Entrance to the Menai Straits. The Menai Strait is a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about 25 km long, which separates the island of Anglesey from the mainland of Wales.
The strait is bridged in two places: the Menai Suspension Bridge carrying the A5, and Robert Stephenson's 1850 Britannia Tubular Bridge. Originally the Britannia carried rail traffic in two wrought-iron rectangular box spans but after a disastrous fire in 1970, which left only the limestone pillars remaining, it was rebuilt as a steel box girder bridge, and now carries both rail and road traffic.
Between the two bridge crossings there is a small island in the middle of the strait, Ynys Gorad Goch, on which are built a house and outbuildings and around which are the significant remains of fish traps, no longer used. The strait varies in width from 400 metres from Fort Belan to Abermenai Point to 1,100 metres from Traeth Gwyllt to Caernarfon Castle.
It then narrows to 500 metres in the middle reaches and then it broadens again. At Bangor, Garth Pier, it is 900 metres wide.
It then widens out, and the distance from Puffin Island to Penmaenmawr is about 8 kilometres. The differential tides at the two ends of the strait cause very strong currents to flow in both directions through the strait at different times, creating dangerous conditions. One of the most dangerous areas of the strait is known as the Swellies between the two bridges. Here
The strait is bridged in two places: the Menai Suspension Bridge carrying the A5, and Robert Stephenson's 1850 Britannia Tubular Bridge. Originally the Britannia carried rail traffic in two wrought-iron rectangular box spans but after a disastrous fire in 1970, which left only the limestone pillars remaining, it was rebuilt as a steel box girder bridge, and now carries both rail and road traffic.
Between the two bridge crossings there is a small island in the middle of the strait, Ynys Gorad Goch, on which are built a house and outbuildings and around which are the significant remains of fish traps, no longer used. The strait varies in width from 400 metres from Fort Belan to Abermenai Point to 1,100 metres from Traeth Gwyllt to Caernarfon Castle.
It then narrows to 500 metres in the middle reaches and then it broadens again. At Bangor, Garth Pier, it is 900 metres wide.
It then widens out, and the distance from Puffin Island to Penmaenmawr is about 8 kilometres. The differential tides at the two ends of the strait cause very strong currents to flow in both directions through the strait at different times, creating dangerous conditions. One of the most dangerous areas of the strait is known as the Swellies between the two bridges. Here
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