Updated April 2025
Places to stay Pilgrim’s Way, Rowen…
Ceri Ashton’s airbnb on the Pilgrim’s Way, one mile from Rowen on the way to Abergwyngregyn https://tinyurl.com/bdhuuwpt
Bryn Afon Bach airbnb riverside cottage, middle of Rowen https://tinyurl.com/bdh3zz63
Conwy Youth Hostel Taxi from Rowen. Sorry, no afternoon buses. No. 19 bus back to Rowen next day at 10.03 from Conwy Station.
Cefn Cae campsite, middle of Rowen.
Places to eat in Rowen…
Malwen Cafe, Rowen. Open Fri/Sat/Sun 10am to 3pm.
Ty Gwyn Pub, Rowen. Pub open Tues to Sun, kitchen open Wed to Sun.
Dutch Pancake House at Conwy Water Gardens, Rowen.
See website North Wales Pilgrim’s Way
BBC2 Pilgrimage The road through north Wales
Pilgrim’s passport
Our mileage
Day 1, St. Winefride’s Well, Holywell
Llangelynnin Old Church
St. Bueno’s Church at Clynnog Fawr
You’ll see plenty of these roundels
Llangelynnin Old Church
Llangelynnin Old Church
Ken Hughes at Seion Chapel, Rowen
Basingwerk Abbey, start of the Pilgrims Way.
13-step stile on the Pilgrim’s Way near Rowen
Seion Chapel, Rowen
Seion Chapel, Rowen
Throw away your crutches at St. Winifride’s Well
Inside Seion Chapel, Rowen
St. Bueno’s Well at Clynnog Fawr, during our 2018 Llyn Coast Path walk
These pictures were taken before the 2020 lockdown.
See below for post-lockdown pictures.
Update October 2020
We walked the 140-mile (171 miles in our case, including diversions) North Wales Pilgrim’s Way in fourteen one-day walks, using the Official Guidebook (see below), and Ordnance Survey maps. We did one all-day walk per week, starting in March 2020 and ending in October 2020, with three walks pre-lockdown and eleven walks post-lockdown. We tried to visit Ynys Enlli / Bardsey Island in 2022.
We loved the Pilgrim’s Way! It’s well-signposted, with a wonderful variety of scenery: the Clwydian hills with great views across to Snowdonia, the Carneddau mountains, Snowdonia slate country, and the Llyn Peninsula and the Llyn Coast Path. Interesting villages and lovely old churches all along the way. It’s my favourite long distance path in North Wales, so far. We were walking on ancient paths, in the footsteps of pilgrims.
The Pilgrim’s Way from Basingwerk Abbey to Ynys Enlli / Bardsey Island passes through Rowen. You can stamp your Pilgrim’s Passport, and sign the visitors’ book at Seion Chapel, in the middle of Rowen, open every day.
Day 4, Chatting to a poet near Gwytherin
We hope you enjoy your visit to Rowen.
Make sure you visit our Telephone Kiosk Information Point, next to the Ty Gwyn Hotel.
Day 5. Go that way my friend, near Llangernyw.
The walk from Rowen to Abergwyngregyn includes the beautiful Llangelynin Old Chuch, and the stunning stone circles above Penmaenmawr. A day to remember!
We recommend the the Hen Felin Cafe in Abergwyngregyn.
Planning the walks We (two people) parked at the end of each walk. We used a mixture of lifts, two cars, buses and taxi to get us back to the start. We were given lifts for the first five walks. We used two cars from Eglwysbach to Rowen (my home) and Rowen to Abergwyngregyn.
We used buses for the seven walks from Abergwyngregyn to Tudweiliog. See the traveline website for bus times.
We booked an early morning taxi (before the driver’s school runs) on the long last day, walking from Tudweiliog to Aberdaron, to be sure of enough daylight. We left Conwy at 5am, and were walking by 8am. We used Steve’s Taxis 07774 541396, very good. Steve can also provide a luggage transfer service. He said he was booked for a week of luggage transfers on the Llyn Peninsula Coast Path the following week.
The village shop in Tudweiliog opens very early in the morning and is excellent. We always try to support local businesses.
Guidebook We used the official guidebook by Chris Potter.
We thought the route description was good, but there’s very little information on the sights along the way.
Wikipedia page
We’d welcome your comments…
Email peterhoney914@gmail.com
Pictures and words by Peter McFadden, updated April 2024
Post-lockdown pictures…
Enjoying an ice cream at Llangernyw Church
Llangernyw Churchyard
Day 5, Beehive Shop, Eglwysbach, now sadly closed.
Eglwysbach
Caerhun Church
Above Rowen
Aber Falls
Cochwillan Hall, near Bethesda
Route map
Nantlle Ridge
St. Bueno’s Church, Clynnog Fawr
Woodland walking near Clynnog Fawr
Near Tre’s Ceiri Hill Fort
Church at Pistyll
Nant Gwrtheyrn Welsh Language Centre
Ty Coch, Porth Dinllaen
Porth Dinllaen
A bob of seals. We counted 14.
Llangwnnadl Church
View through window at Llangwnnadl Church
Aberdaron
Update January 2023.
We’ve now started walking some of the Circular walks on the Pilgrim’s Way.
Circular walks book 2, walk 1. At Llangelynnin Old Church, January 2023.