Deep Blue Sea Life

Our little village of Aberdaron has a strange new guest staying over the summer. A rare and beautiful blue lobster.

Local fisherman Steve Harrison noticed the unusual lobster among the more usual greenish brown specimens in one of his pots. “I noticed a flash of blue when I pulled the lobster pots up and as I looked in saw it was a blue lobster. “I’d caught blue ones before but never one so blue. It’s not often you see blue lobsters and even this one’s antenna was blue so it was a very rare catch."

Steve in Aberdaron

The blue colour is caused by a rare mutation found in about 1 in 2 million lobsters. Other even rarer colours exist including bright red, yellow, calico and pure white, which is the rarest of all at 1 in 100 million.

Steve is currently keeping the lobster on display in his aquarium at the Sblash Fish 'n Chip shop in Aberdaron. At the end of the summer he plans to release it back into the wild.

Cae Gwyn

A beautiful evening spent in the Clwydian Range yesterday and a chance to see some new self-catering accommodation being built at Tremeirchion, Cae Gwyn. Once complete they will be bookable through Cottages 4 You and these new facilities will provide flexible accommodation of very high quality. These properties will be of particular interest to walkers who could use it as a base for perhaps a four night holiday exploring the northern section of Offa's Dyke. All this could be linked with a few days on the Wales Coast Path on the Northern Coast or a day or two in the Carneddau. It is a significant investment by the owners Amanda and Thomas Kirkpatrick and this will be a useful addition to the accommodation offer in the area. You can contact Thomas or Amanda by phone on 079 2391 1546.

Cae Gwyn is an impressive country house just to the east of Tremeirchion. Offa's Dyke path rises a few 100 metres behind the house.

Offa's dyke path is within easy walking distance to the east.

Views to the west of Hiraethog and Snowdonia. To the north there is a distant view of the sea.

The village is captivating and there is an interesting church dedicated to Corpus Christi and St Beuno's Well.

There is an intricately carved preaching cross just outside the church.

On the left of the knave there is the impressive 14th century tomb of the priest Dafydd ap Hywel ap Madog.

These two semi detached cottages are called the Creamery and the Forge and will provide flexible accommodation with good sitting out and cooking areas. The two cottages can be combined with an interconnecting staircase to make one unit for 6 people.

The Kitchen and dining area in the Creamery.

This is "the bothy" which is still under conversion but will provide one twin room and a luxury bathroom and a cooking area.

there is a major barbecue installation just waiting to be used

This is the barbecue and sitting out area which contains woodland and a pond in a truly magnificent setting.

Geocaching on Holyhead Mountain

As part of Anglesey Walking and Cycling Festival, Walking North Wales was asked to provide geocaching days for local primary school children as a way of introducing them to basic orienteering and GPS. The Breakwater Country Park was selected as the best location and on Wednesday the 11th of June, 27 pupils from Pentraeth Junior School enjoyed a morning of an introduction to geocaching by the Walking North Wales team.

Stena Ferry provided an interesting back drop to the searching for caches on a perfect day.

Our first cache was deep in a nettle bank, but the second was easier to find and the children correctly identified the cache hidden in a fake log.

If you fancy having a go yourselves, there are plenty more geocaches in the area. Search for them on www.geocaching.com. 

Into the Dawn - Summer Solstice all night traverse of the Carneddau

The Snowdonia Society have some last minutes places for the following walk on Saturday June 21st.

Celebrate the Summer Solstice with the Snowdonia Society by walking all night on a full traverse of the Carneddau guided by Alun Pugh.  A minibus will take you from Capel Curig to Abergwyngregyn. From there you will walk to the roof of Wales and if it is clear see the mid summer Sunrise, before arriving back at Capel Curig for an early breakfast. You can then return home to your bed!

Good level of fitness required - 35 kilometres and lots of uphill.
Bring food and a drink, a torch, a raincoat and waterproof trousers, extra warm layers, gloves/hat/scarf and walking boots. Map and compass optional.
All under 18s should be accompanied by an adult.
Cost: members of the Snowdonia Society: £17; non-members: £23 (Including bus transfer). Payment will be collected on the minibus.( Please note that due to the high demand for places on this event and the cost of the bus transfer, any places that are cancelled after Tuesday 17th June will still need to be paid for.)