The September '21 Grand Tour of mid and north Wales in a motorhome Day 21

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Our Top Gun moment

We decide to cycle out to Rhosnigr and then RAF Valley.

Across the windy cobb on sport mode we go, past the saline lakes and reclaimed land behind. The tide is out and we see plenty of wild fowl and wading birds. Motionless herons, the calls of curlew and lapwing; mullet cruising the shallows! Oystercatchers’ dart and search for lugworm on the sand flats before taking flight skimming low across the water.

We stop off to see Ty – Newydd, a Neolithic burial chamber

The isolated small white stone coastal cottages are now holiday homes and they are scattered across the extensive ranges of sand dunes (with their blow outs and vegetation zonation). It is wonderful being a geographer/geologist/historian because I can translate and interpret the landscape as I cross it. Maggie is a biologist/geographer so between us we cover most things we see.

The winds are brisk westerlies of 20 knots or more and cycling into the wind is hard work but the sun is shining, sport mode is our friend and the wind keeps the temperature at a nice level for cycling. Roads are empty; most of the tourist traffic has gone and locals use the A5 and A55 to get anywhere on this island.

Hedgerows are full of berries and old man’s beard. Will it be a wild winter? Are they a prediction of things to come?

 Past the dykes and ditches across the reclaimed land we go; this part of the island is just sand - thousands of years of accumulation. Sandy loamy soils with crops of maize on gently undulating hill slopes above. Cows munch the verdant green pasture land.

Coffee is had at the Oystercatcher Bar and Restaurant located just off the A4080 before you enter Rhosneigr. It is empty and the outside patio area gives extensive views cross the dunes. In a sheltered corner with the sun on our faces, it is lovely. The coffee is very good too and I go for a second cup. We take it in turns to walk the three hundred metres out across the dunes towards the sea to admire the extensive sandy beaches and coastal views around Traeth Llydan.

 Later, refreshed with coffee and pastries, we roll past the RAF base with its ‘officers’ housing’ and clearly delineated NCO estates around Llanfihangel yn Nhowyn. A supermarket, a leisure centre and the officers’ mess.

Down at the observation car park, we are in luck. Two planes are on the runway to one side, canopies opened.

And then we really strike gold. Down the taxi way come seven Hawker training jets; three sets of two and a single at the rear. In pairs, they stop dead opposite us. We are a mere 25m away with only a road and two fences separating us.

 The smell of aviation fuel hangs heavily on the air. The engine rear burner exhausts glow red hot; the air behind shimmers in the extreme heat. The roar of the engines is deafening. Canopies close and each pair taxi the short distance around the corner to the run way where they wait for final approval.

The engine noise crescendos; the planes physically shake. The noise is above deafening. In the viewing car park, the excitement in the air is palpable. The brakes are released and in a thunderous cacophony, both planes accelerate down the runway in front of us. We feel the sound waves physically impacting on our chests. We watch them race down the run way and halfway down they disappear. The run way slopes away towards the coast at that point. Suddenly two specks appear on the horizon, wings glinting in the afternoon sun as they climb higher and higher. The roaring engines echo across the landscape long after the planes have become invisible.

Its real top gun stuff and the next pair draw level with us and a pilot waves to us watchers. I’m itching to whirl my hands around my head, rotate my wrist and arm, drop into a crouch extending my arm forward…. like they do on a flight deck. It is so tempting!

And then to top it off a fire engine comes by and slows down to watch all the antics.

Big kids’ stuff, big kids’ stuff! Sooooo exciting!

 

Route: A4080 – NCN 566 to Bethel – Llangadwaladr – A4080 to Aberffraw – A4080 to Rhosneigr = A4080 to Llanfaelog – lane past Capel Gwy north to almost A55 – NCN route 8 to Anglesey airport – return via Route 8 to Bethel -  NCN Route 8 to Llangaffo – B4421 to Newborough

Distance total: 33 miles