Our notional start point for Lon Las Cefni is the cycle hire point at Llangefni golf club. This helps section the route into three bite-size chunks.

The first two parts are mostly traffic free and undemanding; the Newborough Forest part is slightly more challenging due to forestry tracks which can be a little slippery.

Llangefni to Llyn Cefni (Cefni Reservoir)
The cycle route to Llyn Cefni (Llyn is Welsh for lake) passes through The Dingle nature reserve. This beautiful, densely forested area runs parallel to the disused Anglesey Central Railway line. The Dingle also has an amazing ‘boardwalk’ above the river and wetlands; though this is for walkers only.

As you leave the forest the environment changes to a marshland environment, alive with vividly coloured grasses and flowers. This marshland continues almost until the reservoir itself. Completed in 1951, Cefni Reservoir covers some 86 hectares of land and is a wonderfully peaceful place to spend some time watching the Buzzards wheeling in the sky searching for a meal.

Llangefni to Malltraeth
After leaving the market town of Llangefni the route mostly runs parallel to the river Cefni, all the way to its estuary in Malltraeth. The route is very flat and exceptionally suitable for families or less confident cyclists.

The land around you is called Malltraeth Marsh and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The marshland was ‘reclaimed’ from the sea in the 1800s after the building of a dyke in Malltraeth, and the canalisation of the river Cefni in 1824.

The area is particularly notable for wetland birds including the Eurasian bittern and grey heron. It’s also home to a number of insects, including the hairy dragonfly.

Newborough Forest
From the little village of Malltraeth, the route runs along the top of the dyke to Newborough forest. The forest was planted in the late 1940s in order to stabilise the dunes, and are largely Corsican pine. The forest is one of the most important red squirrel conservation sites in the United Kingdom.