Hi there everyone 😀
We spent the second of our sunny days of the Easter weekend exploring Menai Bridge and I can definitely say there is a lot more to Menai Bridge than the Menai Bridge … though personally I do find the bridge itself pretty spectacular and very photogenic.
Whilst we have driven through the village of Menai Bridge numerous times we have never actually stopped … other than to take a few photos of the bridge or to visit Plas Cadnant.
Somewhere that I really wanted to see was ‘Church Island’ or St Tysilio's church … to give it its proper title.
Once we were over the Menai Bridge we parked in a car park just past Waitrose and soon spotted the path leading down through the woods to the edge of the Menai Straight.
It wasn’t too far, though it was quite steep and we soon found ourselves at the bottom with a fabulous view of ‘Church Island’ with the Britannia Bridge in the distance …
There is a raised causeway across to the island, making access easy, presumably whatever the tide. It was low for our visit, but I imagine everything would look very different with a higher tide …
Once on the island we decided to head right and soon passed the original causeway … which was only accessible at lower tides …
The path took us along the edge of the island, passing well tended graves on the left. A lady working on one of the graves told us that the people laid to rest on this part of the island were buried quite shallowly because the water table was quite high …
There were some fabulous views down the Menai towards the Britannia Bridge from the end of the island …
It really is a lovely spot, especially on such a lovely day …
Once rounding the bottom of the island the views are the opposite way along the Strait … towards the Menai Bridge …
The church is tiny and, sadly, wasn’t open when we visited …
There is also a little walk up some steps to a war memorial, but we didn’t look at that on this visit.
Instead we headed back across the causeway and decided to follow the Belgian Promenade towards Menai Bridge …
The Promenade was built by Belgian refugees in gratitude for the hospitality of the people of Menai bridge who provided accommodation during the First World War.
There are some fabulous views in either direction along the Promenade …
… with plenty of spots to sit and take in the sunshine …
At the end of the Promenade we carried on under the Menai Bridge …
… and onto Dylan’s where we had a quick pit stop …
From here we made our way back up through the centre of the town and back to the car.
We needed to find somewhere to eat our car picnic and we knew just the spot …
If you zoom in you can see St Tysilo’s church and Church Island to the left of the Menai Bridge.
We’d had another really lovely day out. We’d been lucky with the weather and got to see a beautiful new place and got some totally different views of the Menai and the bridges. Definitely worth a visit if you get the chance 😀
*********************************************
