kirklees climbing
PORTH YSGO
Porth Ysgo: The Shores that Time Forget
We spent the night in the National Trust car park overlooking Porth Ceiriad. The moonlight
had been enough for a beach walk, idling along, bottle of red in hand. Bacon butties a
few hours later, watching surfers doing their thing at first light.
At what point on the Lleyn Peninsula is the line crossed? When does normal time stop and a
mysterious land begin? The celtic Lleyn starts a few miles beyond the coffee shops and speedboats of
Abersoch. Wide empty bays then appear, spanning their arcs between gnarled
domes. It's a landscape pushing the limits of history, rocks beyond time.
Ancient. You can feel it everywhere.
From Rhiw, the hilltop village slung around the top floor of an igneous skyscraper, the
land slopes seawards across
pastures and pathways, tumbling through badger crossroads and rabbit highways down to
faraway beaches. Islands dot; out beyond. Maybe the elves left Middle Earth from here.
On the beaches, in the high tides maybe, roll gabbro boulders at Porth Ysgo and its
neighbouring shores. Gabbro: black, rough, crystalline, cooked then slowly cooled in the
heart of the Earth.
Get scared on your own; the landings may be harder than the routes. Jump, land, legs
wide, hoping for a flat stone and not the crevasses between. Scared? It’s a long way back
uphill to the nearest farm. Or take pads, pads and yet more pads and a pile of friends to steer you to
safety. Write a message in the sand: Bouldering Beyond Time - Don’t Miss It.
Info:
A recent Climber magazine (October 2002) carried an article with a topo for the Truth area
at Porth Ysgo
(GR 209264) (with written descriptions of nearby problems). Park at GR 212268 and follow
the stream south-westwards to the sea. More recently, Paul Higginson described a new areas
of coastline in On The Edge magazine, Issue 131, (Talfarach GR 215257, Bytilith GR 221260 and Nefoedd
GR 231265). Park at GR 224275 and head south through the col over the promentary. Look out
for Simon Panton’s long awaited bouldering guide to North Wales; all should be
contained.
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