If there’s a more exhilarating location in Anglesey we’d like to know it. We’re talking about the starting point of this tour, South Stack. A few miles from Holyhead, it’s the island’s most western point where rugged Holyhead Mountain crashes down into the sea.

South Stack’s curtain of 91m sea cliffs is breathtaking – as are the 400 steps that take you down (and back up again, of course!) to South Stack Lighthouse, an Anglesey icon built in 1809 to warn ships of this treacherous, rock-bound coast.

South Stack’s other must-visit site is Ellin’s Tower RSPB Centre (there’s plenty of parking here), perched on the cliff with grandstand views of this area’s large colonies of seabirds, plus far-reaching vistas that, on a clear day, extend across the Irish Sea to the Wicklow Mountains.

Follow the minor road into Holyhead for a refreshing swim at the town’s Leisure Centre, which has an indoor 25m pool (there are also pools at Amlwch and Llangefni Leisure Centres).

Holyhead is also home to St Cybi’s Church, a nationally important shrine. The medieval church, dedicated to a Celtic saint and cousin of St David, Wales’s patron saint, dates from around AD540. The site’s roots are even older: Cybi’s monastic settlement was built around an abandoned Roman fort.

St Cybi’s Church marks the official start of the 125 mile/201km Anglesey Coastal Path that rings the island. It’s an inspiring walk with a guaranteed feelgood factor – as you’ll discover for yourself.

Leave Holyhead on the A5 or A55 for the A5025 north, which takes you to Llanfaethlu.

Then head west for a mile or so to Porth Trwyn, a quiet pebble and sand beach with limited parking, and put on your walking boots. For a splash of invigorating sea air and unspoilt scenery follow the Coastal Path north to Porth Swtan (otherwise known as Church Bay). There and back it’s around 1.5 miles/2.4km, about an hour of leisurely walking.