Ynys Llanddwyn - Anglesey

Date of visit - 15/06/2024

On our first full day in North Wales we woke to torrential rain, closely followed by thunder and lightning and then for good measure hailstones! Great, that should fit in well with our plans for the day...

After sorting through our plans for the 2 weeks we decided we didn't have anything planned that would fit with the forecast. So, a quick Google search of "things to do in the rain in Anglesey! highlighted this option - Newborough Nature Reserve and beach. We had nothing to lose, so with wet weather gear in the boot, we went for it.

We had gone out with the intention of spending time in the forest area of the nature reserve, as we were looking for somewhere safe for our little one to run free. However when we got to the car park the beach beckoned.

Now our Little One is like a water magnet, whenever he sees water he just wants to be in it. In fact we have often likened him to a baby turtle, hatching out and hell-bent on getting to the sea - that is him, all over!

The beach is a massive wide open space, and when we arrived the tide was out, but slowly starting to come in. Little One was set free, with me in close pursuit. He thought it was great fun, running towards the sea, for me to divert him back to the shoreline, only for him to turn and run back towards the sea! After doing this for a while, we put him back on the wrist strap - I was getting exhausted chasing him.

This is one of the things we worry about, as a family, having a young, very energetic child, looked after by two people in their sixties - clearly he will get bigger and I don't imagine his energy levels will reduce, but for now, we just give him as many positive experiences as he wants and needs, while we can. The future is just that, in the future!

We decided, as had most of the visitors to the beach, to walk along the shore and onto Ynys Llanddwyn island. The island can be reached by foot most of time, only getting cut off at high tides.

My wife is a bit of a worrier, and was a bit concerned about us getting stranded on the island. I reassured her that while there was a stream of people heading for the island, it must be safe, mustn't it - a quick check of the tide times showed that the tide was coming in, but only just returning from low tide, so panic over!

As said at the start of the post, we thought this would be a good place to allow our Little One to let off some steam, which it achieved. As has also been mentioned, he walks with us on a wrist strap most of the time. The beach was a good area for this, but we did have to put him back on the strap whilst on the island, as it has some steep drops and climbs - having said that, there is an easy path crossing the island, which we elected to take on the way back!

Half way back along the island Little One had decided he had had enough, so having left the back carrier in the car (I know, we're not the smartest sometimes) I had to give him a shoulder carry!

He always loves the shoulder carry, me less so, as he seems to think it funny to play my head like the bongos, at least today I had my sun hat to offer a bit of protection, from the UV rays and his slapping hands...

I managed to put Little One back down once we reached the beach, as he was quite happy to bounce and drag his feet in the sand and odd puddles left behind by the earlier high tide. We eventually got back to the car park - having checked, it would appear we had walked about 2 and a half miles, which is quite an achievement for Little One, OK he did have a shoulder carry some of the way, but still a pretty good achievement for him.

Having done my research before coming to Wales I was pleased to find that the local authorities have a similar approach to those in Scotland, where we journeyed last year. Disabled blue badge parking is largely free in Wales. The car park for the forest is number plate barrier controlled, and I was impressed to find that by flashing the bar code on Little One's blue badge (no, I didn't know it had a barcode until yesterday) at the sensor on the exit barrier, we were able to get back out of the car park, having parked for free!

There are enough barriers (excuse pun) for disabled people, so it was nice to see this had been thought out and was easy to use!

In summary, if you have a child, who is able to walk on a mixture of ground, mainly sand, rock and grass and you are comfortable with them around water, then this might be a good place to visit. Also worth noting, we arrived just after 11 and the car park was half full, by the time we returned two and a half hours later there was barely a space to be seen.