The Lleyn peninsula

The Lleyn, or Llyn peninsula sticks out at the top of Wales, it's an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and I believe it's a bit of a holiday destination.  It was easily visible from Anglesey, as it has a mini-Snowdonia mountain range running along it.

It was easy enough to get to Trefor, an out-of-the-way hamlet after about ten miles of easy cycling. There was an unlikely cafe/bar in a very out-of-the-way part of Trefor, between a vehicle scrapyard and a piece of wasteland with a few wild goats in it.  I'm not sure how they ever got any custom. I enjoyed an instant coffee and a bag of peanuts, sitting in the sun.

Dragon's den

When they built the road out of Trefor, they were having a bit of a laugh.The 'coast' road went straight up a mountain, and then up and down through a series of mountain passes (well, 250 metres high), before descending back to Morfa Nefyn, where I found a rather nice cafe for a well earned lunch stop.  There are more Welsh accents this side of Caernarfon, and one lady actually said thank you to me in Welsh this morning.

After Morfa Nefyn, strangely, no coastal villages, just fifteen miles of gorgeous cycling through bucolic car-free lanes, high above the sea and just a field or two away from it.  Just about every farm had morfa'd onto a campsite for the season: there must be a huge influx of holidaymakers.

Bardsea  island

Approaching Aberdaron

The end of the peninsula was reached with - nothing, except a nice view over Bardsea Island, where 20,000 saints are said to be buried.  There were also two campsites each with a cafe, another indication of how busy the place must be in high season.  I checked out one of them (the open one) and it was great.  Run by proper Welsh farmers, speaking Welsh to each other.  Since I left Caernarfon I've heard a lot more Welsh accents.

Coming back along the southern coast required a steep descent into the pretty seaside village of Aberdaron, and an even steeper ascent out the other side.  After cresting the summit, a view materialised of a massive crescent of a beach with sand the colour of - burnt ochre? Very deep orange anyway.  It was probably five miles long, and there were. no settlements on the beach, nor any obvious road access.

I'm sort of deducing that the chief attraction of the Lleyn peninsula is its very lack of attractions.. The opposite of Rhyl, Llandudno or Conwy; you come for the beaches, the views, the camping and the walking, either up hills or around the coast.  Anyway there was a meandering road across the plain behind the beach, eventually deciding that it wanted to go over a (steep) hill and into Abersoch, which is where I'm camping tonight.

Five-mile beach

No speed limit!

Abersoch is a proper town, and it seems very trendy - all the fashionable shops and up-market eateries.  I was in a rush to eat before sunset and picked the coolest place in town - a Mexican restaurant that wouldn't have been out of place in London or Manchester. No Welsh accents in there though - lots of Mancunians.  Perhaps this is the end of the unspoilt part of the peninsula.