22 days of gratitude and giveaways- day three

So grateful today to be able to move my body

and also to have a man who appreciates and even 

encourages my dorkiness.

"Give me your best Kate Bush Wuthering Heights dance"

He says, 

and so I do....

So where did we leave off yesterday? 

Oh right, I was going to tell you a story......

Off in the distance we could see a ruin

And beyond that, a tall Celtic cross and a lighthouse.....

A stumbled upon scene

We had no idea....

We come to this sign and we learn about Dwynwen, the Welsh patron Saint of lovers who lived here on this land some 1600 years ago as a hermit. 

Reading her story I feel infinitely grateful for the freedom that many more women now have over their own destinies although I know that there is still much room for change......

Dwynwen lived during the 5th century and legend has it that she was one of the prettiest of Brychan Brycheiniog's 24 daughters. Dwynwen fell in love with a prince called Maelon Dafodrill, but unfortunately her father had already arranged that she should marry someone else.

Dwynwen was so upset that she could not marry Maelon that she begged God to make her forget him. After falling asleep, Dwynwen was visited by an angel, who appeared carrying a sweet potion designed to erase all memory of Maelon and turn him into a block of ice.

God then gave three wishes to Dwynwen. Her first wish was that Maelon be thawed; her second that God meet the hopes and dreams of true lovers; and third, that she should never marry. All three were fulfilled, and as a mark of her thanks, Dwynwen devoted herself to God's service for the rest of her life.

She founded a convent on Llanddwyn, off the west coast of Anglesey, where a well named after her became a place of pilgrimage after her death in 465AD. Visitors to the well believed that the sacred fish or eels that lived in the well could foretell whether or not their relationship would be happy and whether love and happiness would be theirs. Remains of Dwynwen's church can still be seen today.

Info source: www.historic-uk.com

We wander amongst the ruins and both of us find a little love heart rock to keep. 

The beaches of Wales has the most of these I've ever seen in our travels.....

We ask a lovely couple if they can take our pic in this place of history, love and pilgrimage and they happily oblige.  

Then we start our long walk back. 

We are following a circular track and it should be as easy as following the yellow walking signs. Somewhere along the way though we take a wrong turn and over the next couple of hours we sample the yellow, red, blue, green and black walking tracks, the red and black horse track, the blue bike track and the little red running man track!!! 

Who knows what that one means but at one point I did imagine it might mean ME running, screaming through the forest, waving my hands and yelling "we're lost, we're lost!!"

Luckily mi amor always keeps a calm head and eventually we emerge at the carpark, tired, thirsty but filled with wonder at the discoveries of our day.

"Where to now?" he says with a smile. 

"To the nearest pub" I reply. Without hesitation.

  Now the moment you've been waiting for....

winner number two in my 22 days of gratitude and giveaways

IS

JANET GHIO!!!

Congratulations Janet!
You are now registered for the next session of 
Paint Mojo the ecourse!! 

and for those who didn't win today
please keep checking in daily
until July 22nd

sharing the things you are grateful for 
and each day I will draw another winner!!

until tomorrow keep shining lovely friends!
You all inspire me so much
lots of love

Tracy xoxoxo