About

Guide Books and Passports are now available at The Greenfield Valley Visitor Centre. Greenfield Valley Heritage Park's visitor centre and museum are open daily from 10 AM - 4:30 PM from April to October.

The Pilgrims Way Completion Certificates are now available in the National Trust Visitor Centre at Porth y Swnt, Aberdaron. They include all the stamps around the edge of the certificate and come with a cardboard backed envelope. Cost is only £2 of which £1 is donated to the National Trust.

Centuries ago, pilgrims in their thousands were finding their way to Bardsey Island, drawn there by stories of the special peace to be found at the edge of the western world – drawn to the place of the setting sun, with only the vast ocean between them and the unknown.

1,500 years ago St Cadfan had founded a Christian community there. In the Middle Ages, two pilgrimages to Bardsey were considered as good as one to Rome. And that sense of a sacred place draws pilgrims there still.

Today a route crossing North Wales has been mapped and waymarked, linking ancient churches dedicated to the saints of the 6th century whose gentle faith, entwined with a sense of the beauty and wonder of nature, still echoes with us today.

Basingwerk Abbey, which served as a hospital to pilgrims goingto Holywell in medieval times, marks the start of the Pilgrim’s Way.

The route leads through woodland and over rivers, up mountains and along coast paths, through wilderness and into villages.

It celebrates the heritage of those Celtic saints whose stories are lost in the mists of time but whose memory reverberates in ancient churches and at holy wells along the way.

The Pilgrim’s Way is a walking route of over 130 miles. Tiny stone churches nestled into the hills provide shelter and rest along the Way, much as they would have done in the past.

Now the tradition of pilgrimage is being rediscovered and reinvented for a new age. Present day pilgrims have described the experience as “resetting the defaults,” as “time out” and “a time to wander and wonder.”

There is much to make us wonder, as we encounter the 12 foot high cross at Maen Achwyfan – a thousand years old, carved with Celtic knotting and still standing enigmatic and isolated in the middle of a field, with its mix of Christian and pagan symbols. We may wonder too, as we pass the stone circles above the Conwy valley, about life all those years ago. And as we walk, we soak up the beauty of the Welsh landscape.

A pilgrimage is a walk with an extra dimension. Engaging with the challenges of the terrain and the weather, everyday preoccupations are swept away and the pilgrim is caught up in the bigger picture. Perspectives change, priorities reassessed.

To cross the sea in an open boat and finally to arrive on Bardsey Island is the pinnacle of the experience. And to carry home that peace and quietness is the gift that remains.

• Welcome to the North Wales Pilgrim’s Way/Taith Pererin Gogledd Cymru
• Basingwerk to Bardsey Island – a walking route of over 130 miles
  
• Download maps and itineries from this site and follow the waymarks
  
• Plan your walk: the whole route in two weeks at about 12 miles a day
  
• Or a day at a time using public transport or car shuffles
  
• Join a group: there is an annual pilgrimage starting on May Bank Holiday Saturday each year / lead your own group / walk alone / with a friend
• For help with luggage and transport contact the listed walking holiday companies
  
• Discover the ancient history of Wales hidden in the hillsides
  
• Visit a mighty waterfall, rushing streams and holy wells
  
• Follow the Coast Path with its stunning views
  
• Choose the historic route through Bangor and Caernarfon or the inspirational landscapes route through Snowdonia
  
• Stop off in Llanberis to climb Snowdon
  
• Call in at Bodnant Gardens
  
• Make a study of all the different religious communities along the Way: Cistercian, Benedictine, Roman Catholic, Franciscan, Jesuit, Anglican – Church in Wales, Non Conformist traditions, ancient and modern
  
• Enjoy the wealth of wild flowers and bird life
  
• Read the poetry inspired by the landscape of Wales through the ages – including Gerard Manley Hopkins at St Beuno’s in Tremeirchion, the Welsh poets celebrated in Llansannan church and RS Thomas at Aberdaron
  
• Book the boat to Bardsey – weather permitting
  
• Take the first step!