28 BIRD HAUNTS AND NATURE MEMORIES 



very many bodies of saints are said to be buried there." 

 Six centuries before Giraldus wrote about this island 

 which he never visited, Cadfan, with his cousin Maelrys 

 and a party of refugees from turbulent Armorica, found 

 their way into Lleyn, where Einion, its powerful prince, 

 provided them with asylum. Cadfan was created first 

 Abbot of Bardsey, and here the tutelar saint of Celtic 

 warriors had the winds and tides to fight for him; no 

 invader would lightly cross the race. 



Ynys Enlli is still little visited. At times a tourist 

 steamer calls, but does not always land its pilgrims, and 

 crossing by boat from the little cliff-sheltered village of 

 Aberdaron, the most westerly settlement of any size in 

 North Wales, is at the best of times uncertain; the 

 visitor may have to extend his holiday. Yet Bardsey is 

 no weather-beaten, inhospitable rock, but a well cultivated 

 island, inhabited by farmers and fishermen, at home 

 behind the plough or in the sterns of their open boats. 



We rowed south, hugging the shore of Aberdaron Bay, 

 rounded Pen-y-cil, passed under the frowning cliffs, 

 storm-washed Careg-du on our left, until we reached the 

 great headland of Braich-y-pwll. Centuries ago the 

 fame of the sacred island spread far and wide; pilgrims 

 in thousands, so it is said, toiled westward through Wales 

 or sailed from Ireland to visit or end their days on Bardsey, 

 Some waited chance to cross at Aberdaron, where an 

 ancient church still stands, but others sailed from Eglwys- 

 fair, beneath the shelter of Mynydd-mawr. Throughout 

 their route they found wells of clear, health-giving water, 

 blessed and tended by holy men. There was Holywell, 

 where good St. Beuno raised to life his murdered niece, 

 St. Winefred; there was Tremeirchion, Clynnog, and 

 many another. Last of all on the mainland was the one 

 below the turf -covered stones, all that remains of St. 

 Mary's Church, where the water bubbles into a natural 



