A trawl of the UKC crags map, looking for a stopover on our way down to Pembroke, threw up an interesting option: the island of Ynys Lochtyn in Cardigan Bay near the village of Llangrannog. A bit more research threw up an online pdf guide to this newly developed area:

Click to access ynys-lochtyn.pdf

… but also the important information that the island was only accessible for around 2 1/2 hours either side of low tide – ruling it out for that occasion but putting it on the 12CB4 list.

The established climbing around Llangrannog actually features in the Pembroke North guide (as a bit of an outlier, due to the Mid-Wales guide being in a pause) and some of it is accessible at a wider range of tides. With more info and our options extended we decided to pop in on the way home.

Llangrannog is a pretty little harbour and there’s a large free carpark just outside the village which is the logical start point for the climbing.

Twenty minutes or so gets you out onto the headland.

… and you reach the mainland crags in less than half an hour. We headed for the Wild Walks Buttress seen in profile at the far end of the shot below:

Four routes in the guidebook including the eponymous VDiff, but more than a dozen recorded since on UKC and also the handy addition of a good abseil stake.

We were in the market for easy routes as Helen was still taking it easy with her shredded hands. It’s a bit of a “climb anywhere” wall (hence the proliferation of lines) but we enjoyed the fun adventure of Feral Pedestrian, Severe:

… Double D, Diff, and The Wave Keeper, HS, while we waited for the tide to go out. The guide makes a big deal of the scramble down into the notch that separates the island, but it was very straight forward (admittedly in the dry). In calm seas it also seems like you might have a wider window than +/- 2 1\2 hrs (but no promises!)

There’s a fun portal through the stack…

… and here’s the view back towards the mainland showing the island gap a bit more clearly (Wild Walks on the right side of the nearest buttress).

There’s climbing all around the island (around a hundred routes!) and a bunch of the most starred are on Hidden Wall, with easy walk-in access from a largely non-tidal sloping platform.

We did the excellent Menace from the Deep, HVS, and Crab, Severe:

Plenty more to go at, but climbing plans were rudely interrupted by a pod of Dolphins. We’d seen a couple of distant fins earlier in the day…

… but the area of sea just beyond the island was teaming with Cetaceans.

There’s a short video here of a pair at play:

This fella was much more attention seeking:

Absolutely captivating – we could have watched for hours (or even more hours to be accurate!)

As if the resident entertainment wasn’t enough of an attraction, Ynys Lochtyn has one more bonus trick up its sleeve. There’s a microbrewery just above the village with great beer, views out over Cardigan Bay and a passable line in pizzas.

What’s not to like?

To wrap things up nicely, just 20mins further north there’s a gorgeous clifftop campsite. No facilities but more than made up for with some stunning views…

… and curious sheep.