Day 77
Penmaenmawr to Llanfairfechan (inland): 6 miles
Sight of the Day: Druid Circle
Reason: Anything that's made it 5000 years deserves my attention
Trains and Druids
So yesterday I'd taken the inland route of the Wales Coast Path in order to see the stone circles behind Penmaenmawr. But then it took me too long, I got tired, and decided to call it a day in the town.
I get the sense that Penmaenmawr itself used to be a bit more of a centrally located village. Situated near what used to be the main road from the north coast to the rest of Wales, the 20th century highway largely bypasses the town, and the quarry is no longer in use. Its really adorable downtown has some businesses but clearly used to be more of a focal point, with all kinds of wrought iron awnings, beautiful flowers, and mountain backdrops that you could find in a lovely Montana village.
It still has a train station, but of course it's a 'request only' stop. What does this mean? Well, it means you have to hail the train if you want to get on. Yes, you have to hail a passing train. Like by waving at the driver to make sure he knows you want to get on. I've actually gotten used to this in Wales, and was kind of pleased to hear some English visitors being surprised that such a thing existed, and not being sure how you hailed a train (answer, hold your arm up, wave, and then smile at the conductor when he starts to stop).
Anyway, what's great about this particular train station is that it's also for sale. I'd seen it in the main Welsh newspaper last year, but apparently if you'd like to live in the train station, you can buy it and do so. The platform will still be used for passengers, but apparently train aficionados (of which there are many in this country) can have their greatest wishes fulfilled by having their homes shake with passing trains every few hours or so.
But like I said, today I was continuing my walk along the Wales Coast Path by walking inland. And I'm glad I did, because it was a beautiful day, and when I finally got back up into the hills (several hundred meters above the beach that fronts the town) the Druid Circle and several other stone circles were set against lovely long views all the way back to Great Orme.
So, the Druid Circle. First thing you should know is that it had nothing to do with druids. It's likely about 5000 years old (predating the druids by 2000 years) has 30 stones, and is about 80 feet across. There's a stone with a flat side on it that's been called the Stone of Sacrifice, that also likely had nothing to do with sacrifice - and in fact local legend has it that a newborn sat on it soon after birth will have good luck for its entire life. What makes this even stranger is that when excavations were done here in the 50s, two urns were found containing the cremated remains of children. So not sure how good the luck is, really.
But really what's great about being back in this circle is that there are great views, and also that this is just one of many ancient monuments back here. Apparently there were several prehistoric roads that went through this area, and there's evidence of it everywhere in the form of other circles (some within sight of the druid circle), burial chambers, and standing stones. It was like Neolithic Disneyland.
But eventually, on I had to go to Llanfairfechan, and obviously back to the coast. The path wandered through more beautiful views, covered in purple bell and ling heather and bright yellow gorse. It went past the old quarry (not the really, really old quarry of course - where apparently they got the stone for ancient axes that they've since found all over Britain), down through some woods, through the village and back to the seaside.
Although it wasn't the longest of walks, I decided to call it a day here. It had been a difficult few days, though the views were wonderful.
