Day 38: Llanbedrog to Criccieth

Today was a long day as we covered over 25 km. The majority of the day was spent walking along beaches alternating with walking along busy roads. 

Cottages along the shore at Llanbedrog

Sandy beach at Llanbedrog - beautiful but a pain to walk along due to the soft sand.

Looking back towards headland at Llandbedrog

Beach at Morfa Abererch

Walking along the beach at Morfa Abererch

  

Looking back along Morfa Abererch

We passed a vast holiday park, one of the many that are very popular here in Wales. It included row upon row of caravans – not your normal Kiwi version but narrow, tidy, spacious houses on wheels. We talked with one of the gardeners and he informed us that there were over one thousand caravans on site!

One of many holiday parks full of large caravans more like homes on wheels

Coastline along Porth Fechan

We had not packed a lunch today however a local man that we met along the path had told us about a pub at a place called Llanystumbwy where we could stop for a hearty meal. We were looking forward to a meal particularly as the day progressed and it got later and later. After the long walk on soft sand and then hard, hot asphalt we were very hot, thirsty, hungry and quite a bit hangry. Having detoured off the path for half a mile to get to the township of Llanystumbwy we arrived at the pub only to find that it didn’t open until 6 pm! As there were no other eating establishments in the village, there was little choice but to return to the path and continue on our way to Cricceith which was another 1.5-2 hours away. Needless to say, by the time we reached Cricceith we were beyond being hangry!

Bridge into township at Llanystumdwy

The path along the Afon Dwyfor

Distant view of Cricceith at the end of the bay

After wolfing down some Subway we drove along the coast to Barmouth where we had booked an apartment for the next week. The apartment turned out to be on the steepest street ever, so steep and narrow that we couldn’t drive the car up and had to leave it back down in the village. On a positive, we have great views out to the beach and the town.

The street leading up to our hire apartment in Barmouth

A view of our apartment from the beach (in the tall building at the rear of town)