A Walk At Tynygraig.

Dry, sunny and chilly in the shade today.

This morning as I sat outside a light easterly wind flattened out the waves creating a rippled effect on the surface of the water. That made is relatively easy to spot a dolphin doing a bit of fishing a couple of miles away in the bay. I was especially pleased at the sighting as I haven't seen many dolphins this year.

 

The walk this afternoon started at the village of Tynygraig. I was glad I was being driven by somebody else as the directions we'd been given were a bit vague and we ended up having to stop and phone the walk leader to find our way to Y Felin (The Mill) but we got there in the end.

The first part of our walk was around the gardens and grounds of Y Felin. This included the old Manchester and Milford railway line.

We could have gone into the railway tunnel that lies just outside the property but it looked too wet inside to bother.

There was a large vegetable garden with raised beds, poly-tunnels and green houses (the owners have lived there for 45 years). I was most impressed with the triple section compost bin. The boards at the front slide out making it easy to remove the compost. 

This is the old mill pond which now runs a turbine that provides electricity for the house, along with a roof covered in solar panels.

The owner told us that he has plans to restore the original water wheel as all the parts are still in the wheelhouse though currently in a dismantled state.

We then went down to the 100ft waterfall cascading impressively down a sheer rockface. 

Going back along the river we came to an adit, an ancient mine entrance. The tunnel was slightly higher than head height but very wet underfoot. Some of us went in about 6ft as far as the tree trunk placed there as a barrier.

From there we climbed back up to the house and gardens and the thirteen of us ate our lunches perched along a couple of raised beds. Then we were invited into the house for cups of tea and fresh baked Bara Brith. We spent a long time there sitting around a very long table, chatting and admiring the art works on the walls.

Then a neighbour of our hosts took us across the fields to the small church of St Gwnnws. The church is fairly modern the original medieval church having been restored in 1829. The circular churchyard wall points to the site being a pre-Christian sacred place or possibly a fort. 

We were not able to get inside the church but in the entrance porch was the Llanwnnws stone, an ancient grave marker dating from the ninth century. It was moved to the porch for security.

From there we walked back down through the fields to the house and then home.