Ty Cwyfan: The Church in the sea.

This has always been one of my favourite locations for photography. Not the easiest of places to get to but well worth the effect. There are some wonderful historic facts that surround this strange little chapel marooned here on it’s own little island surrounded by the wild sea with access only at low tide.
Some facts: The island, which can be reached on foot at low tide, is notable for the 13th century, St Cwyfan's church perched on its top. The church is known locally as eglwys bach y mor (the church in the sea) or simply as Cwyfan. The church remains in use and is popular for weddings. 17th century maps show the church standing on the mainland of Anglesey but erosion by the sea of the boulder clay cliffs has since separated the church onto the island. To prevent the church falling into the sea, a protective wall was built around the church. Only three services are held at St Cwyfan's each year. “Wikipedia”

So it was with some excitement that we prepared ourselves to venture by sea to this fascinating location. We headed out from Cable Bay ( Porth Trecastell ) in what appeared to be calm sea conditions and weren’t really prepared for the size of the swell and choppy waters that greeted us around the first headland. We pressed on expecting to find some calmer waters further along the coast. Half an hour later we took shelter by a large rocky outcrop that gave us some protection and took time out to examine the map and to work out how much further we had to go. It appeared we were almost there, but off in the distance we could see large breaking waves crashing onto the rocks beneath the cliffs and knew we’d have to paddle further out to sea to avoid this hazard before turning shoreward and the safety of the cove. Having a fishing boat working close by gave us the added courage to go for it, and within 15 minutes were pulling our kayaks onto the rocks beneath the chapel in the sea.
Because of the state of the sea we didn’t want to get caught out in worsening conditions and so after a ten-minute break decided to head back to Cable Bay. We picked up a following sea and was back in the calm waters of Cable bay in less than forty minutes. Then Philip suddenly remembered he’d promised to feed a friends cat while she was away. Where his friend was staying was in a small fisherman’s cottage overlooking Porth Nobla, just the other side of Cable Bay. This was another first for me, paddling to someone’s house to feed their cat…Just goes to show, anything can happen when you’re a Cybi kayaker.
Paul Mattock