‘It’s made you realise the fragility of how we live’
LOCATED on the tip of Llyn Peninsula is the former fishing village of Aberdaron.
The tourism hotspot was expecting a busy summer, but the pandemic brought everything to a standstill.
But now, as lockdown rules in Wales are starting to ease, the village is slowly starting to get back to normal.
The lockdown meant some found everything they relied on to make their living had been taken away from them. But others managed to make it through.
Geraint Jones, of Becws Islyn bakery, decided to close his business a couple of days before the lockdown was announced.
But he talked to his wife and coowner over the dinner table that evening, and the couple decided they would continue with their business as much as they could during the pandemic.
“We felt like we couldn’t just do nothing,” he told North Wales Live.
“We asked around and saw that many people were interested in buying our bakes. Within the first hour, we got 15 customers. Within four days, we got 40. We had 200 customers within that week, and then 320 customers the week after.
“It was hectic, especially considering that most of our regular staff didn’t want to work due to the situation, which was completely understandable. We had to bring in our family members to help out with the demand, and then we were off.
“Although a really good time for us as a business, I’ll admit it was really difficult. But it was worth while because we’ve learnt and grown so much as a business.”
Most of Geraint’s customers are the locals of Aberdaron, as well as those who live as far away as Pwllheli, about 18 miles from the village.
At the beginning of lockdown, residents and councillors alike had been campaigning for visitors to stay away from tourist hotspots, despite the fact that most employment in the area depends on the tourism sector.
With the lack of sufficient medical resources to cope with extra people in Gwynedd, local authorities had pressed for all non-urgent travel to be restricted, with the aim of slowing down the spread of Covid-19 in the county.
“I did worry that the tension between locals and visitors would escalate,” Geraint said.
“But the campaign worked effectively – Aberdaron has been like a ghost town without our visitors.
“I’ll often walk down to the village and there’s no-one there sometimes, and I question if I should be there or not. It just comes to show how dependent we are on them – in the summer and even in the winter we’ll still normally have an influx of them coming here.
“It’s made you realise the fragility of how we live, everything and anything can change within a day. With that in mind, I am preparing for another potential second wave during the wintertime, and with how business has been for us, we are now thinking of buying vans so we can distribute our home deliveries to places further than Aberdaron.”
Edwina Fitzpatrick, the owner of Y Gegin Fawr, had a very different experience of lockdown.
Every year the seasonal café opens at Easter and remains open throughout the summer. This year, however, the owner was a week away from opening her business for visitors when the lockdown was announced.
“We haven’t been open at all for the last four months,” Edwina said.
“We were so ready, had prepared everything and then it happened, it was so frustrating. No-one was here and I have never seen Aberdaron like it before.”
Fortunately for the business owner, she has been able to reopen outdoor spaces of her cafe since some restrictions were lifted.
She said: “We had to prepare a lot for the reopening, but once we got to grips with it, it has worked really well for us. Despite the rain at the beginning of our reopening, we’ve been selling a lot of our ice-creams and cakes.
“A part of me does worry that this might be temporary – everything can change so quickly and you have no control over it. I worry about my financial situation if we are going to be hit with a second wave.
“But I remain hopeful that people will be cautious when it comes to their health and social distancing. We have to move on.”
A few miles outside the village, Alun Jones is taking full advantage of the bookings he has received at his Dwyros caravan site since it was announced campsites were allowed to reopen from July 13.
The retired teacher said: “Over the years, Aberdaron has been busy. We get mostly Welsh tourists here, so it’s a different sort of tourism to a place like Abersoch.
“Lockdown was such an odd experience, there was no-one about and that has affected businesses massively. On a positive note, it has been quiet, we’ve had this place to ourselves and it has been nice.
“Now we’ve had a lot of visitors wanting to stay at our campsite. People have been good, respectable and they understand the situation. It has been very busy for us and it’s actually quite hard to find time for ourselves these days.
“We’re lucky that we still have a business considering that so many don’t after this or are currently struggling. I can only hope that the various people that can’t go abroad this year will prefer holidays closer to home and support local businesses.
“We are dependent on tourism, even here in Aberdaron, which so many people think is far from everywhere else.”