Tag: Cricieth

John Ystumllyn: an African in 18th century Eifionydd

August 27, 2017 22 Comments
John Ystumllyn: an African in 18th century Eifionydd

  It wasn’t his real name, ‘John Ystumllyn’, but one the locals gave him. Another was ‘Jac Du’ or ‘Jack Black’. How he arrived, unwillingly, in north Wales is obscure. What is certain is that his origins were in Africa, and that he found a home for himself and his family in the Criccieth area […]

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Wales Coast Path, day 62: Cricieth from Pwllheli

July 11, 2016 1 Comment
Wales Coast Path, day 62: Cricieth from Pwllheli

Heavy rain’s expected.  But it hasn’t arrived yet, and C and I set out on the bus to Pwllheli.  This is the end of the (railway) line, and the town has an old-fashioned look, with cafés, working chapels, bookshops and a big traditional ironmongers.  The path takes us round the old harbour.  It’s now empty, […]

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Wales Coast Path, day 61: Porthmadog to Cricieth

July 8, 2016 2 Comments
Wales Coast Path, day 61: Porthmadog to Cricieth

Dusk on Saturday.  We’re in Cricieth, two days after UKIP’s ‘Independence Day’.  Explosions sound outside the eccentric seaside apartment we’ve rented for the week (it features a very public bath in the front bedroom window, and an impudent fish, Billy Bass, who turns to face you and sings, ‘Don’t worry, be happy’ when you open […]

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