British Isles Explorer: Anglesey Island, Wales (3/30/2022)

Wednesday, March 30, 2022 (continued)

After lunch, we took the tender once again to Holyhead, but this time boarded motorcoaches for the included three-and-a-half hour shore excursion around Anglesey Island, Wales.

Garden allotments

Our first stop was the Oriel Ynys Môn (1990-1991), a museum and art gallery in the town of Llangefni.

Statue (2019, by David Williams-Ellis) of
Sir Kyffin Williams, a Welsh landscape
painter from Anglesey

Musing (2007, by Michael & Alison Scheuerman)

A van-Gogh-esque lino block print titled Home Farm
(by V'cenza Cirefice)

Cock & Hen Pheasant (undated);
Oriel Môn showcases the work of Charles F Tunnicliffe,
a wildlife artist, who had a studio on Anglesey for 35 years

Woven shawl in natural wool colors

Part of a woven Ammophila arenaria/marram grass mat

Artifacts from the steam clipper Royal Charter shipwreck in 1859

Bryn y Môr Stone Head (undated)

The Battle of the Trees, a medieval book
of poetry inspired an exhibition by Lou Moore;
Begin again, begin again

Begin again, begin again detail

Danzan solas (KSS)

Kyffin Williams exhibition featured his painting table and easel

Gaerwen Windmill Pen and ink

Trearddur Pencil and watercolor (KSS)

Llangwyfan Pencil and watercolor

A Funeral Lino cut print

Look ! It's a Lou Moore tree

Our next stop was a viewpoint to see two bridges.

Menai Suspension Bridge (1826, by Thomas Telford)
was the world's first major suspension bridge
connecting Anglesey to the mainland

When Ireland joined the United Kingdom in 1900, there was increased traffic from the port of Holyhead in Wales to London, England. Thomas Telford was tasked with improving the road, including bridging the Menai Strait and running through the mountains of Snowdonia. Telford's feat of engineering was such that the current A5 motorway follows his route.

Britannia Bridge (1846-1850, by Robert Stephenson;
however, a fire in 1970 resulted in reconstruction using
the same piers) was initially a rail-only bridge, but
by 1980 a second deck was added for road traffic

In 1850, the Chester and Holyhead Railway opened,  after Robert Stephenson had the Britannia Bridge built using a unique system of enormous tubes through which the trains would run. These tubes became irreparable after the 1970 fire.

The tops of the mountains in Snowdonia are covered by clouds

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
or Llanfairpwll Railway Station (1865 after a fire
destroyed the 1848 station) is now known as the
station with the second longest name (58 letters) in the world

The longest place name (85 letters) in the world is in New Zealand: Taumatawhakatangi­hangakoauauotamatea­turipukakapikimaunga­horonukupokaiwhen­uakitanatahu.

Tamiko & Kent selfie with the name that was an 1869
Victorian tactic to attract more tourists; its translation:
"Saint Mary's Church in a hollow of white hazel near the
rapid whirlpool of the church of Saint Tysilio with
a red cave," which is barely verifiable!

Llangfair War Memorial (1932,
by Robert Pierce) (KSS)

Anglesey landscape with fields divided by hedges

Sand dunes stabilized by marram grass

Hmm, beef cattle?

An unidentified beach

It was lambing season in the UK

I have the feeling that instead of our motorcoach taking us around the northwest coast (because there was no mention of Cemaes or Benllech Beach), we traveled instead around the southeast coast in the

"neighborhood" where the Duke and Duchess of Cambrdige (William and Kate) lived when William was serving with the Royal Air Force.

Next: Liverpool I.