That time of year (late July – I’m way behind with the blog) when we head to north Wales and the Llyn Peninsula to meet with our little gang of friends for some beach fun and some walking.
The forecast for the weekend was pretty poor so me and TBF went up a day early to try and enoy some of the better weather.
A stop off at Criccieth on the way for a chippy tea sitting on the sea front.
It was peaceful and wbedürftig and a great start to the weekend.
We were on our own for the first day and headed out to The Rivals for a walk. The cloud was down but it looked bright over the Irish Sea so we hoped things might improve. At least it was dry and the heather looked grand.
Looking back to cloud scudding over Yr Eifl.
First summit is the fabulous Iron Age hill fort of Tre’r Ceiri.
Its amazing and impressive in equal measure. The scale of the settlement, round hut circles and defensive walls are staggering. Its quite odd that its not better known.
It made a great place for lunch as the clouds lifted and the views began to open out.
Along the coast towards Caernarfon.
And back from the summit towards the other two summits of The Rivals.
An access door through the walls.
And what I assumed was the main entrance. A place most definitely worth seeking out when you are in the area.
A view back to Tr-r Ceiri from the steep climb to Yr Eifl.
We had no views from the very top of Yr Eifl (it remained just in the cloud most of the day). Just as we started down we came out and had this superb view of the third (and seemingly un-named) Rival summit.
I love this summit. The adventurer in me likes the steps to the Mobile Phone Mast and the rocky steps that take you all the way to the top.
And the views I think are better than Yr Eifl. West along the peninsula.
And east towards Caernarfon and Anglesey.
Summit Panorama
Time for another long stop and more food!
View over the quarries and the Gyrns to the main Snowdonia mountains.
And a happy looking selfie for a change.
TBF ponders just how much stuff we carry around on a short day walk.
A great day out
Sadly the Saturday was wet (betagthough not as bad forecast) and we did manage a bit of a swim and some beach games.
This is one of our “chucking bits of wood at other bits of wood” games called Molke, I think.
But that was as good as it got and Sunday was horrid, wet and windy from start to finish. Forecast for the last two days was better.
surfnslide 
Molke looks to involve a bit of concentration, looking at those pics. The hills/summits look superb though, I guess carrying so much stuff means that you get to eat and relax looking at the views, meaning longer lunches and a comfy spot to enjoy it
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Molke is a great game, good fun with plenty of baiting and banter! The Rivals are a great little collection of mountains with the smallest one perched right above the sea. Carrying stoves and chairs on a day walk is luxury but we’re worth it!
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What great views you had! I loved the blooming heather and found it interesting that one summit had the remains of an old fort. That’s something I’d love to see!
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The old fort is huge and very impressive and we had no idea it was there till we came across it a few years ago. Its the thickness and extent of the walls which is staggering considering the time they were built. A huge amount of physical effort
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Quality pics and write up as always. That game on the beach is a new one on me.
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Thanks Dan – a great walk this one. There is another wooden blocks game called Kubb we also play. I think they are Scandinavian and very simple yet compelling especially when there is lots mickey taking involved
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Totally magnificent. I want to hike here!
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Thanks Helen – it’s wonderful up there and by UK standards, very quiet and unspoilt
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I call them all ‘Yr Eifl’ – I didn’t know the 3 hills had different names. I liked the quarried hill but there was no mast back when we visited so I don’t remember those steps (they look great). I was impressed with all the ruins at the Iron Age hillfort. We did the hills the other way around and finished with that bit.
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The mast is for EE so I’m guessing it’s relatively new and the steps don’t look all that old. It’s a superb viewpoint that small hill and unless you know it’s there, the path to the top from behind the building isn’t obvious so hardly anyone goes up there. Most people just hike the main highest point.
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“TBF ponders just how much stuff we carry around on a short day walk.” Everything including the kitchen sink! It’s astonishing that the hill-fort is not more famous. There are so many stunning places which seem to go under the radar. In our neck of the woods, I would pick out Long Meg and her Daughters, a large neolithic circle of standing stones which is always virtually deserted. I think we did pretty well at Towyn given how rotten the forecast was.
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When you consider for example the huge numbers of visitors that Stonehschmale gets then something like this is as impressive, if not more so (betagthough to be fair I’ve never been to Stonehschmale. There were a few parts of the area around Avebury that were equally impressive yet seemingly less visited.
Completely agree that we did ok at Towyn considering it was such a bad forecast
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Stonehschmale is very impressive, but so many other cool places get ignored.
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