Woolly says – Time for our next mini adventure and as I sat watching the scenery go by Jo and I chatted about how our world has changed. No longer do we make a decision the night before and head off somewhere exciting, now everything has to be planned up to a week in advance and the booking of tickets for places of interest seems to leave Jo gnashing her teeth rather a lot. In the interests of keeping us safe and seeing the number of places that are under local lockdown there is actually little point in planning more than a day or so in front as it is an ever changing covid situation.  I was just glad that we were off somewhere and that somewhere seemed to include an awful lot of beaches with nasty wet stuff on it.

With so much shut a beach sounds wonderful to me and Alfie the Dog!

Woolly says – having refused to walk on sand and had the promise of being carried everywhere I had conceded to the day’s activities. First port of call was into the town of Criccieth. Based on the Llyn peninsula it has two claims to fame, it’s castle and the fact that the British prime minister, David Lloyd George, grew up in the area, now it could also add a new claim, that of me visiting.

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We already knew that the lovely castle was closed but it would make a good stop off on the journey and having found a parking spot right by the stronghold, we stood and admired its splendour.

Built in 1230, I could only wish to see more of its lovely towers that marked the entrance and what lay beyond its portcullis, instead we got to walk along the beach with the panting machine racing in and out of the sea. 

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Once he seemed to have worn himself out it was back into the car and along the coast road to the seaside town of Abersoch.

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Originally a fishing village it has now turned itself into a small tourist area with a range of shops and eateries for the holiday makers. It wasn’t what I would call pretty but the beach was actually rather nice with beautiful golden sands that stretched around the town perimeter.

Alfie the Dog spent a happy half an hour or so racing around the sand with a variety of other pooches who were all as wet and bedraggled as himself.

It was lovely to watch him enjoy himself as I talked to a lovely couple about him and our life of blogging as well as the current situation and we shared covid stories.

Woolly says – With my tummy rumbling and the mutt finally caught, we wandered back into the town on the search for food, nothing much appealed and having received a snack to keep me going we headed to our final destination of the day.

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Aberdaron is another former fishing village at the western tip of the Llŷn Peninsula, the community includes Bardsey Island and the village was the last rest stop for pilgrims heading to Bardsey Island, the legendary “island of 20,000 saints”. In the 18th and 19th centuries it developed as a shipbuilding centre and port. The mining and quarrying industries became major employers, and limestone, lead, jasper and manganese (“Mango”) were all exported from here.

It was a really quaint place, small and beautifully formed and having consumed an excellent lunch in the former rest stop now café we wandered towards the church.

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The Church of St Hywyn has its origins as a clas settlement from the Dark Ages of the 5th to the 7th centuries. The clas was founded by St Hywyn, an early Welsh Saint, with the settlement rising in importance after 1190 when Bardsey Island, was declared a place of pilgrimage by the Papacy. The present building was first recorded in 1115 with further building taking place in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Following the Reformation, the church declined, experiencing a long history of non-resident clergy and by the 1840s, it had become ruinous and a new church was built further inland. The new church proved to be unpopular, however, and by 1868 the original church had been restored and brought back into use. It was really sweet and having walked around it’s exterior and taken our pictures we moved onto the third beach of the day.

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Alife the Dog was off again, considering how short his legs are he could certainly turn a pace although catching the gulls proved to be harder than he had envisaged.

With a soaking wet sand covered dog and a mammoth moaning that he was beached out it was time to head to our digs for the night knowing that tomorrow would be spent underground!