`Have you seen the gods?` An old man with wild, white hair was walking towards me in the churchyard.
`No,` I said, disappointed to have missed it.
`They have long curly horns. They were running about in here.`
`The gods?`
He peered at me under bristly brows. `The GOATS! The wild goats. Have you seen them?`
I was even more disappointed now. Not to have missed the goats, but that no gods with long curly horns were at large. I couldn`t help stealing a glance over my shoulder, just in case.
This was Eglwys St Aelhaearn, in a quiet village at the north-eastern end of the Llŷn Peninsula in Wales. I was there on the trail of saints and pilgrims. The church was locked, but the old man set me off on a perigrination that took in the shop, bakery and a small terraced house, via four friendly locals and two phone calls in what became quite the village project. At last, the key was cheerfully handed over and the heavy wooden door gave way after much wrangling and pushing.
Inside was quiet and shadowed, the dark wood of the boxed pews and the ceiling trusses forming hard angles and strong lines leading towards the altar. Sunlight graced the windows.
St Aelhaearn`s became a stopping point for medieval pilgrims en route to Ynys Enlli / Bardsey Island, the route I will be walking in September. With walls dating to the 12th century, the church is named for a disciple of St Beuno, one of the most significant North Wales Celtic saints and uncle of St Winefride, whose shrine at Holywell marks the beginning of the trail.
I met another kind man on the way out who knew the trick for locking the recalcitrant door and told me his own story of wanderings far and wide before finding home in this little village.
I saw no gods or goats, but saw how much would have been missed had the church been unlocked from the start and the way easy.
@pilgrimtrust
#llynpeninsula #wales #pilgrimage #AncientChurch #CelticSaints
