Starting off today it was only a walk of a few hundred yards and I was back on the trail at Porth Ychain. The weather did not quite know what it wanted to do at this stage of the day and it was a bit chilly, overcast and with some light mist on the coast. However, it was not thick enough to prevent me having a view and, to the south, I could see along the line of the cliffs all the way back to Mynydd Anelog. The view north was blocked by the undulations of the land, but looking inland I could see over to Garn Boduan (279 metres), site of one of the largest Iron Age hillforts in Great Britain and on which there are still substantial remians to be seen.
Despite the fact there was no rain, the beach was completely empty. Although I could hear the shouts and laughter of children on the wind there was not hide nor hair of them to be seen. As I moved on from Towyn the noise of the invisible children faded to be replaced by the cry of equally invisible seals. I could hear the forlorn lament of the seals for some distance as I walked the cliff, their sad wail carrying on the wind. When I eventually found them they were frolicking on small sand bars just off shore, two or three small groups enjoying the cooling waters. Standing on the low cliff edge I was far enough away not to disturb them but close enough to see them in some detail.
In the middle distance I could now see the green swards of the Nefyn & District Golf Club as it rises up the Carreg Ddu headland. Just before you start the walk on to the grounds of the golf course there is a small beach known as Aber Geirch. The river 'Afon Geirch' splits the beach, with what I presume is a waste pipe running down one side. In 1913, the first Anglo-Irish telephone cable was laid from here to Howth, Ireland. Howth is located on a small headland that juts out from the mainland just east of Dublin.
There are various 'formal' paths on the headland and they were heaving with people, both golfers and walkers, the latter all making for the top of the headland. By the middle of the headland I had enough of the crowds and crossed over to the other side of peninsula to make my way down a tarmac road on to the beach by the village of Porth Dinllaen. Seen from the clifftop the village is a wonderful spectacle, crouched on the actual beach, directly below the green cliff face. Originally a small fishing port and at one time considered a contender as the main port for ferry traffic to and from Ireland, it is mainly a tourist attraction now. The small village and immediate area are owned and managed by the National Trust since 1984.
With the tide still pretty low, albeit on the turn, I was able to walk along the wonderful sandy beach and to go round a small headland on to the even larger sandy beach of Morfa Nefyn. These two beaches, along with a third beach at the front of the village of Nefyn, just after the headland at Penrhyn Nefyn, provide an expanse of sand for over three kilometres. There was a wonderful sense of space and light walking along the beach, where I stopped to watch a flock of Sand Martins coming and going from their nests in holes in the sandy cliffs. As I watched an elderly couple stopped to speak with me, the gentleman telling me of his many forays on to the hills of my homeland.