Surfs Up!

With the storm now abated it is Monday and surf is up. Here are some photographs of some customers from Manaros enjoying the challenge of the waves.

Challenging conditions as high tide approaches. 

"Life Roaring in the Veins." 

Thrills and spills at the sea edge.

Going back for more.

A stormy old day in Aberdaron

At high tide the sea funnels up the river. Flooding is caused when a very high tide coincides with a south westerly wind and heavy river flow due to rain. Fortunately on Saturday the rain held off.

The recent August storms came as quite a shock. There are now 5 flood warnings in Gwynedd and Conwy. The music festival at Llanbedrog, Glass Butter Beach, was washed out on Saturday.

Aberdaron Bay at high tide on Saturday morning.

The sea wall took quite a battering.

Not exactly beach weather!

Nefyn Maritime Museum Revisited

The recent stormy weather has made us and our customers search for indoor attractions and there is none finer than the Nefyn Maritime Museum. It has a number of great advantages. It is open everyday except for Mondays and Tuesdays from 10:30 am to 4 pm. It has a cafe and some interesting items, toys and cards that can be bought as souvenirs. It is free to enter but please buy some raffle tickets to help this voluntary group continue to keep the museum open. It has free parking. Most of all it has some fascinating exhibits relating to the time when Nefyn was a great seaport, a place of trade and maritime services and a prosperous fishing village.

The Museum is situated in the old church in Nefyn and can be found by reference to its famous tower and weather vane. 

There is good parking and an excellent disabled access.

There is a small lecture theatre within the museum and a colourful display of flags.

Nefyn was a famous port for herring and this fish forms part of the coast of arms of Nefyn.

Nefyn beach and its Fishermen in the 19th Century.

There are a number of interesting exhibits such as this carved wooden figurehead.

There are many model boats and paintings of ships.

Here is the remains of a skull of a killer whale found on a nearby beach in the 1990s

There are a number of exhibits which would be interesting to children. A play ship outside and also dressing up boxes. This is a model of a cabin full of bunk beds in which the sailors would have slept on sea going vessels. The sound of the sea and the creaking of the timbers amuses children of all ages.

Looking Forward to the R.S. Thomas Festival 2017

It has been announced that the R.S. Thomas festival 2017 will be held on the 9th, 10th and 11th of June, with the overall theme of R.S. Thomas and the Church in Wales. The main speakers will be Professor Helen Wilcox, Professor M. Wynn Thomas and, someone known to everyone, the Lord Williams of Oystermouth, the Right Reverend and Right Honourable Rowan Williams, sometime Archbishop of Canterbury and Archbishop of Wales and now Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. This is very good news.

Dr Williams will be preaching at the Communion Service at 10 am on Sunday the 11th. He will be staying with his wife in the village for the whole of the festival and we are all looking forward to meeting him. I wonder what he will make of us?
If you are interested in more information about the festival then please contact the organiser, Ms Susan Fogarty, susanafogarty@gmail.com.

Welsh Language Taster Sessions

Until the end of August, tutor Llion Williams will be running taster sessions to introduce people to some basic Welsh words and phrases. You can learn how to greet people, and order food and a "peint o cwrw" at a bar. The sessions last an hour and a half starting at 11am on Mondays Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On Monday and Wednesday they are held at the Gwesty Ty Newydd in Aberdaron and on Tuesdays they are held at Nant Gwrtheyrn.

£4 adults / £2 children / £10 family.

Noson Lawen at the Round House!

A Noson Lawen, or "Merry Night" is a traditional form of entertainment in Wales, during which people gather for an evening of music, dancing, and sometimes story telling, and is similar to the Cèilidhs of Ireland and Scotland. One such event is happening very soon on Wednesday the 17th of August in the Roundhouse at Felin Uchaf. Tickets cost £5 and are available at the Porth y Swnt centre in Aberdaron or on the night.

Aberdaron beach - it’s wonderful to be beside the sea!

With so much investment in food outlets and the NT Porth y Swnt and car park, you might expect Aberdaron beach to be crowded out with holidaymakers on the sand and with boats launching from the shore. However, we can report that this is not the case. Powerboats can no longer launch from the church slipway and have to go through the NT car park instead, paying a hefty fee. This has led to their virtual disappearance. This has made the beach area around the church wall and the Ty Newydd much quieter and safer for families with young children and a lot of visitors to Manaros are choosing this as a location rather than trekking out to Whistling Sands.

The Hewlett children having fun in the breakers.

The view from the Ty Newydd Terrace. One of the few boats that are launched from Aberdaron beach these days.

Handy tips from the Rambler Association

As subscribers to the Ramblers Association newsletter we received this very handy tutorial on using a map and compass. Even in the age of GPS, knowing how to use a map and compass is a very valuable skill. GPS batteries don't last forever, after all.

Sacred Land Conference in Manaros, Aberdaron - Friday 7th to Sunday 9th October

A lot of visitors to the Llyn feel that they are in an enchanted landscape. There is now an opportunity to discover more about this and how it is connected to the life of Earth's great story, to religious inspiration, and our sense of well-being. We are holding a conference weekend at our house in Aberdaron and this is being hosted by the Reverend Tim Higgins who has moved on to the Llyn from the Bristol area. He is a Tertiary Franciscan and Anglican priest.

Guest speakers for the weekend include -

Mary Colwell who is a documentary film maker. She has 14 awards for outstanding work in film making. She advises on faith and environment and she is a brilliant speaker. See www.curlewmedia.com

Martin Palmer who is the General Secretary of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, who has recently published a book "Sacred Land - Decoding Britain's Past". See www.sacredlandproject.org.

Dafydd Hughes-Davies, the founder of Felin Uchaf, an Earth Centre and a working model of international environmental learning from heritage. This is situated in Rhoshirwaun only 3 miles from Aberdaron. See www.felinuchaf.org.







The program runs from Friday evening on the 7th of October through to the afternoon of Sunday the 9th of October. You can attend as a non resident for £45 or stay in luxury accommodation at our accommodation Manaros or nearby Afallon. Sharing with full board over 3 nights including program fees is £171 per person. £211 for singles. An extra night's accommodation can be provided at £63 for sharing and £83 for singles.

Further details can be obtained from Tim Higgins tim.tssf@gmail.com, telephone 01758 770 303