After some consideration and discussion with local climbers bolting of new routes began in the summer of 2009 at Llwyngwril Allens Sunbeach. The cliffs are of course tidal so great care should be taken with timetables : generally most walls are accessible 3-4 hours either side low tide on the north shore and 3 hours either side on the south shore. Despite the careful placing of ( mainly ) resin bolts these are sea cliffs and subject to wild weather, high seas and battered rock ….Expect a small hold or two to modify under your grip.

 

Local Gary Morgan was the first to spot the potential of the cliffs on the north shore and enlisted other local TT. New sport lines  started started to appear in summer 2009.

 

Access : as you leave the Village of LLwynwril heading north there is a layby on the left by a wooden gate with ” no access ” painted on it : coming from the north the layby is spotted on the right just at the entrance to the village. Walk for 230 meters south along the road into the village. On the coastal side of the road is a house called ” Wendys ” with a small iron gate in the wall by the side of the house . A path leads down and across a field to the shore. Walk north for 400 meters to the cliffs.

Allen’s Sunbeach North

Cliff one : A single bolt lower off sits at the top of the face and to date has only been used for top roping. The cliff has just lost its top half , so bolt and all is gone!

Cliff two : a short fun wall with a single bolt to a single bolt LO : done as a high ball boulder problem then the bolt was added : direct is 6b+ , pass the bolt from the right for a 6a + and from the left for the same . Not representative of the walls further along but the least tidal so can be used as a warm up while waiting for the tide to go out.

Cliff three:from right to left

Flogging a dead Honkey 7a

The line of bolts up the leaning orange wall . Bolt one can be clipped form the first jug which can be reached by a jump or by placing a large enough pebble below the cliff . Either way its a hard start .

Hang ’em high  6a 

The next wall along. Pull onto a ledge and the short groove above :the next line of rising bolts is a 6c+. Next left is the excellentbut very short  perplexing groove  at 7a , then the short slab before stepping right to the shared lower off : This slab was given 6a+ but subsequent repeats have settled at 6b,  .More lines can  be done on this short wall .

Cliff Four : all names as below on the topo:  from right to left the lines are 7a , 7a , 6c and V+. Highly recommended !

Cliff Five : two  routes so far ” The Dark Side of the Moose ” 6c+ ( named after my favourite locally brewed ale)  which is the lefthand line and Guns and Poses the 7a+ right hand line. All have been repeated and grades settled

Loads of potential further left again.

Allens Sunbeach south

It is possible to drive into the caravan park just south of LLwyngwril and park by the shore but the site closes its gate at 6 pm : a better option is to pull into the layby another 100 metres further on the road to Tywyn: plenty of parking : enter the caravan site across the level crossing taking usual care and walk down to the shore . The south cliffs and bouldering is 300 metres south along the beach.

Bay one has three routes from left to right, a clean steep slab at 6b ” Delicatessan “, another longer slab (at 9 metres!)  at 6a+ and a 6c (“Entropy”) up the black wall (traversing in from the right to bolt one if too wet to start direct). An open project has been bolted directly to the Entropy LO

Bay two has 6 bolted routes: the Kebab slab by the Arch has 3 lines to a shared DB LO. These are ” Flicked chip causes fracas in kebab shop ” V, Siren 6a and ” The Beckoning ” 6b

The black wall on the right side of the Arch zawn has , Black Arabesque at 7a+ up the black wall , Torque of the Devil 7b and the groove to the right at 6a+( “Under an Alien Sun “) .The final slab to the south also has 2 bolted lines ” Great Wall ” 6b and ” Delusions of Grandeur” 6b+ , short but sustained.

There are a good number of trad lines here on the vertical cracks and slabs : I have uploaded the details onto ukclimbing.com under Allens’s Sunbeach but will also update here in the new future : on December 28 2009, Goi Ashmore added Incunabula E1 5c at the left side back of Bay 3, a good fight up a 9 meter well protected crack: the same day the left facing corner on the slabs to the right side of Bay 3 went at Severe ( ” The Third Degree ” ) on a day when the water on the crags was just beginnning to freeze.

Some scope remains for more bolted lines on the south beach and the vast potential of the north beach has only just been skimmed with the 11 bolted lines there.