Category: travel
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Wales Coast Path, day 65: Llanengan to Aberdaron
Same journey, same start point, but we’re now down to three, C, H and me, for our last day in southern Llŷn. Llanengan seems a bit busier than yesterday, though it’s a quieter place than it was when lead was mined here (a chimney still stands above the village). We walk down to Porth Neigwl,…
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Wales Coast Path, day 64: Abersoch from Llanengan
M has arrived from Yorkshire to join the three of us for today’s almost-circular clifftop walk. We start with the same introduction as yesterday, train to Pwllheli (same affable guard), and the Berwyn bus towards Abersoch (same wild career along single track roads). But this time we get off early, in the small village of…
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Wales Coast Path, day 63: Pwllheli from Abersoch
The heavy rain is back. By the time C and I have walked to Cricieth station we’re already drenched. No one else’s waiting for the train to Pwllheli. Birmingham International, the destination in the other direction, seems a more sensible choice today. The boarded-up station building carries murals of children on the beach, butterflies and…
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Wales Coast Path, day 62: Cricieth from Pwllheli
Heavy rain’s expected. But it hasn’t arrived yet, and C and I set out on the bus to Pwllheli. This is the end of the (railway) line, and the town has an old-fashioned look, with cafés, working chapels, bookshops and a big traditional ironmongers. The path takes us round the old harbour. It’s now empty,…
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Wales Coast Path, day 60: Harlech to Porthmadog
Five gather at Porthmadog station: C, H, me, and two guests, M-A and J. Sunshine beams through the roof of the elegant platform, and the three-carriage train arrives to take us to Harlech. Its manager is as friendly as we’ve come to expect on the Cambrian Coast. Is it daily experience of working on the…
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Wales Coast Path, day 59: Tal-y-bont to Harlech
Back to Penhelig station, for the last time. C and I are on our own today. We’re planning, as the climax of the week, to make a grand ceremonial advance on Harlech, in pale imitation of Owain Glyn Dŵr’s successful assault on the Edwardian castle there in 1404. Fortunately the wind has veered overnight. It’s…
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Wales Coast Path, day 58: Fairbourne from Tal-y-bont
Another strong contingent, with MH joining L and M at Penhelig station. We’re heading to Tal-y-bont, up the coast. The north wind still blows, so we plan a southerly walk to Fairbourne today. It’s not just windy, it’s cold, and we can see snow on the mountain tops. Tal-y-bont turns out to be disappointing –…
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Wales Coast Path, day 55: Machynlleth to Aberdyfi
Here we are, back on the platform at Penhelig, with two new guestwalkers, L and M. This morning we’re not alone. A small group of urban children sit on the ground. They look out of their element, and it’s soon obvious that they’re staying with Outward Bound. The Trust’s very first school was set up…
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Wales Coast Path, day 57: Tywyn from Fairbourne
Penhelig is the best hidden of railway stations. A poorly signed flight of steps takes us to a platform high above the road, the single track line leading to a tunnel at each end. Facing us a curving Victorian terrace blocks the sea view; it has its gardens at the front, each bisected by a…
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Wales Coast Path, day 54: Tre’r Ddôl to Machynlleth
By car back to Tre’r Ddôl, and coffee and flapjacks in the excellent café in Siop Cynfelin run by Cwmni Cymunedol Cletwr. Today’s guestwalkers converge on the village: D from Aberystwyth, and S, J and Jo from Borth. As we set off up the woodland path we must look like a branch of the North…