Beach Walking the Llyn Peninsula

"Look," Eileen says, pointing at the map. "You can walk the beach all the way to Pwllheli if the tide is out."

We're standing on the beach of Abersoch, the main surf town of the Llyn Peninsula. We've treated ourselves to breakfast out, so now we're feeling ambitious. We can see down to the rocky headland, and it looks passable at this tide. I think the tide is going out.

"But what about the car?" We've paid for three hours of parking, but Pwllheli is far enough away that we won't want to walk back.

"Well, one of us should do it." We both know that Eileen means me; she's the only one authorized to drive the car.

We walk the golden sand beach together toward the rocks. She wants to at least see around the first point.

We have been walking on the Llyn for a couple of days now. It feels, in the seventy degree weather, like Greece, Norway, Alaska, and Scotland all at the same time. Fishing skiffs moor at orange buoys against a backdrop of dramatic hills. We walk golden sand beaches and little footpaths along the cliffs. Nettle, horsetail, fennel, and wild geraniums line the rocks.

I can see why this is such a popular holiday area for Brits, and also how annoying that must be to locals. A Welshman we spoke to on Anglesey told us that there are rules in some areas that you can only sell a house to someone who has a job within twenty miles of it — a way to keep from inflating the housing market out of local grasp. But the Llyn is full…