Sunday, 1 May 2011

Coastwalk , Llŷn Coastal Path

Aberdaron → Abersoch

aberdaron.png Distance: 17.1 miles
Ascent: 1020 metres
Duration: 6 hours 10 minutes

R.S. Thomas country
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R.S. Thomas was the vicar of St Hywyn's church, Aberdaron, from 1967 until his retirement in 1978. His poem The Other captures the isolation and sense of remoteness that it is maybe harder to feel on a warm, spring day.

There are nights that are so still
that I can hear the small owl calling
far off and a fox barking
miles away. It is than that I lie
in the lean hours awake listening
to the swell born somewhere in the Atlantic
rising and falling, rising and falling
wave on wave on the long shore
by the village, that is without light
and companionless. And the thought comes
of that other being who is awake, too,
letting our prayers break on him
not like this for a few hours,
but for days, years, for eternity.

hells-mouth.png

After passing through the village of Rhiw (whose cliffs RS walked regularly on retirement) we carefully clambered down the crumbling cliffs to the long, exposed beach of Porth Neigwl, known in English as Hell's Mouth. This deceptively dangerous area of coast is famous for its wrecks and strong tidal currents.

One headland later we reached Abersoch, which had transformed from a deserted sleepy village this morning into a bustling hub of surfer chic as the day wore on.

Posted by pab at 19:05 | Comments will be back later in the year. Please email me instead!