Tuesday May 6th 2025
Today we were exploring the Llyn Peninsula which juts out on the west side of North Wales. Our first stop was a hike that promised awesome views and an Iron Age hillfort. We parked at Yr Eifl Car Park. From there you cross the road and follow the path up through the fields towards the Tre’r Ceiri Hillfort. Coming up the hill I didn’t notice as we made our way through the walls—it was hard to tell the difference between that and the natural jumble of rocks—but once up on top, the walls and circular dwellings were more obvious. First built around 200BC, the site continued as a settlement during the Roman occupation when it may have had as many as 400 people living there. The round stone houses would have had turf roofs. We had a bit of a wander round and through the ruins on our way out towards the second peak, higher peak, Yr Eifl. The path was a little bit rough up there, but nothing too hard and the views from the top were amazing.
Back at the car we continued down the road to Nant Gwrtheyrn (no idea how to pronounce that), which occupies the buildings of the former quarrying village Porth y Nant. The village was abandoned during World War II. Nant Gwrtheyrn is a Welsh language centre with accommodation. We checked out the small heritage centre which was quite interesting and the Quarryman’s cottage. We had originally planned to eat lunch at the cafe but we felt it was a bit early for lunch.
We decided that we could make it to an iconic Welsh pub, Ty Coch, for lunch and hit the road. Of course, nothing is very far in Wales so twenty minutes later we were parking in the Nefyn Gold Club. It’s about a 20 minute walk to the village of Porthdinllaen where the pub is located. Car access is only for residents. From the car park we walked straight up past the Club house and down the path between holes.
The village is picture perfect and there were a good number of people enjoying the sunny weather. You’ll see in the photos there were a lot of people enjoying the outdoors, some even in shorts and T-shirts, but it was a little chilly for us, so we chose a little table inside that looked out onto the water. After lunch we went for a walk around the headland.
Our bellies were still full when we hopped into the car to drive to our next stop—Mynydd Mawr. This was not straight forward, the roads are extremely narrow and we were left wondering at various times whether we were still on a road or not, in fact we backed back and parked and walked up the final section because we weren’t sure you could drive up. Once up there we saw that there were cars up there but I’m unsure where we would have got off the tiny road if a car was coming the other way. From this high point there are views across the Irish Sea with a great view of Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island), a welsh pilgrimage site.
There are some walks to do here, but we didn’t have time to do them, so we drove down to Aberdaron and popped into Becws Islyn Bakery for some treats that we ate while sitting on a seat overlooking the beach. Then we wandered up to St Hywyn’s Church. Pilgrim’s traveling to the abbey on Bardsey Island would sail from here and the church expanded to accommodate them.
By this time it was late afternoon and time to head towards home, but on the way we couldn’t miss stopping at Cricieth for some more castle spotting. The castle was originally built by Llywelyn the Great and featured in the Welsh Princes trilogy so I was keen to see it. It occupies an impressive site on the top of the headland overlooking the water. We parked not far from the castle and, walking down the street, went past a fish and chips shop with a big line (Castle Fish and Chips if you’re heading that way). Although we’d been eating junk all day we decided that we couldn’t pass up this opportunity and ordered some, taking them down to the beach to eat. They were good—following the crowd worked this time. Afterwards we got a yummy icecream from Cadwaladers Icecream, then it was time to head for home. We both vowed that the next day needed some fruit of veggies on the menu.
Total steps: 25,276
Comments
7 responses to “Wales Day 5: Llyn Peninsula”
Oooh I love an old church.
The pubs look exactly what I would picture a Welsh pub to look like! Minus the nachos – but wow they look tasty!
I know the nachos was a kind of funny dish at a Welsh pub.
This little town is so cute. I have been to Ireland before when it was chilly out, and yet – people were swimming. We saw toddler boys swimming in the buff. I was like HOW ARE THEY NOT FREEZING? One person’s cold is different than another person’s cold, I guess – right? Again, great photos and those nachos look amazing. I laughed at the desire for some fruit and veggies the next day. Ha ha.
Yes agreed. You get acclimatised to where you live. We were generally more warmly dressed than most people in Wales. Eating rubbish food is fine until it’s not, and then you just feel rubbish.
That old church is so cute.
I am not sure how I feel about getting served a dish in tin foil in a restaurant though.
The little pink flowers are the ones I learned to make wreath with from my granny. They grew on the cemetery and I have a plant on my terrace. I managed to keep it alive for many years (they are very forgiving) and it moved with me twice.
I think because they also serve them up to customers on the beach, they just do all the Nachos in the tin foil. Those pink flowers must be very hardy because we saw them growing up in the rocks in all sorts of places round Wales.
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