Cardigan revisit - 16-17th October, 2016

Well it's been a while since our last coast re-visit it seems. Although we did rather a large re-visit to Ynys Môn earlier in the year...click here to catch up..

This re-visit actually turned out not quite as originally planned. We had hoped to have a Sassy roadtrip this time around but sadly the weather didn't behave as it was supposed to so we reverted having booked the hotel and just went in a boring old car! It was in the end the correct thing to have done, it was a very wet ride both ways and a very showery couple of days so driving with the hood down would have been a bit damp!

We had decided to go back to Cardigan because we wanted to walk the coast at Cardigan Island which had always been not allowed due to the owner of the Farm Park there - unless of course you were a visitor to the park. However for a short time, the coastal path did come to a suitable agreement and was open here but it didn't seem to last long as we discovered shortly before we set off that the coastal path has closed again within the farm park area. However on the plus side it still is open along the fields on each side so we would be able to walk to Mwnt close to the coast and not on the road as we had to last time.

The first day we drove straight to Ceibwr Bay as we really wanted to go back to Pwll-y-wrach just down the coast there which we had been so impressed with on the Coastal Path Walk - and we weren't disappointed. Last time we were here it was coming towards the end of the day so I was really hoping to get better pictures today - did I succeed...?

Cemaes Head just south of Cardigan just never ceases to be amazing....

and the noise of the waves beating through the caves around here was just as phenomenal as ever. We saw a young seal in the shingle

and as we walked back also it's parent watching just out at sea.

To the south we could see Dinas Head and beyond to the Carns of St David's Head and the light of Strumble Head lighthouse flashing though I couldn't quite catch the flash this time!

One of the wonderful things of the revisits is that we have more time to have a little time to spend rambling over the rocks and just watching for longer so on the walk back to the car, we had a scramble on the rocks.

Wonderful!

Before we went to the hotel we went in search of Vortigern's "grave" at Nevern church - there certainly is a commemorative stone there. And another ancient Celtic cross there is awesome. And then we visited the cromlech near Newport, Carreg Coetan, Arthurs stone!

Never knowingly miss a visit to ancient sites!

 And then we returned to the Cliff Hotel at Gwbert which we know is one of the few hotels with sea views surprisingly. It has been updated and is currently undergoing more refurbishment - maybe a bit too contemporary....still we could see Poppit Sands from our room.

And then on the following day it was the Cardigan Island day! Leaving the hotel there on the edge of the blue sea...

....we had been thinking that it would be on the disappointing side still but in fact it was fantastic! After walking up the road for a short way, we soon turned to cross fields, many toadflax still flowering here..

 and really got our first full views of Cardigan Island.

In fact the nearer we got, the more we thought the cliffs close to the island are really not that huge.

Once down to the coast, we just stayed there all the way to Mwnt! Beautiful. On the way out there are old quarries to pass - nicely lit in the sunshine, and the rainbows were beautiful!

Showers aren't all bad news..........

Mwnt just looks so impressive on approach:

- and with the waves bouncing off the rocks, the sights and sound made for a wonderful walk.

Just before we got to Mwnt, the heavens really did open - complete with quite painful hailstones! Not to worry, we soon seemed to dry out and before long we were at Mwnt ......

we could see as far as Aberporth and even to the stunning Ynys Lochtyn and as far as Cei Newedd beyond....and then we turned to head back. Another strange feeling on the revisits - turning to go back didn't used to be the way to go! We could see the little church at Mwnt peeping over the cliffs......

.those cliffs which make Mwnt the spectacular peninsula that it is.

The return walk was just as pretty though and the sea was quieter now with the tide going out and no storm blowing in!

We got back to the Cliff Hotel after about a 6 mile walk - a lovely revisit!

It will be back to Glyndŵr's Way very soon now.......not sure when the next coast revisit will be but already looking forward to it!

Porthcawl to Margam Sands - 31st December, 2015

Well, it's been a while since we managed a return to the coast visit so we were really looking forward to this! Having decided that we would like to do something different for New Year this time, we went through several coastal hotels we knew and which weren't too far from home and some of them were booked up but the the Aberavon Beach Hotel at Port Talbot had a suite available AND a Gala Dinner Dance!
So off we set on Thursday morning. It has been a warm but excessively wet December with the North and especially Cumbria and York bearing the brunt of flooding. So much more terrible at this time of year.
It was dry on the way - whoopppee! There was even some snow, or frost at least, on Pen-y-Fan as we passed..

We headed down to Porthcawl as our walk was going to be from Rest Bay at Porthcawl and then along Margam Sands alongside the Kenfig Burrows. The Wales Coast Path has changed a little here since we walked it about almost 2 and a half years ago. How can it be so long ago?  The change means that in dry weather at least, you can walk further along Margam Sands and up through the Margam marshes rather than cutting up through the very substantial Kenfig dunes and road walking into Port Talbot.
It was around midday as we set off once more beside the sea! The sun shone brightly - for a while! - giving beautiful colours on the sea.

 There were surfers making the most of the big waves...

 We could even see breakers on the horizon, it was quite breezy today but wonderful to be walking by the sea again.

 And the waves were crashing onto the rocks....the tide was actually supposed to be well on the way out but normal tides don't prevail in winter.

 Across to the east, we could see the Glamorgan coast....

 ....and of course we were never far from a golf course...the path here goes alongside the Royal Porthcawl golf club. The big old building near the golf club which had been the Rest Hotel and in its latest form had been a convalescent hotel has closed since we were here last. It's now for sale for development into apartments so hope it succeeds. It always seems sad to see great old buildings like that now redundant.

Off we went along the very impressive plastic path along the sea here. It was actually quite busy with several other groups of people walking for a while. Up in front we could now make out the steel works and along to the Gower from Swansea! all very nostalgic for us! We had walked to Mumbles with our much smaller boys!

 And now we approached Sker House a little inland. This is now a privately owned house with a long history having started life as a Cistercian monastic building some 900 years ago. The medieval tower is still clear to see but it was in ruins for quite some time.

The light on the sea was wonderful and the waves just swept up onto the rocks still.

 As we were approaching the dunes, there was a herd of cattle on the beach! I think they were Galloways. Have often seen traces of cows on a beach but here they were happily grazing on the rocks.

 As we headed over the smaller dunes, there ahead was Port Talbot - and beyond....

 ...and Kenfig dunes landward. The port cranes and the steelworks chimneys were clear to see. As were the black clouds that now came rolling in....

We had hoped to walk along Margam sands as far as we could ....we did set off along the beach, and here there was, once again, evidence of an earlier time - a forest floor?

 So we turned into the dunes to gain more shelter from the wind and hail which soon bounced down on us! We had in fact only walked as far as where we had last time turned into the dunes. Have to say I was kind of glad we didn't have to walk all the way into Port Talbot - last time it had been a very long walk helped only by the generosity of the Port Talbot people.
Near Sker House on the return, I remembered I hadn't photographed the Path sign! Here it is....

 My back was to the sea there and it was almost blowing me over! It was just to wet to get a picture of Chris wet through. He was having the last laugh though as he had put on his waterproof trousers - I hadn;t and was regretting it! A wetsuit might have been better - and still there were golfers on the golf course as we got back to Rest Bay! We had managed about a 6 mile walk and were much heavier when we got back to the car. Luckily the cafe at Rest Bay was open - a coffee was the order of the day!
Here was the view from the car as we drove past the steel works.....

 Bu then we enjoyed a real good party for New Year with the very friendly people of Port Talbot!

 Next day we had intended retracing our steps again to walk along Aberavon Sands to Baglan Bay.....but the weather was not much improved on the day before so we contented ourselves with a last look at the sea  and a stroll along the prom..

...before taking our leave of another lovely re-visit, in anticipation of the next one.....

Angle, Bosherston, Broad Haven - 18th August, 2015

So we had had a really marvellous day yesterday walking at Castlemartin West (if you've missed it, see the end of the Coastal Path blog), and a fantastic seafood dinner at the hotel last night. Wales should make more of its seafood dishes for sure! Today we had decided we would like to see more of the Angle peninsula...We parked the car in Angle village and set off to West Angle Bay...

 It was another sunny, blue sky day as we looked across the Cleddau estuary to the Dale peninsula with St Anne's lighthouse at its tip...Whilst there on the tip of West Angle bay's clifftop, is an ancient barrow...hadn't seen that when we had walked around there in the wind in 2013!

 We enjoyed a coffee at the Wavecrest cafe seen below first of all - that had been a complete ruin when we were last there. We had eaten our lunch there once we had rounded the peninsula and could shelter from the wind -

 - and it was where first aid had had to be applied to Chris's cut head on our earlier excursion...

As we left West Angle Bay behind, we had time to take a small diversion to see where the harbour had been made here, just a passage blown through the rocks to make a sheltered little harbour which nowadays makes a secret little beach.

 We rounded the headland passing Thorn Island - still no hotel has been started here, what a shame! And then we got views across the Haven, to Stack Rocks fort with the refinery behind it. Not sure what the news is about the refinery - it was under threat of closure which would be a massive blow to emplyment in Milford Haven so hope it has a good ending.

 And beyond the fort is the village of Dale on its peninsula - another revisit methinks...

 We passed the gas ships offloading, tug boats, speedboats, harbourmasters boats - and a ferry arriving down the estuary. There is so much to watch on a walk down here. We walked around Chapel Bay with its fort (not open to visitors today) and passed the new lifeboat station. As we approached the Old Point House pub, we looked across to Rhoscrowther and its Valero refinery - with happy memories.

It was a very welcome return to the Old Point House where we enjoyed a light lunch in the cool interior - it was warm out there in the sun now.

Suitably refreshed, we wandered down passing the little boats at anchor in the old harbour with the tide well out - last time we were here, the boats were fastened tightly down against the really high winds..hard to imagine now..

So we headed along the bay back to the car..passing the 14th century Tower House, an unusual building for Wales, more reminiscent of the defensive peel towers of Scotland and Ireland. 

 We were heading back to Stackpole now - all this travelling is so much easier with a car to take short cuts! But first we wanted to have a brief look at Freshwater West. The walk here on our Coastal Path campaign was so unforgettable! The storm was threatened and came - it was crazy. I can never forget the noise of the wind and the waves as we we walking around here in 2013! Today it was just idyllic! We would have stopped and had a little beach walk but it was too busy. There was just nowhere sensible to park so a quick photo was all we could manage ....here looking towards Milford Haven and beyond to the Dale peninsula and Skomer island....

 ....and here looking across to Castlemartin West, Linney Head where we had walked yesterday.

 We had a little look around the huge walled garden at Stackpole Estate which was very pleasant. The garden now is looked after by gardening students and you can buy produce there. There is a lot to see about the history of the gardens as they would have been producing food for the old estate. We then made our way - in the car!- to Bosherston. Again, it was very busy but we managed to find a parking space. We wandered down through woods and wended our way around the magnificent lily ponds. They are just amazing. How did they think of creating these ponds so close to the sea!

 Lots of creatures to spot again - including brilliant blue dragonflies..

 We failed to find a hillfort around here somewhere but just continued over the grassy bridge and through the dunes down to Broad Haven with Church Stack in its middle!

 Looking back at the beach you can see the dunes stretch so far...

 And we followed the coast path once more with Stackpole Head and Caldey Island and of course Church Stack to watch as we went...

 As we passed close to St Govan's Head, there was a rescue underway for a girl climber (there are lots of climbers on this stretch) with lots of emergency vehicles and personnel in attendance..we continued on our way, aiming to get to Stack Rocks and back to the Green Bridge..passing here Huntsman's Leap...a good story!

 We reached almost as far as Bullslaughter Bay but were stopped by a field of cattle which I didn't fancy passing through today. It was getting late and into evening now too so we turned round - first getting a view of the Green Bridge and Stack rocks though indistinctly - and also of The Wash, where we had seen so many fossils yesterday..

 As we walked back towards St Govan's, we could clearly see Lundy Island...how many miles away?

 And then there was the search and rescue helicopter resting just above the cove where St Govan's chapel is hiding- waiting for a drop in the wind and so on to make it safe to pick up the injured girl..I was actually photographing a bird here...a spotted flycatcher...but got the chopper too!

As we passed the rescue site, the helicopter took off so we watched as the winch was dropped and then brought up with the injured on a stretcher before being whisked across the sea to Swansea and safety! We found out later that the girl had fallen whilst climbing and broken her leg and injured her back. It was amazing and quite humbling to see those brave people in action.

We retraced our steps along the coastal path to Broad Haven following a family group carrying their 2 boats - we thought it would have been much easier to sail them back around...We crossed the beach now with lots of people taking their leave too and got back to the lily ponds and back to the car for our homeward journey!

It had been a wonderful little holiday - and revisits were so successful.....where next??