Saturday, 20 August 2011

Coastwalk

Colwyn Bay → Conwy Morfa

st-trillo-church.png Distance: 17.4 miles
Ascent: 316 metres
Duration: 5 hours 58 minutes

St Trillo
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Hooray for generous relatives who live near the sea! We're in North Wales for another weekend, being spoilt rotten by my uncle and aunt from whose house opens up a lovely view of Conwy with its tremendous castle.

It would be easy to write about the obvious features on today's walk: the Little and Great Orme, the walled town of Conwy, its castle and bridges. However, sometimes on a walk the most memorable sight is the one you weren't expecting.

st-trillo-altar.pngIn Rhôs-on-Sea, tucked just out of the way of the prom is St Trillo's Chapel, said to be the smallest church in the United Kingdom. Despite the great antiquity of the site - St Trillo is said to have built his cell here in the 6th century after arriving from Brittany - it was hard to get a real sense of the history of the place.

The marshland, or 'rhos', has long since been drained, and the monk's original wattle-and-daub cell with its stone enclosure has been replaced by a later building; maybe it was this that meant that the chapel had a strange lack of presence. The one original remaining feature is a small, rough-cut well in the floor in front of the altar, still flowing with fresh water, and somehow at odds with the Victorian artifice of the whitewash and stained glass.

Posted by pab at 18:43 | Comments will be back later in the year. Please email me instead!