Giants, saints and dragons on the Llŷn peninsula in north Wales

Porthdinllaen village is the start point of Matthew
Yeomans’ final walk, a 13-mile jaunt to
Trefor.Photograph: Sebastian Wasek/Alamy

The Llŷn peninsula projects a Tolkienesque mystique as you view it from Cardigan Bay. On a clear day, its jagged, alluring and yet foreboding topography – stretching outward into the Irish Sea – is easily visible from as far south as Aberystwyth. No wonder it was chosen as the location for the recent House of the Dragon Game of Thrones spin-off series. It’s also been my constant backdrop for the past few days as I walk the Wales Coast Path exploring the relationship of the people of this land to the sea – how it has shaped society, how humanity has tried to tame it and how the sea will inevitably prevail.

Now, having reached Porthmadog (a town built on reclaimed sand from the Glaslyn estuary), I’m ready to experience the entrancing, wild-looking beauty of the Llŷn up close. I have three walks planned over the coming days. The first is a gentle six-mile stroll from Borth-y-Gest (one bay over from Porthmadog) to Criccieth Castle. As I set out, the tide is retreating at a rate that makes me think someone has pulled the plug on the entire estuary. The small boats bobbing in the bay become statues as they are stranded in the sand.

A large jellyfish lies on a beach directly below Porthmadog golf course. Two kids poke it tentatively with a piece of driftwood. Buried in the sand are huge slabs of micro-layered black and grey slate. They look like stranded giants – could these rocks have inspired the Mabinogi story of Brân the Blessed whose gargantuan severed head was carried back to the Llŷn by his loyal knights after a fateful battle with the Irish king Matholwch?

By Matthew Yeomans

Full story at Yahoo News