Nefyn and Porthdinllaen

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More beach exploration today. This time the West coast of this little peninsula. It isn’t very big, not many miles long and in several spots we have been able to see the sea on both sides and at the foot. But getting along the roads is a different matter. 5 miles can easily take 25 minutes. There are no straight roads and we laugh when the Sat Nav says follow this road straight for the next two miles 😊. Plus, many stretches of road are, if not actually single track, not wide enough for a line down the middle. We have spent many minutes since arriving here, sitting patiently squished into a hedge to let another perfectly normal sized car get past.

We are a little disappointed not to find pretty little villages in this area. We have noticed before that Wales has a tendency to dull mustard coloured pebble-dash covered houses and this peninsula is no exception. When we come across a clean white painted one we get quite excited and wonder why the mushroom coloured house owners don’t see how much nicer they look.

Nefyn was the first stop of the day. We found a little town but couldn’t see the sea though the map shows it is on the coast so we turned around, consulted my phone Google maps and headed down an unassuming little road to find a steep narrow track leading downwards. Wary of roads like this which lead to a blocked off beach cul-de-sac, I asked a man who was huffing and puffing his way up the hill, what happens if we drive down. All good, he said. You can park but the road is a bit wibbly wobbly to get there.
So we did and astonishingly we could. No more than 25 parking spaces but 5 emptied as we arrived (must have been warned we were on the way 😊 ) so we happily parked.

An amazing beach and we had no idea as we set off down the road we would find anything like it. One big flat gorgeous soft sand beach. Dog walkers to the right, no dogs to the left. We went left and passed a row of beach huts. Odd beach huts too. Some just appeared to be undecorated garden sheds while others nicely decorated. It seems you buy a nunbered spot (painted on the wall behind), erect a platform and steps and stick a hut on top. That then gives you the right to bring your car onto the beach. Prpbably well worth the price of the beach hut charge 😊 If I lived here I would have a beach hut too but I would decorate it and paint it a different colour every year 😊 There were not many in use today though as the day was pretty grey and it had rained heavily most of the night.

Lovely to walk along sand, so good for achy legs. Cannot understand why anyone can think that jogging along tarmac can benefit them. As far as I’m concerned it is a quick way to destroy the squishy bit between your bones, the bits which make them elastic. Walking on sand gets round the complete absence of squish in mine 😊
At the end of the beach we found some beach houses. No road to them. The only access was along the beach and we did indeed see a couple of cars driving along to them. Must be a bit iffy in high tides !
There’s a little harbour protected by a big solid harbour wall with a few fishing boats nestling behind it.

Lovely spot to stop and take in the views before walking back along the sand. Lovely reflective sand too as the tide was just on the way out leaving a good stretch of wetness in its wake.

We stopped at the little shop, café at the end of the beach access road and grabbed some lunch then back to the car, up the steep hill and off to find another beach.

This time we headed for Porthdinllaen only a mile further along and found a National Trust, free to us, carpark again. Another stunning beach, even longer than the last and again down a steep hill as this area’s beaches are backed by cliffs. Not too far for us as we went out via the back of the car park but some of the wonky steps down were almost too steep. The beach to the left stretches half a mile along to the little hamlet of Porthdinllaen. It is accessible by car but only via a private track from the golf course at the top of the hill. A suggested walking route is along the beach, past the village and lifeboat station and then back via the golf course road.

We decided before we got to the village we had gone far enough and access along the beach was restricted by the tide so we turned back. And an excellent decision that was. When we started off we could clearly see Anglesey. Halfway back Anglesey had vanished in the sea-mist and by the time we were back the sea-mist was descending in quite a wet sort of way.

Back up the steep little steps to the car and back to the campsite. Rain had set in for the rest of the day.

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