Hi there everyone 😀
The last good walk of our August/September lodge visit found us finally getting to have a visit to St Cybi’s Well.
It is literally a few minutes up the road from us and we have been passing the signs for it constantly over the last four years.
It’s a hidden holy well dedicated to Cybi, a 6th century saint said to have lived in the area. It’s nestled amid trees in a secluded spot at the base of Garn Bentyrch in Llangybi and it featured on a BBC2 Pilgrimage programme that we watched some time ago.
It’s a tiny village and can be tricky to park … but we were lucky and found a spot right next to the steps leading into the churchyard …
The public footpath crosses to the far corner of the churchyard where there is another set of stone steps leading the way to the well …
Once over the steps the path then crosses a field and a pilgrim’s trail … before heading down some more stone steps which lead to the well itself …
At the site there are two well chambers alongside a more recent caretaker’s cottage dating from the 18th or 19th century. Despite its association with St Cybi, it’s possible that the well’s sacred status may be pre-Christian in origin. It really was a beautiful little spot and we spent a while exploring and just generally enjoying the peacefulness …
Before we visited we had checked out the OS map and could see there was a footpath leading up through the woods at the back of the well. It headed up to Garn Bentyrch … with its ancient Iron Age hillfort and trig point …
We hadn’t necessarily decided we would do the walk up through the woodland as we’d had lots of rain … and were concerned it might be a bit muddy. However … we did feel quite enthusiastic so decided to give it a go.
It was quite steep and a bit slippy slidey in places but we tentatively made our way up … wondering how on earth we would make it back down … but hey … that was a problem for later …
We came out of the woodland and could see where we needed to head. If you zoom in you may be able to see the hillfort to the right of the hill and the trig to the centre …
It wasn’t too hot … but the climb up through the woods had been quite energetic so we sat for a while on the old stone wall and considered whether we fancied carrying on.
We decided to go for it and before long we’d made our way across the field and were at the bottom of the last upward stretch. The views were phenomenal … we could see right across to the coast …
Ahead of us the path got a little more difficult to see … hidden by the ferns which were growing in abundance …
We picked our way through to the remains of the hillfort …
… and could see the trig looking tantalisingly close …
We ended up having to retrace our steps a little and then walk across the top of the hillfort but there it was …
We were chuffed to bits to have made it. Again the views were incredible. It was blowing a bit of a houlie up there though …
We sat and admired the view for a bit, recorded the moment for posterity, took a few selfies and wished we’d got a picnic …
Eventually we dragged ourselves away and headed back down. In the next two photos you can see the woods above the well … away in the distance …
It was back across the field …
… and into the woods where we carefully made our way back down …
It was then back past the well …
… across the field and into the churchyard …
… and back to the start …
It had been a lovely walk. Just right for a couple of hours out without having to go too far. Enough effort to feel that we’d achieved something and another little place ticked off the list 💜
*******************************************************
It was well worth going up to the trig point - yes those views were cracking!
ReplyDeleteSometimes the least planned walk can turn out to be a little gem 😊
I totally agree. Setting out with just a short wander with the option to extend seems to be working well for us at the moment 😀
Delete