Date walked: 1st April 2014

Distance: 12.4.miles

Cumulative total of miles walked along The Wales Coast Path: 512

The official website of the Wales Coast path is http://www.walescoastpath.gov.uk/default.aspx

OS map required:  OL23 – Cadair Idris and Lyn Tegid.  I get all my maps from Dash4it. They are well discounted, and delivery is free and fast.

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It had been 4 months since I had finished my last stint on the path. In the meantime the west Wales coast had been battered by ferocious storms that had left many resorts with expensive repair bills. I might have considered taking the train to return to Aberdovey but  some sections of the sea defences and embankments along the line from Dovey Junction to Pwllheli  had been destroyed, and services are suspended, so I had no option but to drive up to Aberdovey- an enormous pleasure on such a beautiful day.

It was lunchtime when I arrived in Aberdovey, so I bought a sandwich from one of the cafes on the front and enjoyed it from the jetty.

“Oh I do like to be beside the seaside”

The tide was out which meant my luck was in. I couldn’t have had a nicer start to the days walk than a  three-mile walk along the sandy beach. There were a few beachcombers around but mostly I had the place to myself.

I think that they are going to have to paddle to get back to the beach

 The peace and quiet was somewhat cut across by the toing and froing of a couple of  large trucks that were ferrying sand around.

Truck, sand and sky

A mile or so up the beach I spotted a hard-hatted chap in a high viz jacket who was standing on the top of the steep dunes and asked him what was going on. It seems the storms had dumped an excess of sand at Aberdovey and had broken down the dunes that protect the golf course, so they were “killing two birds with one stone” (or rather two trucks).

Love these tracks, don’t you?

Beyond the golf course peace and quiet returned and I was soothed by the sounds of the distant waves.

One of my arty beach pics

As I approached Tywyn (pronounced “tow”-(as in kow tow) “in”), some regular dark lumps at the water’s edge intrigued me. I assumed that they would have been a rock outcrop but though quite solid they had some “give” in them. 

Here, like a row of rather worn teeth!

It was peat!  From the rectangular pits that followed it was obvious that these peat beds had been worked in the past. How far in the past seems unclear -the 18th century perhaps. It seems that they had been more exposed than usual by the winter’s storms, so this was a privileged sight.

Very exciting; I’d never seen this before

It wasn’t just the peat that was exposed; a little further on I came across some tree stumps still in their original location.

Trees too. Amazing.

I felt immensely privileged to see such a rare sight and it was hard to leave this fascinating landscape to keep to the path as it follows Tywyn’s sea front.

It looks OK – from a distance

 Tywyn greeted me with my first caravan park of the day and things went downhill from there.

I wonder how many caravan parks I have passed in the last 500 miles?

The planted up boat on the promenade was let down rather by its half-hearted display and scrappy surroundings.

Hmm. I think those tall daffs are a mistake, but that’s not the main problem is it?

The planter opposite “The Buccaneer” was not going to impress any Britain in Bloom judge…

An ex- palm I believe.

…..and the Edwardian (?) shelter had seen better times.

I blame the Government

Things went from bad to worse as I traipsed along the front. The rockery bank that edged a fenced off estate seemed confused as to its intention….

I’m just not sure what these rocks are for.

….and even the sunny day could do little to ease the bleakness of the place.

It’s a super beach; its just not a very nice promenade

And just to prove to me that it had no desire for me to return in the near future, Tywyn’s passing gift was another caravan park.

Any colour as long as its green

The path heads inland a little way to cross the railway line and takes the road out-of-town past the sewage works. And then it was as if Tywyn was just a bad dream as over to the right across the boggy flood plain of the River Dysynni the magnificent hills of Snowdonia raised my spirits.

Phew!

If you want to follow the “official” Wales Coast Path, things get a little tricky at this point.  My OS map shows the route passing the sewage works, skirting the south side of Broad Water (in the 18th Century it was used for building small ships to transport the peat from Tywyn) and taking a 5 mile circuit by the village of Bryncrug to the Tonfanu quarry and then across the hills to Rhoslefain. But before I do one of these walks I always check the “official” WCP web site where the most up to date maps are available (albeit in a very clunky format) and that now shows the route taking a path across Morfa Gwyllt to the west of Broad Water and crossing the Dysynni Bridge and then staying on the road for a further two miles to Rhoslefain. A much shorter route.

The Cicerone Guide “The Ceredigion and Snowdonia Coast paths” – Cardigan Bay on the Wales Coast Path“- published 2014, takes a hybrid of these options, favouring the walk through the quarry but then taking the Dysynni Bridge (it assumes you are walking the path north to south).

You’ll be pleased to know that I took the latest “official” route.

The bridge was very new (installed 2013) and not on the map, so that explains the OS map route, though it is difficult to understand why such a substantial bridge, barred to motorised traffic, was apparently built for just pedestrian use. I must write to the footpaths person at Gwynedd for an explanation. I passed a local couple coming the other way and they couldn’t enlighten me.

Walker taking The Cicerone Preferred Route

Over to the right the scar of the quarry was clearly visible and I could hear the “beep beep beep” of a reversing lorry (it could have been ghostly noises- the link I found says the quarry closed 5 years ag0).  I could have taken the route through it still but rather than risk finding the way barred I stuck to the road, passing by  the deserted Tonfanau station.

My camera decided the bramble was the subject here

Why this station is still there at all is a mystery. The military site  that occupied a coastal site closed years ago and despite what Wikipedia says, there is no village.

The trudge along the road was pleasant enough on this fine day. Over to the left the remains of what I took to be a rifle range.

 And, of course there were sheep – and lambs!

Sheep (we, like sheep – but you knew that already) – and lambs!

After passing by the property called Llanfendigaid I spied a sign saying “Tea and cake 100 yards” that pointed me up a track to the right. It was 4 o clock and tea and cake was exactly what I fancied. The track led to a farm called Tyddyn Meurig, where a youth was hosing down some machinery.

“Is your Mum in” I asked, (apologies for the blatantly sexist enquiry).

“Nah, but my dad will sort you out”. I walked up to the farmhouse and the overall-clad farmer invited me to sit on a bench in front of the house.

“We don’t have cake, but my Mother baked a sponge yesterday, will that do?” I replied that that would be very nice. He returned a couple of minutes later.

“She’s not answering her phone. I’ve got a swiss roll and a scone. They are shop bought. How about that?”

“Perfect”

The farmhouse has a good view over Cardigan Bay.  Apparently the teas were his son’s idea for him to earn a little extra money. On a stile on the far side of the yard was a Wales Coast Path marker. My farmer explained that the route did go past his place but there had been complaints about going through the quarry so they moved it. Which rather killed off the lad’s appetite for the enterprise.

Further reports on the cake availability gratefully received.

Keeping to the old route now I left the farm and crossed the minor road I had been walking on and then the busier A493, after which there was a gentle climb up a farm track.

All the fields I passed through had lambs. Some so new into the world that there had not been time for the crows and magpies to have devoured the umbilical cords (or are these unpalatable to corvids?).

I bet Ted Hughes has written a poem about this

As I climbed, so the views improved and I could see clearly the beginning of the  Lleyn peninsular arching around the bay.

Lovely view of the Lleyn

It was a beautiful late afternoon. I was struck by the network of well constructed stone walls and picturesque ruined farm buildings.

This makes you want to get out there, doesn’t it?

The farm tracks round the corner of Barmouth Bay revealing a caravan park occupying a prime location on the outskirts of Llwyngwril.  The path takes a minor road into the village but I missed this and had a half a mile on the A493 instead.

The pub quiz prize was a bag of Malteasers

 is a pleasant little village with a striking black and white pub. I had  booked into the Prysgoed Bed and Breakfast in a nearby quiet side and the friendly owner was there to greet me.  I was pleased with my comfortable double room and delighted with the massive rolled top bath in the large bathroom (cosy bathrobe ,a wide choice of toiletries and a fishtank). But what really touched me was an immediate invitation to join my host in her team for the pub quiz later. That’s not an offer you get every day. Advised that it would be “a late night” I gratefully declined. I enjoyed a decent pub meal and a couple of good pints at the Gathangharad Hotel before an early night.