Thomas Telford's Menai Suspension Bridge, completed in 1826, is one of the great works of civil engineering. It was built to carry the London to Holyhead road (now the A5) across the Menai Strait, and its elegant proportions — tall limestone towers, sweeping chains, a roadway 30 metres above high water — remain visually stunning nearly two centuries later.
Walking across the bridge takes about five minutes and is free. The best view is from the Anglesey shore, looking back at the bridge with the mountains of Snowdonia in the distance. Below the bridge, at low tide, you can pick your way along the shoreline under the main span. The parallel Britannia Bridge (rebuilt 1970) carries the railway a kilometre to the southwest — compare the two and appreciate how differently each generation approached the same problem.