Start at Wales’s most northerly village, calling into the Cemaes Heritage Centre. It explores the history of Cemaes Bay and Llanbadrig Parish through four themes: Maritime Heritage, Industrial Heritage, Portraits of Cemaes and Cemaes Reflections.

You’ll see how the sea has shaped this community, once a herring fishing village and thriving 19th-century port. Despite its remote rural setting Cemaes was also a hive of industry, with a woollen mill and brickworks.

Portraits of Cemaes reveal some surprising facts, such as the village’s connection with a pioneering aviator and the Titanic disaster of 1912, while Reflections focuses on the way the area has inspired artists.

The museum is a heart-warming example of the way a local community comes together to create lasting benefits. It’s run wholly by a group of hardworking volunteers and is owned by a social enterprise group called Cwmni Cemaes Cyf, formed in 1996 to support community projects and preserve and promote the rich heritage of the area.

From Cemaes, follow the minor road south-east via Llanfechell for Rhos-goch, home to Oriel Rhosgoch, a studio gallery that’s a true family affair. It showcases the talents of Paul and Caz Westlake and their daughter Bonnie Brace, displaying a wide range of art and styles including textiles, lino prints, paintings and photography (visitors are welcome by appointment – just phone or email before coming).

From here, take the minor road north-west to Amlwch for lunch.

Nowadays, it’s difficult to believe that the confined, narrow port of Amlwch exported vast quantities of copper from nearby Parys Mountain, once the largest copper mine in the world. 

Call in also to the Watch House. Originally a shelter for pilots waiting to guide ships in and out of the busy port, it’s now a visitor centre for Anglesey’s geopark.

The unique nature of the island and its spectacular geology – coastal as well as what has been revealed by mining at Parys Mountain – led to the creation of GeoMôn, a UNESCO Global Geopark. Find out more at the Watch House where you’ll see displays of all the major rock types in Anglesey, together with an exhibition on climate change.

Now it’s time to experience the real thing. Take the B5111 south for a few miles to the Parys Mountain car park and set off on the 2 mile/3.2km Geotrail through this amazing, blasted landscape. You’ll walk through a weird moonscape of reds, oranges, pinks, browns, purples, blacks, greens, yellows and greys created by 1,500 workers in the 18th and 19th centuries armed with nothing more than picks, shovels and gunpowder.