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| This is an account of the walk which I wrote for our church magazine in Manchester: | | This is an account of the walk which I wrote for our church magazine in Manchester: |
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| == Walking with a purpose ==
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| Two miles beyond the westernmost tip of Llŷn/the Lleyn peninsula in North Wales lies
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| Bardsey Island, a important place of Christian pilgrimage since the sixth century. Nearby
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| on the mainland is the small village of Aberdaron, from where many pilgrims set off on the
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| final leg of their journey – Bardsey's Welsh name, Ynys Enlli “island of the tides”, hints at
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| the perils of the crossing.
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| Judy and I love the serene St Hywyn's Church, almost on the beach in Aberdaron, and the
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| poetry of R. S. Thomas, its vicar in the 1970s. We have vivid memories of a Bangor
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| Diocesan pilgrimage with hundreds of pilgrims packing St Hywyn's – we had to receive our
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| Communion in the churchyard in the wind and rain! It was quite natural then that the first
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| part of my 70th birthday walk, to the westernmost tip of Llŷn, became something of a
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| pilgrimage, though this time there was no rain and we would have liked more wind to keep
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| us cool in the blazing sun.
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| One mediaeval pilgrim route to Aberdaron starts 130 miles away at Holywell, so starting
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| from Caernarfon, a mere 43 miles away along the Wales Coast Path, was taking it
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| comparatively easily. We – Judy, our friend Peter Kelly and I – walked nearly ten miles on
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| the first day, along the shoreline so quite flat. The second day was completely different –
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| after the only serious climb of the whole walk, we crossed Bwlch yr Eifl, at 1,400' above
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| sea level with glorious views in all directions; 18 miles so far.
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| The next day we were joined
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| by our youngest son Dominic, his girlfriend Nic, Judy's sister Sally and her husband Ty so
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| we were a party of seven. Our route took us past the Ty Coch Inn at Porth Dinllaen which
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| had just been voted “the third-best beach bar in the world”, creating much excitement
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| locally, so we had to stop there for lunch! By the end of the day we had walked to the
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| village of Edern, 25 miles from Caernarfon.
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| In the next two days we covered 18 miles from Edern to Aberdaron, the most remote and
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| dramatic stretch of the entire walk. There is an inescapable feeling of walking to the edge,
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| to what the Romans called finistere, and thought of as the end the world. As R. S.
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| Thomas described his journey there
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| I have crawled out at last,
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| far as I dare on to a bough
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| of country that is suspended
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| between sky and sea.
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| We rested for an hour at Pentire camp site, whose owner offers refreshments to bona fide
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| pilgrims, which she defined as those “walking with a purpose”. On a baking hot day her
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| home-made elderflower cordial was very welcome. Unfortunately, we arrived in Aberdaron
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| having walked 43 miles from Caernarfon too late to visit St Hywyn's.
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| By this stage Judy, Peter and I were feeling rather drained by the heat so on Saturday 20
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| July we walked only five miles, from Hell's Mouth to Bwlchtocyn, for a wonderful barbecue
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| in the setting sun at Dominic and Nic's camp site. On the Sunday Nicholas, our middle
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| son, walked with us from Bwlchtocyn as far as Abersoch before he had to dash back to his
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| student medical placement at Chesterfield Hospital. Dominic and Nic returned to London
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| but a few hours later we were joined by Margaret, Peter's wife and Pauline, another old
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| friend.
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| The next day we returned to Aberdaron to walk to Plas-yn-Rhiw, and lost our way, briefly, for the only time in the whole ten days. By this time Peter and I had walked the Wales
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| Coast Path from Caernarfon to Llanbedrog, apart from three shortish sections which were
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| mainly on roads, bringing our total to 63 miles. The south coast of Llŷn between
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| Llanbedrog and Criccieth is rather dull so we returned for a day to the north coast to show
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| Margaret and Pauline the wildlife and dramatic scenery. This added six miles to our total
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| and allowed us a very brief visit to St Hywyn's. That evening we were delighted to be
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| joined by our close friends Chandra and Asoka – they had planned to be there throughout,
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| but in the event were prevented from being us until the final day.
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| The final day, Wednesday 24 July, was my birthday. The easy 5-mile walk from the
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| delightful seaside town of Criccieth to the delightful seaside village of Borth-y-Gest was
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| everything I could have wished for. There was glorious sunshine, the very familiar
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| magnificent scenery and excellent company. We built a cairn of 70 stones on a quiet inlet
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| off the Glaslyn estuary to mark the official completion of 70 miles and recognise the sense
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| of a pilgrimage which had lasted throughout. In the evening we returned to Bryn Teg, our
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| house in Dolwyddelan, had a pleasant meal in the nearby hotel and a chocolate birthday
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| cake baked by a neighbour, rounding off a wonderful birthday.
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| The experience exceeded my expectations in every way. We visited familiar places
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| bringing back treasured memories of many holidays spent in Llŷn but also discovered
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| picturesque coves and beaches we did not know. It was a delight to have the support of
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| family and friends for every stage of the walk and to feel the growing sense of walking with
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| a purpose.
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| My purpose was raising money for Christian Aid and Oxfam. Donations and promises so
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| far come to more than £700* so my thanks to all these sponsors. According to Christian
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| Aid's emergency appeal for Syrian refugees:
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| • £200 will provide food for a refugee family for a month – including milk, cheese and
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| beans to keep children healthy.
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| • £500 will provide 20 women with hygiene kits to ensure they remain healthy even in
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| unsanitary conditions.
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| * Now over £1,000 raised so thanks again to all involved.
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