Lleyn, Llin, Which?

 Tuesday, June 23

Pwllheli was the birth place of  Plaid Cymru, the Welsh Nationalist Party. As a teenager, I belonged to Urdd Gobaith Cymru, known as the Urdd. It's a national voluntary youth organisation set up to provide opportunities for 8-25 year olds through the medium of welsh. I joined because there were three residential centres where one could go on holiday, and join in sports not available at home. I took part in two of them at two different centres, age related. Criccieth was swimming and hiking. There we South Wales girls shared a room with four North Walians. We were meant to speak Welsh all the time. Ironically, neither group understood the welsh of the other, English became the common language - and that was difficult enough. Both accents and dialects are very different.

Bala was an enormous, rambling house beside the Lake Bala, accessible only by a boat across the lake from a specially commissioned train stop. Very Harry Potter. There, I learnt to row in proper eights with sliding seats and swivelling rowlocks. 

Criccieth, and a twitch to see Lesser Grey Shrike near Aberdaron, are my only previous visits to the Lleyn/Llin/LLyn peninsula. We decided to explore the area. As in Yorkshire last year, we found everywhere remotely attractive over-run by staycationers. Aberdaron with its packed houses set around a mile long bay, was a fishing village and a base for the pilgrims crossing to Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island). It now has a bustling harbour, narrow streets and a very small car park. The FULL sign was already in place.

Ynys Enlli

We drove on to Porth Meudwy, once the set off point for pilgrims, now a small cove for local fishermen. The route was along narrow lanes lined with high hedges and flowering verges, reminiscent of Cornwall and Gower. It ended at a small dell, an almost  circular, sandy  area with room for a dozen cars. We squeezed in near the sign and a track which led towards the sea. Pleasantly warm in the sunshine, hot if you were exposed to it, we lunched here. I did a crossword and we both did the DT word game - yesterday's paper.

Maybe Nefyn, on the north west coast, would be less crowded. Yes it was, because after driving down a very steep and narrow approach road, the parking area only held a dozen cars, parked on a slope leading down to this rather lovely bay. Room for us, fortunately.

 

Frustratingly, we heard Choughs - there are over 60 pairs on Llyn - but couldn't see them. We later saw two flying away over the roof tops as we left the village. Much of the rocky coast is only accessible on foot.

We put two traps out last night. The portable 20W actinic, was put out because I wanted to test the battery. It actually caught more moths than the MV Robinson. It was this trap that held both the Dark Spectacle

 

and the True Lover's Knot. Both new for the year and not an annual certainty at home.