Pilgrim Steps, Mynydd Mawr

When we returned by boat from Yns Enlli (Bardsey Island) the boatman diverted to show is the steps cut into rocks which allowed early pilgrims to get down to the boat to Yns Enlli. The steps were steep and treacherous and looked far from safe. We hadn’t even known about this original early route to the island. Then in St Hywyn’s church in Aberdaron it mentioned the first pilgrim church was alkng the coast at Analog. We checked the map and information and discovered that pilgrims went from the Analog church to a holy well on the cliffs, (St Mary’s) adjacent to the pilgrim steps.

So we went exploring. We parked at Mynydd Mawr and walked across steep pasture towards the cliff and holy well. Initially we followed the gully of the water to a treacherous cliff edge and realised this wasn’t where the steps were. Carefully retracing our steps steeply uphill we saw a parallel path and followed it. It took us steeply down a a grassy path to black rocks. The path became steeper and we were very glad of our walking sticks for balance. 

The steps started, rough hewn, narrow, steep and dangerous. One by one we descended. Then sat, staring out at the incredible view of Yns Enlli.

We sat for a very long time, taking in the courage of these pilgrims and their faith. To have walked for weeks to reach this spot, knowing the danger of crossing by rowing boat, over water with fickle currents and strong winds, risking drowning to reach the holy island. 20,000 buried there. Many came to die there. What a pull it must have had.

And with good reason. Perched on the ‘edge of the world’, a place revered by Celtic Christians as a ‘thin place’ where heaven and earth meet with no distance between them. No wonder the compulsion to go was so strong.

We prayed and worshipped for a long while.