"The Stacks" run Sunday, September 17, 2006

A SLEEPING PENRHYN MAWR

Sunshine bathed Anglesey yesterday as Alun and I enjoyed what must be one of the world's best paddles. We carried our kayaks down the golden sands of Porthdafarch Beach, dodging kids with bucket and spade, mum and dad on deckchairs, divers getting their tanks ready, and more kids on inflatible dolphins. 1 foot waves and a very slight breeze made me hope the open sea might have a bit of texture to play on. First stop was Penrhyn Mawr which was almost completely flat on the way north; just a widespread rippling of the surface and a very slight churning noise giving away the dormant power of my favourite tidal race.


We carried straight on towards the pretty South Stack Lighthouse, detouring close into the cliffs to take our kayaks through narrow gaps, and to see who was doing what on the world-class climbs. It's a stunning area, with wonderfully convoluted ancient grey and green cliffs which look more like squashed plasticine than hard rock.

The rising tide spurted us through the gap between South Stack and the mainland and we were on our way to North Stack. After another detour to the cliffs and a chat with some friends we started to make our way back. Penrhyn Mawr was running a bit now and we had a brief surf and felt the exhilaration of free riding on the sea. "The Stacks" is one of my favourite paddles and it was great to get out there again! Especially on such a lovely day!