At last we've managed to fit in the next mileage...about another 28 miles down! Strange that it was exactly the same dates as our walk last month! Well the weather was looking good and my sister-in-law, Joanna, offered to taxi us....that made the transfers so much easier! So we left Carmarthen station about 9.15 and set off into the autumn mist!
Crossing the Towy we then walked for quite a way alongside the river - a very still and peaceful morning with misty views...of the town and its castle...
and of the riverside...spiders aplenty and it was our first walk really where it was wet underfoot, we have been spoiled by the lovely summer!
Leaving the river for a while, we had some road walking before we went into a lovely wood with fallen trees, spiders webs, and these toadstools - looking like they came from a fairy world!
At the end of the wood we were met with a field with a bull and its family so decided to leave them all in peace as were not sure as to the character of the bull! We retraced our steps back to the road and walked into the pretty village of Llangain, passing its old Green Castle en route. Further road walking brought us soon enough to the opposite side of the Towy to Ferryside where we had lunched on the previous walk and now we had views too of Llanstephan's castle looking down on us. We lunched by the side of the estuary in Llanstephan and partook of snacks at the Beach Cafe where there was a selection of coal sculptures to be had which seems a very modern use for it!
We then took the path up towards the castle but then went around it into another wood..we have enjoyed some very pleasant wood walks. This wood had been know as "The Sticks" in the '20's when the miners came for seaside holidays and all met up to socialise and enjoy mini Eisteddforddiau there. The ampitheatre and seats are long gone so a lovely seat sculture has been put there as a memory, very fine place!
They would have had super views of the estuary and beyond from here too..
We passed an idyllic little bay, Scotts Bay, where we could see the headland of Wharley Point, a National Trust area which we were heading for next. If the mist hadn't been with us we would have seen the Gower and Worms Head...but then at least we were dry! And in fact it was really warm too.
Around here we saw one or two information boards telling of the history of Carmarthen as a very important Roman seaport and of how busy the shipping lanes were...and of how many shipwrecks there had been, as here is the confluence of the Towy and Taf with much danger at low tides.
The patterns in the sands as we overlooked the meeting of the Towy and Taf at low tide were very pretty although the mist did mean we couldn't see that far away.
We soon followed the east bank of the Taf up towards St Clears now with some views of the Taf and its marshes.We hadn't really been able to see Laugharne across there though and that is where we would be headed tomorrow!
We followed the lanes until we reached the agreed meeting place with Joanna who was walking towards us - we were very pleased to see the car waiting to take us to the Forge Restaurant and Motel just beside the A40 not too far away - but we were very glad we didn't have to walk as far as that! The motel provided us with very comfortable rooms and a very good evening meal - perfect after a 7 hour walk!
Lots seen again....toadflax, ferns aplenty, campions, cranesbill, honeysuckle and blackberries galore...
even saw some remaining swallows, can't be many left now, and a cormorant and heard oyster catchers.
Day 2 saw us driving into St Clears to start the day after a very hearty breakfast...the British Gas vans seemed to be having a meeting at the motel, maybe to save our world! Set off about 9.45 and enjoyed the walk through to the end of the town, passing several old pumps and the motte of the Norman castle. This had been a very important crossing of the River Taf. There followed a good deal of road walking - some of it was on a purpose built path behind hedgerows but not all of it. We missed a bit where we should have dropped down to the riverside which we had now left below us but managed to find a track leading back to the official path near a lovely place called Delacorse, a private house adjacent to the river which the path passes through. After a short walk through fields we passed through another wood into Laugharne. In the wood just before we came to the town, we passed an old ruin which was really quite romantic in its setting
As we left the wood we had super views, albeit misty ones, across the estuary to Wharley Point and yesterday's walk and of the approaching town.
Really impressed with this lovely place...home of course to Dylan Thomas and his family. We passed the old boathouse where they had lived, now a museum, (you can see it on the right on the 2nd photo below showing the castle and its environs) and we also passed the house, Sea View, now for sale as a hotel, which had also been their home and so we came around to the beach and its marsh with fantastic views of the magnificent castle!
We enjoyed a lunch here in such an idyllic setting before heading off up on the walk which Dylan Thomas had apparently taken on his 30th birthday and written a poem about.
There are various verses shown on information boards as you head up on this walk along the estuary until..
...and you really can see why he was inspired to write a poem here, overlooking the patterned, channelled marsh with its old sea wall to the right and across to Wharley Point and beyond. On a clear day you can see Worms Head from here.
Dropping down again to walk between the marsh and steep, limestone cliffs, we passed a little garden and pond and wondered who had cultivated this here...could it have been the cockle pickers or those who had built the sea wall?
We continued then away from the water once more and going uphill from the old Coygen quarry, followed the road into Pendine. We couldn't follow the beach and its dunes here as it is all owned by the MOD...what a waste for us all. The signage for Pendine is that of the sloping track of Brooklands which is where J G Parry-Thomas had worked for some time before taking up his quest for land speed records here. He crashed his car "Babs" in the sands in the 1920's and was killed. He and Malcolm Campbell each tried to better each other. Babs though was left in the sand until the 1960's when it was refound and is now in the museum here.
The beach with the tide out is something to behold - a 7 mile expanse and the sea only on the horizon..
After a much enjoyed coffee, home beckoned, until the next time!
If you have time and would like to see how the fundraising is going, have a look at: www.justgiving.com/Pamela-Mallpress
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