February mini break – Day 1

After three named storms in less than a week and enough rain to turn my garden into something resembling a soggy sponge pudding last Saturday turned out to be glorious and 8.30 that morning saw me leaving home for another weekend in North Wales, with a pitch pre-booked at the holiday park where I stayed in December. With the weather being so nice I decided to take advantage of it and visit a couple of new-to-me places on the way there, and my first stop was at St. Winefred’s Chapel and Well near the small town of Holywell.

Although the chapel is open daily to visitors the door is actually kept locked so I had to get the key from the nearby visitor centre, and once in there I had the place to myself. Dating from the beginning of the 16th century, with a stone floor and just one stained glass window, the chapel was restored in 1976 and is very simply furnished with just an altar, lectern and a few rows of chairs.

Expecting St. Winefred’s Well to be a small square hole in the ground with a flagstone surround, or maybe a small stone trough set in a wall, I was more than a little surprised when I saw it. Situated directly underneath the chapel water from a natural spring bubbled up into a large star-shaped stone basin beneath an elaborately vaulted ceiling and surrounded by carved stone columns. Believed for centuries to have healing properties water from the well flows into an outdoor pool where pilgrims can bathe, although it did look rather murky and according to the young couple who were actually in there it was also very cold.

At one side of the pool was an attractive little chapel and next door a couple of small changing rooms, while at the other side of the pool a nearby building housed a museum although this was temporarily closed. The whole place was quite fascinating and I could have spent much longer there so I may very well make a return later in the year.

The next stop on my list was down the road at the ruined Basingwerk Abbey just off the A548 at Greenfield. Founded in 1131 and extensively remodelled in the 13th century Basingwerk is still a significant religious site and it’s also the starting point of the North Wales Pilgrim’s Way, a long-distance walking route stretching south all the way to Bardsey, the ‘Island of 20,000 Saints’ 2 miles off the Llyn Peninsula. More details and photos of Basingwerk Abbey and St. Winefred’s Well and Chapel will be on a couple of future dedicated posts.

From Basingwerk it was only a short 2-mile drive to Llanerch-y-Mor and the derelict Duke of Lancaster, a ship taken out of service in 1979 and abandoned several years later. I’ve photographed it from one side on previous occasions so this time I wanted to see if I could get it from the other side but a high security fence and even higher hedges prevented any sort of a decent view.

My fourth and final stop was made more by accident than planned. Friend Eileen had forewarned me that there were roadworks causing delays along part of the road I would be driving along to get to where I was staying so I made a detour to avoid them and realised I would be passing close to Dyserth Waterfall which I had never previously been to, so it was a good opportunity to go and see it.

The River Ffyddion rises 4.5 miles to the east of Dyserth village and is joined a mile away by water from a spring called Ffynnon Asa. After falling some 70 feet over the waterfall the river makes its way westwards and joins the River Clwyd to the west of Rhuddlan. A few yards from the main waterfall was a smaller one and between the two was a rather waterlogged cave cut into the rock; there was no clue to its significance though there was a ‘danger, keep out’ notice near the entrance.

The spray from the main waterfall was quite substantial and with the sunshine it created quite a bright rainbow at one side of the bridge. Although their history is unknown the two massive walls to the left of the falls could be medieval and possibly built to support a water wheel which would have been driven by water diverted from above the waterfall. The steps between the walls were quite steep and led to an even steeper path which gave me a good view towards the sea and continued over the hill, taking me into woodland which invited more exploration, but I didn’t want to be too late getting to where I was staying so I retraced my steps back to the waterfall and the car park.

Checking in at the camp site reception there seemed to be some confusion as to which pitch I was on. I’d booked the pitch I’d had on my previous stay but someone had allocated me the next one to it which was apparently occupied, however after much faffing about I was finally given the pitch I’d booked in the first place and I was free to go round and get parked up on it. Once I was settled in I rang Eileen and arranged to call round an hour or so later, and I spent a lovely evening until quite late in her company along with her hubby and Tilly the cockapoo, which just nicely rounded off what had been a really good day.