Aberdaron

Seafood by the shore

The lobster in Aberdaron is landed a few hundred yards from where you eat it. Boats work out of Porth Meudwy and Trwyn y Penrhyn, the two fishing coves at the edge of the village, and the crab and lobster they bring in go straight to the two pubs on the front. Gwesty Tŷ Newydd sits right on the beach at the mouth of the bay, and its terrace looks straight out over the water. The lobster platter is half a lobster with salad and a hot baguette; there are crab salads, a Sunday carvery, and afternoon teas with home-baked cakes. Dogs are allowed in the Yellow Room and on the terrace, not the bar.

A minute's walk away is the Ship Hotel, run by the Harrison family since 1982. The menu is large, the crab and lobster are the same local catch, and the ales include Brenin Enlli — the Bardsey King — from Cwrw Llŷn. One reviewer called it "somewhat unexpectedly absolutely brilliant," which is the sort of praise that arrives at a village at the far end of a peninsula.

Cafés and beach time

For lighter fare, Y Gegin Fawr — the Big Kitchen — is a whitewashed stone café that has been feeding people since pilgrims stopped here on the way to Bardsey in the 1300s. It does crab, lobster, homemade cakes and scones, and holds 4.4 out of 5 across around 160 reviews, which is a lot of consensus for an institution that old. Becws Islyn bakes bread and cakes daily and has an upstairs café. Beyond that the small core packs a Spar, a post office, a chippy, a beach baguette shop and an award-winning ice cream shop, all within a few metres of the sand.

The beach itself faces southwest and shelves gently, one of the safest bathing beaches on Llŷn and good for paddling, bodyboarding and the occasional surf. There is a large beachfront car park and public toilets beside the café.

Paths to the peninsula's edge

The walking is the reason many people come. The Wales Coast Path runs both ways: north toward Porthor, whose sand squeaks underfoot when dry, and out to Uwchmynydd, the tip locals call Land's End, with its coastguard lookout and views to Bardsey Island two miles offshore. Bardsey — Ynys Enlli — is the reputed burial place of twenty thousand saints and a nature reserve where the bird observatory rings around eight thousand birds a year. Seasonal boats run from Porth Meudwy, the cove pilgrims once waited weeks to cross from.

Sanctuary and poetry

Above the shore stands St Hywyn's, Grade I listed and known as the Cathedral of Llŷn. It has two naves of different centuries and a doorway from the 1100s, and it once held the ancient right of sanctuary — a king sheltered here in 1094 and a prince in 1115. R.S. Thomas, one of Wales's finest poets and a fierce Welsh nationalist, was vicar here from 1967 to 1978; the church keeps displays on his life.

A village of languages

Seventy per cent of the village speaks Welsh, and the primary school teaches in it. Dic Aberdaron, born here in 1780, taught himself fifteen languages and wandered the roads with books stuffed inside his ragged clothes. The village produces its share of unusual people.