Island Games: Get to know ... Ynys Mon

But he backs up his claim by pointing out that 90% of the island’s coastline is formally designated as being within an ‘area of outstanding natural beauty’.

It features a combination of sandy beaches and cliffs with secluded bays, which makes it sound rather like Guernsey. However, if you decide to walk the Anglesey Coastal Path then you’ll need more than a packed lunch.

Whereas Guernsey’s Rotary walk can be completed in 12 hours or so, the Ynys Mon equivalent typically takes 12 days, with the Welsh island being more than 10 times the size.

During the walk, you can expect to see abundant bird species, dolphins and seals and if you head inland, you’ll see plenty of sheep and cattle, with farming being the second biggest contributor to the economy after tourism.

Visitors pour through the Ynys Mon port of Holyhead at a rate of 2 million per year.

‘We’re really the gateway from Ireland,’ David told us, referring to regular ferry services to and from both Dublin and Belfast.

‘And we’ve just been granted freeport status, which should bring in more opportunities for industry and more jobs.’

The new status will allow for goods and materials to be imported, processed and exported without being subject to UK duties, taxes and regulations, making Holyhead an attractive location for remote distribution hubs.

As for the people themselves, David cites a passion for the Welsh language as being a hallmark of their character.

A successful effort to rejuvenate Welsh over recent decades has led to a majority of school leavers being able to understand it or speak it fluently.

Asked what Monwys love to moan about, David said the chief gripes were tourists – as Ynys Mon is a quiet island most of the time – and second-home ownership, which has increased in recent years.

As with most of the islands coming to these games, Ynys Mon counts football as its most popular sport, despite a recent setback.

The Anglesey Football League, which was founded in 1895, folded in 2020.

However, many of the clubs have survived and are now competing in the North Wales Coast West Football League – which sits at tiers four and five of the Welsh Football League.

Athletics has also caught the imagination, with the Menai Track and Field Club encouraging greater participation since its foundation in 2000.

Strictly speaking, the club is not actually on the island but its position on the mainland – a mere javelin’s throw from the narrow Menai Strait which separates the two – has encouraged locals to join and train.

Osian Perrin has become the top-ranked 3,000m runner in Wales and was one of 30 to be named in the island’s biggest-ever Island Games athletics team back in March.

Also in the team will be Iolo Hughes, who took 1,500m gold in Jersey in 2015 and 5,000m gold in the previous games in Bermuda.

The local waters also encourage rowers and sailors, with the latter providing Ynys Mon with its only gold medal at the last games in 2019, when Dominic Breen-Turner pipped Guernsey’s Andrew Bridgman in the laser standard rig. However, a late MRI scan will determine whether he will be fit enough to come to Guernsey and repeat the feat.

Asked whether Ynys Mon had any particular sporting rival, David said this was unlikely ever to develop.

‘We’re the only inhabited island in Wales,’ he said. ‘The nearest Island Games competitor is the Isle of Man but they’re a bit big for us.’

The Island Games has never been hosted by Ynys Mon but that is all set to change in 2027, with the island already having been chosen for the games after next.

The Ynys Mon flag will be carried by Gareth Owen, who will be competing for the sixth time.

He and his wife Deborah have provided the games with one of its more memorable stories, as they met on a ferry to Shetland for the 2005 Island Games, as she was making her way home from a teaching post and he was set to compete as a centre back.

‘We encountered the Ynys Mon football team on the ferry and ended up having a very long night socialising in the bar,’ Deborah recalled in a 2011 article for the IIGA website, that led chairman Jorgen Pettersson to remark that ‘there is more to the NatWest Island Games than sport and competition’.

‘They were a very lively bunch,’ she continued.

‘The team had an okay tournament football wise and a fabulous time socially.’

Most of the Ynys Mon team are arriving by air this time, although some of the shooters will be coming on the ferry.

About Ynys Mon

Area: 714 sq. km (276 sq. miles)

Population: 68,900 (2021 census)

Population density: 96 per sq. km

Time zone: Same as Guernsey

Distance from Guernsey: 443km (275m)

Total IG medals won: 124 (37 G, 35 S, 52 B)

Medals won in 2003: 6 (3 G, 0 S, 3 B)

Competitors coming to Guernsey: 130

Route: Drive to Manchester, fly to Guernsey

Sports in which competing: athletics, badminton, basketball, bowls, cycling, golf, football, sailing, shooting, swimming, triathlon

Biggest sports star: Osian Roberts (football, reached Euro 2016 semi-final as assistant manager with Wales)

National delicacy: Wyau Ynys Mon (mashed potato, leek and eggs in a cheese sauce)

Parliamentary representation: Cyngor Sir Ynys Mon (Isle of Anglesey County Council) has 35 members and the island elects one MS to the 60-seat Senedd Cymru and one MP to the 650-seat House of Commons