My deferred rest day. A bimble and explore on Ynys Cybi / Holy Island.
First stop Trearddur Bay. It was very windy. The tide was in and the sea was rough. There were people swimming and gaining deserved admiration from onlookers. I ducked into a cafe for a quick coffee and the chance to put my knee warmers and jacket on.
The coast here is more rocky and rugged. The waves crashed and splashed over them in places. A couple had noticed the impressive vertical spray in one place and had clambered out on the rocks to get a selfie at the right moment. Others were watching. Out of amusement or concern, I couldn’t tell.
A couple of hundred metres from the clifftop road are the Ty Mawr standing stones. Without fanfare, covered in lichen, the two slim obelisks stand in a field as they have for thousands of years. I spent a moment looking at their alignment. From a certain angle they frame Holyhead mountain. I doubt that’s the key to their mystery.
South Stack lighthouse is impressive. So busy was the RNIB visitor centre that getting up the steep road to the clifftops that overlook it has been a rush-hour moment. 
A few miles away on the outskirts of Holyhead is Breakwater Country Park. I wondered what I’d find at the end of the long ride out there. The impressive hole in the mountainside here is what’s left after the rock was used to create Holyhead’s breakwater. The installations here are done really well. Cafe, gallery, exhibition and lots of walks.
Holyhead was a roll away. It’s not a big town and I had time, so I gave myself a tour and finished with coffee and cake that I made last until a downpour had passed.
As port towns go, this one is the most compact I’ve seen. The port is in the centre of town. The high street is linked to the passenger terminal and station by a modern bridge that steps across old docks to give a seamless experience. Sadly though, there isn’t much to draw visitors across the bridge to the high street.
My final few miles were on routes 8 and 5 across the causeway to Valley where I’d start the next day’s ride with my sister.
Day totals: 22 miles, 1,232 ft of elevation gain
Tour totals: 1,195 miles, 50,146ft of elevation gain