Distance: 9.7 kilometres / 6.02 miles

Difficulty: Moderate

Step back in time! Humans have left their mark on this corner of Anglesey for thousands of years: from Stone Age settlements to Medieval ruins and Victorian follies. An easy walk in terms of terrain across farmland and shoreline, but the distance may be slightly more challenging for some.

Directions 

Brynsiencyn to Cae-Aur

Turn right out of the car park with the café and gift shop in it and follow the lane downhill towards St. Nidan’s Old Church. There is a Bronze Age burial mound well-hidden in a field on the right which you can see through a farm gate.

A little further down the lane, opposite a farm entrance, turn right over a stone stile onto the public  foot path across a field, following the Coast Path. (The remains of St. Nidan’s Old Church are a little further along the lane and are on private land).

In the field head towards the top right-hand corner and go through the little gate into the wood, Cae-aur Plantation.

Walk through the wood following a clear sign posted path until reaching a kissing-gate that takes you onto another field.

Cae-Aur to Tal-Y-Foel Pier

With the field boundary on your left walk across the next two fields parallel to the Menai Strait. There are views across the strait to Eryri.

Walk straight across the next field, cross a grass track and pass in front of Plas Trefarthen, a listed Victorian House.

In the field is a standing stone which may be evidence of a designed landscape associated with the house.

In the next field head towards the tall trees in the top lefthand corner.

Go through a gate and down some steps onto the shore. This is a great spot to watch wading birds on the shoreline.

Turn right and walk along a short section of beach before joining the road.

Continue along the road passing three visitor attractions: Halen Môn and Anglesey Sea Zoo are next to each other, and a little further onis Foel Farm Park.

(You may take the second footpath that goes off right after the zoo as a shorter alternative to the walk).

Tal-Y-Foel Pier to Cerrig Y Barcud

Keep walking along the road past Tal-y-Foel Pier until you reach the end of the road. Then walk along the beach until you are roughly opposite Caernarfon Castle.

Take the steps signposted as the Coast Path and head off the beach.

Follow the left-hand field boundary up two fields until you come to a stile and a lane by Cae Mawr Farm.

Turn right and follow the track through the farmyard. Bear right in front of a farm building towards a metal stile.

Keep the hedge on your left and walk through two fields. Then take the right turn through agate and follow the field edge to a stone trough.

Turn left at this water trough into the next field with the hedge now on your right. Walk straight across this field into the next large field and follow the fence on the right down to Cerrig y Barcud.

Pass through two gates onto a lane and turn left.

Cerrig Y Barcud to Brynsiencyn

Follow the lane past a farm and small caravan site. Pass a dead-end lane on the left.

Just before Fron Heulog Farm turn right down another lane opposite stone gate posts. Go down this tree-lined lane past a cottage.

At a corner where the road bears left the public footpath goes right, through the gate, then left over a stone stile into a large field.

Follow the hedge on your left. Cross a new access track and continue down the left side of the field until a kissing-gate leads out through a wooded path down to the access track to Tyddyn Albert Farm.

Cross the track and go through the kissing-gate. Bear right around the back of the house.

Pass through the kissing-gate here with a yellow foot path sign, turn left and follow the hedge to the next gate.

Keep to the right-hand side of two small fields until you come out into a lane.

Turn left then almost immediately right. This road leads you into the back of Brynsiencyn.

When you join the main road turn right and go through the village along the High Street and you will find yourself outside the Y Groeslon pub, opposite the carpark where you started your walk.

Further information on this walk

History and interests 

•  The Brynsiencyn area is rich in prehistoric sites and there is evidence of people having lived here for millennia. Nearby is Castell Bryngwyn, where remains have been found from the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age.
• St Nidan’s Old Church and adjacent Llanidan Hall are just off-route. The church was founded in the 7th century by St Nidan. The oldest remaining parts of the church date to the 14th century .A sandstone chest containing bone fragments, possibly relics of a saint, were found buried beneath the altar. Llanidan Hall has a Georgian exterior but includes much older structures such as medieval cellars which would have formed part of the Augustinian Priory. It has an extensive and beautiful walled garden. The Old Church and Gardens are open to the public on certain summer days.
• Tal-y-Foel Pier was once one of the ferry crossing points to Caernarfon
• There are four visitor attractions close together: Halen Môn, Sea Zoo and Foel Farm Park are on the route, and Anglesey Riding Centre is a little further down the coast.

Wildlife

The tidal shoreline of the Menai Strait is an excellent place for birdwatching. It is the perfect habitat for oystercatchers, sanderlings, turnstones, redshank, greenshank, dunlin and many other species of wading and sea birds. You may also be lucky enough to see an osprey hunting in this area

Public Transport

The No.42 bus operates from Llangefni to Bangor via Brynsiencyn, and stops at the car park at start of the walk.

Refreshments

• There is a café in the car park at your start, and the village has a convenience store and a pub. Halen Môn, the Sea Zoo and Foel Farm Park have seasonal cafés.
• There is a farm shop and café on the A4080 just before Brynsiencyn.