Life of Pottering: A Week on The Llyn Peninsular #1 - Porthdinllaen Walk & a look at the Coast

Hi there everyone 😀

Here is the first of my posts about our week's stay on the absolutely beautiful Llyn Peninsular in Wales.

We’d both forgotten what a long old drive it is to this part of Wales. Although it’s only about 120 miles it took us over four hours, though we did have a lunch stop on the way. Whilst it is long, it is a beautiful drive with the last five miles of our journey being on very narrow lanes which we love, but not sure that dad would be quite so keen when him and mum come over on Sunday.

We were staying in Stabl, a stone cottage on a farm just outside of Pwllheli. It's tucked away in the heart of the countryside, with fabulous views and in a good spot for all of the things that we were planning on getting out and seeing.

We knew whilst we were here we definitely were going to be going up Snowdon on the mountain railway and we wanted to spend another day in Portmeirion, but other than that we weren't that sure of what there was to get out and see.

I had a quick Google and found this blog post, funnily enough by Menai Cottages, the company we'd booked our stay with. It was just what I was after, all of those beautiful, but off the beaten track places, that were just what we like to see, but can often be driven past if you don't know that they are there.

We spent the morning of our first full day meeting up with old friends for breakfast at a very handy garden centre, pretty much just down the road, before trying to make the most of the good weather.

We decided to just have a bit of a drive round the coast and see where we ended up and our very first stop just happened to be the National Trust car park at Morfa Nefyn, where we discovered we could walk to Ty Coch, one of the top 10 places to visit in the blog that we'd read. Ty Coch is a pub literally on the beach and has been apparently voted as one of the top 10 beach bars in the whole world, so should be well worth a visit. Unless you are a resident of the village you are unable to reach the pub by car; you must choose a route across the golf course or along the coast.

The NT car park attendant told us that the tide might just about be OK for walking along the beach so we parked up and had a look. This is the view we were faced with and our decision was made ...

This is the view looking the other way. Ty Coch is in the middle of the photo and the life boat station is on the far right. We didn't know how far we would walk but we both just knew that we had to get down onto that beach ...

From the car park there are a few steps down to a small stretch of road which leads right down to the beach ...

Once down on the beach this is the view you are faced with ...

It really was stunning and all the better for that bit of blue sky and sunshine.

It is a lovely walk along the beach with plenty of things of interest to occupy the mind along the way, including drifts of bluebells ...

... and intriguing looking paths leading away up the cliffside ...

We passed unfinished sea defences ...

... and the old shipbuilding site ...

As you round the headland Ty Coch comes into view ...

It's in an absolutely beautiful spot, there is no denying ...

... but being a Bank Holiday weekend it was just a little busy for us ...

We decided we would carry on along the coastal path a little way to see if we could find the lifeboat station that we'd seen when we'd set out ...

It turned into one of those walks ... surely it must be around the next outcrop ...

... no ... well maybe the next one ...

Finally we knew we must be close as we could see the remains of the old lifeboat station and the slipway of the current one ...

As we rounded the last turn in the path it came into view. It was an absolutely beautiful spot, well worth the effort ...

We decided to head back over the golf course and made our way up round the back of the lifeboat station where we were treated to more beautiful views out to sea ...

... and back across the bay to where we'd started our walk. You can just about see where we walked onto the beach, pretty much in the centre of the picture in the distance ...

Neither of us play golf, though it is something that Martin did in his younger and fitter days, but we could both totally appreciate the spot that this golf course is set in. It was just beautiful, the views were incredible ... in all directions ...

The path through the golf course is pretty up and down in places, and takes you along the cliff at the back of the lifeboat station ...

... with views out to see on either side of the path ...

By the time we reached the 19th hole we were both in dire need of refreshment and, fortunately, tje golf club bar was open to non members so we spent a welcome half hour resting the knees and getting our breath back, with a nice cold drink ...

Once back at the car we decided we would meander our way along the coast heading for Aberdaron, pulling in at a few pretty spots along the way ...

We didn’t actually stop at Aberdaron, other than at the top of the hill on the way, where we were treated to another spectacular view of the village and the coastline ...

We carried on heading for the National Trust property, Plas yn Rhiw, which we hoped to visit later in the week, but had to keep stopping to take photos of the beach which was just spectacular and seemed to stretch for miles on end ...

We both really loved the hedgerows too. They were an absolute abundance of colour, drifts of bluebells, splashes of bright pink campion and plenty of frothy white cow parsley ...

We pulled into the car park at Plas yn Rhiw, it was another photo opportunity not to be missed ...

Our next stop was Abersoch. The village was pretty busy but we managed to find a parking spot by the harbour ...

... and walked back into the village before heading down to the beach ...

We decided to risk heading left on the beach in the hope that it would take us back to the harbour which thankfully it did ... as neither of us could face walking back up the road.

From Abersoch we headed to Pwllheli where we had a good drive along the promenade and couldn’t resist stopping for a look at another beautiful beach ...