Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Braich-y-Pwll
(NT; Uwchmynyyd)
While the boats for Bardsey now leave from Porth Meudwy, this rugged
headland on the very tip of the Llŷn Peninsula is where the medieval pilgrims set off from
- and one glimpse of the surf-pounded rocks will reinforce what a terrifying final voyage
that must have been. It's an incredibly dramatic, ancient-looking landscape, with Bardsey
rising out of the slate-grey sea like the mystical Avalon. A path leads down past the earth-
works that are all that remain of St Mary's Abbey, to a neolithic standing stone known as
Maen Melyn, bent like a finger towards the island and suggesting this was a holy place
long before the Celts or their saints arrived.
A natural freshwater spring issues from a cleft in the rock below the high-tide mark;
called St Mary's Well (Ffynnon Fair), it was held to be holy and pilgrims would sip the
water before setting out. There are sheer drops to the sea and high surf, so we don't re-
commend you attempt it.
Inland are strip fields that preserve many of the patterns of ancient land use. Keep an
eye out for choughs, a cheeky red-legged relation of the crow, and the rare spotted rock
rose - this is the only place on the British mainland where this yellow bloom is found.
OUTDOORS
Porth Oer
(NT; car park £1.50)
This lovely remote scoop of beach, 2.5 miles north of Aberdaron, has sand
that squeaks when you walk on it, giving it it's English name, Whispering Sands. From
here it's a 2-mile coastal walk southwest via the twin headlands of Dinas Bach and Dinas
Fawr to the cove of Porth Orion.
BEACH
St Gwynhoedl's Church
(Llangwnnadl)
Part of the chain of pilgrim's churches leading to Bardsey, pretty St Gwyn-
hoedl's looks like three churches fused together. It still has its 15th- and 16th-century roof
timbers, and embedded in one of the walls is a Celtic Cross dating from around AD 600.
Check out the carved font; the crowned figure represents Henry VIII. The church is 5
miles north of Aberdaron, off the B4417.
CHURCH
Sleeping & Eating
Tŷ Newydd
HOTEL
££
