Another early start but it was a lovely golden sunrise!
Arrived Llwyngwril station by 8.30 so we had plenty of time to boot up ready for the 9.06 train. The station was
actually quite busy so a few lovely people kindly donated! The track runs right by the sea here with good views......
Arrived Aberdovey, we like Aberdovey, and off we set by 9.30 – headed for the beach – or traeth! Slight technological problems encountered as I couldn’t get the GPS app to work which meant that when I cancelled it, it also deleted the few first photos I’d taken! So we had no mileage check or elevation gained checks today but then we didn’t have those when we started walking so we’ll manage. It was a lovely, long walk along the beach and safe because we knew the tide was going out.
Ynyslas and Borth beyond were there on the horizon....
I had forgotten my jacket today too so was hoping that my forecasting held good and that it wouldn’t rain….thankfully it didn’t or Chris would have got wet! The dunes looked to have been damaged in the storms too and as we approached Tywyn, we could see more storm damage with shingle and boulders thrown in the fields behind.
It was good to be in dunes again and I guess we were walking on the beach for 2 hours and about 4 miles. The dunes gave way in part to the shingle as we approached Tywyn...
We soon saw the peat bog and submerged forest appearing…really exciting!
A lady on the train last week had told us there was more ancient forest revealed near Tywyn but we couldn’t have imagined how much was to be seen!
It is really amazing – but also a bit sad to think it will now be washed away being so fragile against the strong sea. Some of the tree stumps were such a size, it was astounding to think they have lain covered by the sand for so long!
And what force the storms had used to reveal so much...
And so we found ourselves then on the promenade at Tywyn – again the sand and stones washed up and over the high walls, proof of the strength of those storms. The sea, so pretty and gentle today, is such an incredible force. Soon we had to turn inland for a while at least. Again we were to have a walk of 2 halves – coast and country. Could have been in thirds with mountains too but it was just not clear enough to see Snowdonia (or the Lleyn) at all…we knew they were there, lurking!
Still it was dry and bright all day and the wind wasn’t too stiff! The path misled us a bit as we came towards the river Dysynni. First we crossed a bridge over a drainage channel running into the river...
I knew that a new route was open which crossed the river close to the sea cutting out a 5 mile inland detour, but the path tried to send us further inland so we ignored the signs and headed for where we had seen the bridge from the train this morning, passing by the pretty lake of Broad Water where there were 7 swans a-swimming, honest!
And the hill of tonfanau quarry behind the lake.
And a very smart bridge it is too. It was having its annual – and first – paint and canoeists were having lessons beneath. The path signs reappeared and took a different route to the one we had, which could well be shorter! So we added in a slight detour at Tonfanau and headed to the sea to look for the middle Sarn of the Bay, Sarn y Bwlch.
Remember we saw the Sarn going out to sea at Wallog on our last walk? Well sadly we couldn’t see anything today - or maybe I had the location not quite right! Still 1 more to look for near Harlech and that is supposed to be the longest. Anyway today we had a good spot by the Dysynni estuary for lunch watching the cormorants and gulls and listening to the oyster catchers.. We could see the bridges over the river behind us...
And again there were boulders and stones thrown all around and the fence demolished by them, the storms' damage was so severe..
The area around Tonfanau had various ruins which we thought must have been from military purposes –
...the brick buildings' ruins reminiscent of Porthgain – but the strangest was a huge wall further along the road, surely a shooting site – or an emblem of education…”all in all just another brick….”, oh dear!
We were walking on lanes for a while, going slightly up of course. Lovely Spring hedgerows now – not so many primroses for a while, and then lots! The summer ferns are beginning to unfurl..
And every field we cross is full of lambs!
The gorse is really bursting yellow and there's lots of blackthorn.We passed a hill fort site high above us near Rhoslefain where we crossed the A493 heading more steeply up an ancient track. Near here I saw 2 more swallows. We soon passed a ruined house in a lovely setting with views of the sea in the distance between the hills...
and I bravely crossed a field with Galloway
cows in!! More fields were crossed and we could vaguely see Fairbourne and
Barmouth in the hazy distance ...
...and Llwyngwril just past the caravan parks a bit
nearer! All was going well and then near another ruin, we lost the path sign! A bit of guesswork
and probably a bit of trespassing led us back to the path thank goodness. It
does get stressful when you can’t see where the next exit is. We crossed more
fields and just after a pretty valley with a stream and canopied trees, we passed
a house (with a big, loud dog, luckily tied up) and in its garden was an intact dolmen! Never seen one so well preserved!
Then , shortly after was an impressive hill
fort, Castell y Gaer, looking down on the caravan parks and sea beneath and
looking over the village
of Llwyngwril
It is like
lots we saw in Pembroke – with one major difference, it hasn’t fallen into the
sea! It did have spectacular sea views though, quite like Garn Fawr near Strumble! So we dropped down steeply into the village, passing the lovely hedges of gorse,
and back to the station.
We
finished by 4pm, 13 miles later, complete with aching bones! Watch this space for the next walk.... we have grandsons to entertain us and then Easter with our guests so not quite sure when we'll arrive in Barmouth quite!
Thank you for reading - and your support. I can't work out how to make the comments work on this blog so if you have any ideas, advice or would like to make a comment, please feel free to email me on
pamelamallpress@btinternet.com. I'd love to hear from you. And if you would like to support the Velindre appeal, (which I chose partly because some of the proceeds of the appeal will go to research into curing cancer so it's not only a Welsh appeal, it is a broad one...) please look at www.justgiving.com/Pamela-Mallpress
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