Short Aberlleiniog Circular (2.42miles / 3.89km)

God it was good to be out today. It’s been far, far too long. We also managed to catch the dreaded Covid over Christmas so today was my first day out of isolation. Because of that I wanted a reasonably quiet and short walk with the genod so as not to overdo things. This is a walk we’ve done before not too long ago when Anwen was still in the front carrier. Last time we went a lot further and there are a few loops you can add if you fancy a longer walk.

Aberlleiniog is a bit of a gem. It’s located between Beaumaris and Penmon so you get amazing views over Afon Menai towards Eryri, but you also have a lovely woodland walk by a river, and a castle thrown in for good measure! It’s not as well known as other historical locations on Ynys Môn so is often pretty quiet. It’s easy walking with clearly defined paths, although they can get a little muddy at times, especially at this time of year. There are a couple of sections on roads but they don’t last long.

Distance: 3.89km / 2.42 miles (according to the OS map app)

Time taken: 1hr 14

Total ascent: 197ft / 60.04m (OS map app)

Parking: Yes, plenty of free parking

Facilities: No

Walkers: myself (34yrs, fat, unfit and recovering from Covid), Megan (5yrs, endless energy and non stop talker), and Anwen (20 months, in the rucksack but would rather be walking).

1. To park you need to head towards Penmon. After going through Beaumaris you turn next right once you arrive at the village of Llangoed. You’ll pass a satellite tower on your right and a holiday let place called Tros Yr Afon on your left. Not long after here you’ll see a car park on your right. There is a height limit but there is plenty of space for cars. The car park is right on the edge of the Menai so the views are incredible. There are picnic tables set up if you fancy bringing some food. The beach here (Traeth Aberlleiniog- Tr ah eh th Ab ehr tl eh een yogh) is long and stony but perfect for exploring rock pools, birdwatching or just enjoying the view. Aber, in Welsh, means “at the mouth of the river” so Aberlleiniog means “at the mouth of the river Lleiniog”. In fact for much of our walk we follow the Afon Lleiniog.

View from the car park.

I would have allowed Anwen to do some walking today but silly Mam forgot any kind of footwear for her. So, once I’d wrestled her into her many layers on the backseat of the car (the boot is broken and won’t open ... for the third bloody time.) I heaved her into the rucksack. To be fair she does still like the rucksack but she’s becoming more and more independent and walking further and further. She’s also bloody heavy now! I’m sad at the thought that we are coming to the end of its use though. The rucksack has been one of the best baby purchases / gifts ever. My brother gifted half the cost for it so I’ll probably save it for him and his wife... no pressure!

The first part of the walk is on the road so to start you can go straight out of the car park entrance and turn left. However, it’s a fast, busy road with no pavement so I try to cut out as much of it as I can. If you head to the far end of the car park you can cross a little stream and join the road a bit further on. It doesn’t cut much out, but every little helps.

Head to the far end of the car park then turn towards the road.

Cross a stream.

Turn left when you get to the road.

Luckily, we don’t have to spend too long on the road before we turn off on the right onto a clearly marked footpath with a big wide (thank you!) kissing gate. All of the gates on the route are suitable for fat people carrying babies!

Turn right onto the footpath.

The path runs parallel to the road for a little while before you pass through a gate and turn right. Not long after this you have the choice to continue forwards or turn right again, to pass over a bridge. This point is signposted. It doesn’t really matter which way you go as it’s a loop, but we turn right, with the intention of coming back down the other path.

Running parallel to the road.

Turn right and watch for low branches.

Signed right for the castle.

Bridge over Afon Lleiniog.

Afon Lleiniog.

After crossing the bridge we follow the path on the other side of the river until we get to a split in the path. We turn sharp right up the hill, onto the boardwalk. At the next split we turn right again. Some dens have been built along here which Megan hid in as we got hailed on! She concluded that the roof had too many holes to be much use. Luckily the hail shower didn’t last long and soon after the castle came into view.

The paths were a bit wet!

Getting a bit big there Ani.

Queen Megan.

Go right onto the boardwalk.

Turn right to continue up the hill.

Hiding in the den.

Castell Aberlleiniog.

2. There is only one way up to the castle and it involved a fair few wooden steps. They were surprisingly not slippy at all considering it was pretty wet, but they are starting to feel a bit wobbly which is unnerving! At the start of the steps are some interesting information boards (I’ve taken some of the information from them to include here, along with information from other sources listed below.) According to the boards, at this point you are standing in what would have been the bailey or ‘courtyard’ of the castle. It extended in an ‘apron’ shape behind you and to your left and right.

Castell Aberlleiniog.

Castell Aberlleiniog is a motte and bailey fortress built between 1080 and 1099, probably by the Marcher Lord Hugh d’Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester, and his Commander of Troops, Robert of Rhuddlan, when he conquered Gwynedd in 1088.

The castle was built in a strategic position beside the Menai Strait opposite the Norman castle at Abergwyngregyn on the mainland. This shows that visual communication was important to the Norman invaders. The castle was an earth and timber motte and bailey fortification. The mound, which was raised on top of a natural hillock, would have been topped with a wooden palisade and was separated from the bailey by a deep dry ditch. A narrow bailey extended to the south and had strong natural defences due to the steep scarp down to Afon Y Brenhin (maybe Afon Lleiniog? Afon Y Brenhin seems unlikely to me). A small mound closer to the straits may well have been a watchtower or some other associated structure.

There are few historical documents that detail the events the castle has seen through its life, however some do survive, including a record of a siege in 1094 by the Welsh Tywysog Gruffudd ap Cynan on his return from Ireland. Gruffudd had previously been a prisoner of Hugh d’Avranches in Chester for many years. The siege was successful and 124 Norman defenders died in the battle. Gruffudd’s biography describes how he, with the help of 120 men and 14 youths, besieged and burned the castle. Gruffudd was later successful in driving Hugh out, and after this, Ynys Môn remained under the control of the Welsh until the arrival of Edward I two hundred years later. It is not known, however, whether the Welsh made use of Castell Aberlleiniog.

The abandoned remains of the castle were refortified in the 17th century, and by 1646 it was in the possession of a certain Thomas Cheadle. A notorious character, Cheadle’s various occupations included land agent and legal representative of the Bulkeley family, Deputy Constable of Beaumaris Castle, and pirate! Between 1646 and 1653 (the year he died) Cheadle had served three jail terms for treason and debt! The castle became known as ‘Lady Cheadle’s Fort’ after Lady Anne, the wife of Cheadle’s employer, Sir Richard Bulkeley 4th. It is alleged that Cheadle and Lady Anne had an affair, and, following Sir Richard’s mysterious death, they were tried for his murder. They were acquitted, however, and went on to marry!

During the Civil War the castle took part in the siege of Beaumaris Castle. It hosted Parliamentary forces soon after 1645, before being besieged by Royalist forces, under Colonel John Robinson, in the short-lived rebellion of 1648.

The site was acquired by Menter Môn in 2003, restored in 2007/08, and opened to the public in 2016. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Up the steps we go.

Inside Castell Aberlleiniog.

Standing where one of the towers would have been.

Queen Megan inspects her defences.

You can walk around the outside too.

After Queen Megan gave me a tour of her castle, now named Avalor as she’s rather taken with Elena of Avalor on Disney, we headed back down the steps and turned left away from where we’d come from. The path was pretty muddy here but we had sensible boots on. The path goes around the dry ditch and before long we come out of the woods into an open field.

Back down the steps.

More steps.

Path gets a bit muddy.

Llangoed Common.

Castell Aberlleiniog is located in Llangoed Common. This land was once grazed by the villagers’ cattle, but long since abandoned it developed into wet woodland of willow and alder. The Common and Aberlleiniog woodland are now a Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI).

As long as you keep heading to your right here, away from the castle, you can‘t really go wrong. I went sharper right than intended following a path to the right of the nearest section of trees until I reached a gate. When we got near the gate a clear path into the trees appeared on our left so we followed that through until we came back into the clearing. Eventually, keeping right and moving away from the castle we came to a more obvious footpath and a bridge. Once you’ve crossed the bridge it’s simply a case of following the track to the end, where there’s a gate out onto a narrow lane.

Track to the right of the trees.

Turn left into the woods.

Back into open land.

Found another den!

Bridge to leave the common.

Follow the track to the road.

3. When you get to the lane turn left. There are cars here and no pavement so it’s worth keeping small humans under control. Follow the lane to its end then turn left at the junction and go down the hill into the village of Llangoed.

Follow the lane to the end.

Turn left down the hill to Llangoed.

4. When you get into the village there is a bridge then a car park on your left. You can either turn left before the bridge, or after the bridge and walk through the car park. Both routes lead to the same place. We turned before the bridge and followed the track along the river.

Llangoed.

You basically follow this track now until you join back onto the original path near the bridge. At one point you do pass through a kissing gate and a footpath goes off to the right.

Last time we came we did the longer version of this walk and we took the right turn back into Llangoed, left at the road, then followed the road all the way down to the coast. We then turned left and took the coast path back to the car park. This is a lovely walk if you fancy it, but considerably further. You also need to be aware of the tides, and the final section by the straits is very rocky and uneven.

As I was still a bit tired after Covid I decided the shorter walk was best today, so we carried straight on. Once we joined back up to the original path we just followed that back to the car.