Today marks St Dwynwen’s Day, the Welsh equivalent of Valentine’s Day.
The love action is focused on Llanddwyn Island [pictured above], a remote headland off the tip of Anglesey, where Dwynwen founded her spiritual Shangri-La in the 5th century.
It’s a place to celebrate new-found love and soothe the soul after heartbreak.
I’ve done the walk to Llanddwyn Island several times, braving the elements and soaking up the ancient spirituality of the location.
I’ve trudged its Blue Flag beach for both contexts.
Llanddwyn is off limits to most this year under ongoing lockdown restrictions.
But my feature in the travel section of The Independent today celebrates its unique sense of spiritual calm at a time when, loved up or alone, we all need some saintly solace.
Here’s a flavour of my story:
Today that church may be ruined but it still swirls with the spirituality of the Wales’ age of the saints and has a presence that compels visitors to run their fingers along the ancient stone altar.
As the weather closes in, I find wave-smoothed pebbles [pictured below] tucked amongst the stones, messages of love lost and won scrawled upon them.
Read the full feature, A walk with ancient Celtic lovers for the Welsh Valentine’s Day via Independent Travel.
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