Day 74 mile 74: Penmon Lighthouse. Every so often something special comes along, when it feels like things click into place and effort is worth it. Today was one of those. I’ve wanted to go to the lighthouse ever since I’ve started this year of running and have never got around to it, I finally made it today.
Penmon is situated at the far western tip of the Island of Anglesey (Ynys Môn in Welsh) and is a truly unique place.
I haven’t visited since I last came with my parents in about 2002 and it was great to get up early and just drive trusting memory and arrive to a pristine clear sky and low tide.
The water was out far enough to get up to the lighthouse (although not a place to linger as it was on its way in and the tide can come though between the lighthouse and Puffin Island at over 7 knots so care is required!). The light coming across the water as the sun broke over the Snowdonia across the straits was range was truly astounding and the stillness, having not seen another car for 20 mins was something rarely found.
This is not to say that the place was silent as the lighthouse tolls a bell regularly to warn ships in the case of fog, a sound which seems to conceptually mirror the 1000+ year old priory a mile or so back down the gravel track. Over a decade ago a college of mine Andrew Lewis, caught something of the sonic feel of the place in an electroacoustic piece of music entitled Penmon Point It’s his interpretation of the place and I guess we see it slightly differently, but it is a reflection of the same beauty.
Looking at the map before setting out I had considered just getting to the start of the toll road and running from there, but as I was up early enough to find the toll unmanned I could drive right down to the end, so, as I started jogging up the road I suddenly found a footpath and dived onto that instead.
I was suitably rewarded finding myself on a well maintained winding track (which turned out to be the Anglesey Coastal Path!) between rolling banks of bracken and hawthorn where birds where singing in celebration of the fleeing shadows. In the clearer sections where the orange bracken gave way to the soft mud-filled grass rabbits darted away and here and there primroses poked yellow through the rustic carpet of the hills. This was made all the better when time came to turn around and run back towards sea level, guided initially by the bell and then by the tower of the lighthouse itself.
As I got back to the car I ended up nattering to a dog walker, the only person I had seen all day, who was just as bowled over by the weather, day and place a I still am.
Here’s to many more.
Ed
I’m running a mile each day everyday for 2017. If you feel you can sponsor me please do, as all the money raised will go to the Cleft Lip & Palate Association (CLAPA) who provide services all across the UK to support people affected by it.
Distance: 1747.9 meters recorded
(1 mile = 1609.34 m.)
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1 mile 365 days 