Join us as we explore some of North Wales' hidden gems. We will be walking some of the most beautiful trails in the country and reporting on news, events and activities; both weird and wonderful. We will be trying and testing activities you might not have known North Wales has to offer, some within our comfort zone and others which are very far out!
This is a good time of year to see one of Nature's great spectacles in Aberdaron - great swooping flocks of starlings called murmurations, so named because of the eerie sound of thousands of wings flapping in unison. We can often see the starlings from the conservatory at Manaros wheeling over the open fields, which is what inspired Peter to take these photographs of the power lines behind Manaros.
During Autumn and Winter, hundreds or even thousands of starlings gather together in huge flocks resembling an airborne school of fish, that twist and morph in an almost hypnotic dance. It is believed that the huge flocks give the birds safety in numbers from predatory birds such as hawks. The huge flocks tend to gather in birds from miles around who then roost together overnight for warmth during long, cold winter nights.
The ability of these tiny birds to perform such acrobatic swoops and turns while in such tight formation is truly impressive, and likely thanks to their split second reaction times. Unfortunately these starlings flew off in the wrong direction for Peter to capture their flocking behaviour, but we found this video by Dylan Winter on YouTube to give you some idea of how spectacular it can be -
By coincidence, Peter was at an exhibition at Plas Glyn y Weddw in Llanbedrog the other day, by the artist Ruth Gibson, that had several works inspired by Murmurations. Ruth works in ceramic media and has created a number of beautiful plates and chargers with themes of the natural world. It's well worth checking out her work if you are passing the gallery, or see her website at www.ruthgibsonceramics.co.uk.
The program for the highly successful RS Thomas festival has now been finalised for 2019. We are delighted that an Edge of Wales tour has been included for the first time. This will be a minibus tour of places associated with the poet - St Hywyn's church, the old rectory, his retirement home at Sarn Plas and Mynydd Mawr with its views over to Bardsey Island and St Mary's well, the subject of his poem Ffynnon Fair. This is to take place on Friday the 21st of June 12:30 to 15:00.
One of the benefits of winter is that with the trees bare you can see all sorts of hidden parts of the landscape. I was driving to Pwllheli from Aberdaron the other day and happened to catch this glimpse of the Nanhoron Estate. The main house is from the regency period, but the Harden family have owned this 5000 acre piece of land for 700 years. These days they operate it as an environmentally friendly farm under the Tir Gofal (Land Care) scheme to encourage wildlife.
The winter this year is far from over and we may yet see the sort of snowfall that we experienced last year. However, the weather of late has been nothing short of remarkable and these random photographs were taken last weekend.
Aberdaron beach looking east from the Sailing Club.
Looking west from Rhiw towards Bardsey Island.
Hell's Mouth seen from Penarfynydd near Rhiw.
Pwllheli harbour at low tide.
Pwllheli harbour entrance at low tide.
Early sunset over Pwllheli harbour.
Before you all phone me up to book a holiday, we can't offer you Manaros until March, but we can offer Glandwr, see www.aberdaron-glandwr.co.uk. We can offer a 3 night weekend for just under £300 in January.
We were very glad to welcome our friend Hywel Roberts back to Aberdaron last month. Hywel is based in Minnesota and often brings parties from America to experience his original homeland Wales. Here is the group in front of St Hywyn's with Peter, who was giving them a talk on local history.
We recently hosted the Lancashire Long Distance Walkers Association here on the Llyn Peninsula. Most of the group stayed in the Fairway Country Hotel in Morfa Nefyn, with another couple staying at the Pen Llyn B&B in nearby Dinas. The group stayed for 5 nights commencing on Friday the 21st of September, and walked all the way from Aberdaron to Felinheli near Bangor, an impressive distance of 57 miles! That is what I call fitness!
A month ago we were digging ourselves out from the snow. Today it seems that spring has arrived in full force. Peter went up to Plas yn Rhiw today and took these photographs of a garden beginning to burst with colour.
Manaros is now sold out for full weeks until October but we have 4 short breaks and we offer these below as special offers for our previous customers.
29th April - 4 nights - £480
8th May - 2 nights - £350
26th May - 3 nights - £600
25th June - 3 nights - £450
10th July - 3 nights - £500
If you would like to book any of these dates please get in touch by email on enquiries@aberdaroncottage.co.uk, or by phone on 01758 760 652. We would love to see you.
You would have to go back to 1983 to find the sort of wintry scene that we saw in Aberdaron at the weekend. After a very cold but dry week we had high winds and heavy snow beginning late afternoon on Friday. We awoke to this amazing snowfall on Saturday, something like 9 inches. The road in from Pwllheli was blocked at Rhoshirwaun with heavy drifts of snow blowing across from the valley. Until 4pm there was no way in or out of Aberdaron and I was able to get these photographs which will have to serve us for Christmas cards for the next 35 years!
Drifting across Manaros drive.
I must get that gutter fixed!
Not exactly BBQ weather!
View over the field from Manaros
There were only a dozen in church on Sunday, including the vicar!
Another candidate for the Edge of Wales Christmas Card 2018.
Not too many pilgrims at the Gegin Fawr.
An icy river Daron.
In extreme weather there is no better place to be than Manaros with its underfloor heating, good communications and a multitude of games including this 1000 piece jigsaw of the Speed Map of the Llyn Peninsula.
Our guests enjoyed snowy walks and magnificent food, all of which made for a very memorable weekend.
We've had a busy year here in Aberdaron for both Edge of Wales Walk and Manaros. During the spring we were busy with the filming of our new promotional video. This was produced in partnership with Anglesey Walking Holidays and Walkalongway in Pembrokeshire to encourage walking holidays around the entire coastline of Wales.
The early summer saw the annual RS Thomas Festival take place in and around Aberdaron. Peter has enjoyed Thomas' poetry for years and now serves as treasurer for the RS Thomas and ME Eldridge Society which organises the festival. We were particularly honoured this year to have the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, as our guest of honour.
The organisers and speakers at the 2017 RS Thomas Festival including Dr Williams in the back row and the Society Chair Susan Fogarty in the yellow top. Just behind them you can see the beautiful wooden gate that Peter had commissioned from Dafydd at Felin Uchaf. As you can see we've also replaced the rather ramshackle fence that used to be there.
The festival events were well attended, including this talk by Dr Williams at the village school Ysgol Cryd y Werin.
We were very lucky with the weather during August when Peter's adult children and grandchildren came for their annual summer holiday in Manaros. All the little ones had a fantastic time playing on the beach and in the sea.
We had 3 big groups of walkers this year, from Austria, the UK and Italy. The Llyn is fairly well set up for large groups thanks to hotels like the Woodlands Hall in Edern and the local coach hire companies such as CJS, Nefyn coaches and Berwyn coaches. However, we have plans to improve the offering even further for 2018. More on that later...
This was our Italian party from the walking club Walden Viaggi a Piedi
They mostly had excellent weather here, even in September, as shown in their crossing of Hell's Mouth at low tide.
The weather was good enough to visit Bardsey Island.
Now that the busy season is over we have time to make plans for 2018, and this year we have some big plans! Peter is planning to renovate 1 Dolfor, our office in Aberdaron, completely and convert it into B&B accommodation. We will be able to put up an extra 8 walkers in addition to the 8 in Manaros so we will be an ideal location for walking groups. You can see some of the architect's plans below.
The plan for the new downstairs with a large wheelchair accessible bedroom suitable for families.
We plan to have three ensuite bedrooms upstairs.
With regards to Manaros, we have decided to list it on Sykes holidays website as well as our own. Per their recommendations we have reduced our out-of-season prices, so if you are looking for a good value break it would be a good idea to book early, which you can still do on our own website www.aberdaroncottage.co.uk or over the phone on 01758 760 652.
We'll be sure to keep our blog up to date with any more news and events in Aberdaron but, in the meantime, we would like to wish you and yours Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!
Our architect, Keith Dabson, has produced final
building plans for our ambitious conversion of Dolfor into a 4 bedroom B&B
with all rooms ensuite. It involves building over the path at the back and
making better use of all the roof spaces at the back. It is ingenious and we
looking forward to getting on with the work. Tenders are due back next week
with a start during January.
Readers will know that we at the Edge of Wales
are very active in the R.S. Thomas and M.E. Eldridge Appreciation Society. For four
years we have been part of an annual literary festival held in Aberdaron. As
part of the Festival in 2018 (see rsthomaspoetry.co.uk)
we are organising an extraordinary musical event in Bangor Cathedral on the
afternoon of July 1st. This is to be called “RSThomas for a new generation” and
will incorporate a World Premiere for a work composed by Ellen Davies,
“Pilgrimages”, in which Ensemble Cymru (a small orchestra ) and the Royal
Harpist, Anne Denholm, will perform. Following that there will be another World
Premiere, a choral composition involving the Cathedral Choir, composed by Rob
Moran from Philadelphia. There will also be a series of readings by the Poet
Owen Lowery who was inspired by RS. This is entitled “The poet that prevails”.
This will be an extraordinary musical and literary event and we would urge all
readers to come to it. Normally, tickets for such an event would cost in the
region of £40 each but, as it has been heavily sponsored and is to be held in
the Cathedral-in place of Evensong- tickets are to be without charge but
strictly allocated by the Society.
At the moment the tickets are with the Society. If you would like to reserve
some places then please register with the Society Director, Susan Fogarty on susanfogarty@gmail.com or
write to us.
