on the lighthouse.
As you head across towards Holyhead Mountain and North Stack, you begin to get views of Gogarth Bay and North Stack.
Here is a longer view, showing North Stack in more detail, and with the Skerries lit up by the sunshine in the background.
I haven`t ever been out to North Stack yet by boat, but I believe there are three caves around North Stack. In this picture, the sunshine is lighting up the cave which I think is known as Parliament Cave or Parliament House Cave, depending on what you are reading.
I think the other two are Cathedral Cave and Annie`s Cave.
From the top of Holyhead Mountain there are excellent views in all directions. Looking eastwards you see the huge breakwater that encloses Holyhead New Harbour and the marina.
Nearer, on the left, the headland Ynys Wellt leads round to Soldiers Point and the stoney beach just before the breakwater that sea kayakers sometimes use as an access point for trips to the Stacks.
You can see the size of the waves - some of them are breaking over the top of the Breakwater.
Looking south west, you see the big flat area of Penrhyn Mawr, and if you look closely, you can just see the lower end of the Lleyn Peninsula.
Quite apart from the fact that there are other Penrhyn Mawr`s around North Wales - the name Penrhyn Mawr is used in three ways.
The whole of this flat area is the Penrhyn Mawr peninsula.
The point you can see on the right hand side of the picture is the most westerly point of the Penrhyn Mawr pensinula, and is marked on most maps and charts as Penrhyn Mawr.
Finally, right in the middle of the picture, just off the coast, you can see a rocky island - this is the outer island of a series of islands that sea kayakers refer to as Penrhyn Mawr - famous for its very strong tidal current during the flood tide, and in combination with a westerly swell, its very large wave trains.
Not so powerful during the ebb tides, but it is still fast moving water, and at times you can get a reverse current flowing through the inner race.
Looking south from the top of Holyhead Mountain, the view is mostly dominated by Trearddur Bay - the headland over on the right is Rhoscolyn Head, and all along the background lies Snowdonia and the upper part of the Lleyn Pensinula.
Rhoscolyn Head is another area which is well known for its strong tidal currents.
It is a surprisingly long way from the top of Holyhead Mountain down to nearly sea level on North Stack, but at least it is downhill.
Here`s the little island just off from North Stack - sometimes the waves were about half way up the side.
Finally, here are some pictures looking southwestish from North Stack, across Gogarth Bay towards South Stack and the lighthouse, and the low angle sun.
I couldn`t decide which picture I liked the best, so I`ve included three of them. Enjoy !
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