12th June 2008 Our first Full day of the holiday

The first full day of our holiday, and the temperature dropped from 25 to 14 overnight! Ah well, you can't have it all ways, can you?
We did out shopping in the new ASDA in Pwllheli and then drove along the coast to Abersoch where we parked near the front for a tea break: didn't stop long, as it came over very dark and cloudy and started to rain, but then as we left Abersoch heading towards Sarn Bach, we took a back road (intentionally of course!) and went down a steep hill (see the incredible view!) to the car park on the beach where we had a walk and ate our packed lunch.
The walk was enjoyable, but the cold wind didn't encourage a very long one!
There must have been a couple of hundred moored yachts in the bay, with it being mid week and out of season the beach was empty but for a couple of intrepid tourists (eskimo's perhaps?) with an equally misguided dog that had to go in the sea!
Our next intended destination was Aberdaron, and as we made our way along the coast road we spotted a sign for the National Trust property "Plas yn Rhiw" and decided to pay a visit.
As it turned out it's popular even out of season and we got the last available car park space.
Its a manor house that began in Elizabethan times as a look out tower, became a farmhouse, then a gentleman's residence, and finally belonged to three sisters and their elderly mother, being given over to the National Trust while they were still alive.
The house itself is a superb museum, and the youngest of the three sisters was an accomplished artist, and three of her superb pastel family portraits hang in the hall, but it's the gardens that make the place so attractive to visitors, and was the reason the sisters bought the house in the first place when it was derelict.The property is on a steep wooded hillside with superb views over the bay called "Hells Mouth" (because it was the scene of so many shipwrecks in the days of sail)
When you look down onto the miles of golden sands, it's hard to imagine that such a beautiful place could be so deadly!
Anyway the gardens are laid on in narrow folded compartments down the hillside, separated by box hedges and narrow gravel paths and with exotic shrubs and flowers including the only the only blue poppy I have ever seen, and some lovely cornflowers.
Fantastic indeed, we had a couple of really good hours here before driving on to Aberdaron and an ice cream, this too is a very attractive place and we enjoyed our brief stay.
Then we took the upper coast road to Morfa Nefyn and parked on the cliff top looking down on Porth Dinlaen. The last time we came here the pub at the end could only be reached along the beach at low tide and all beer and food was delivered that way by a Land Rover.
As this shot shows progress has struck and they have a road along the cliff top to it now!
Looking towards the mainland we could see it was getting pretty threatening, so we made our way back to camp.
The picture of Abersoch, and Plas yn Rhiw house were taken with the Nikon D60, all others with the Fuji S9600