Day 54: Aberteifi to Ceibwr Bay

Our guide book described this section of the path as: ‘A brute of a first day on the Pembrokeshire Coast’ with the track covering 25 kilometres and gaining in height 700 metres. As such, we decided to tackle this section of the walk over two days. It was a wise decision as we got so engrossed in the history of the area on our first day that we never departed St Dogmaels until 3 pm and only arrived at our destination of Ceibwr Bay at 7 pm.

Cardigan Castle and River Teifi

Our first stop for the day was Aberteifi Castle (Cardigan Castle), a Grade I listed building which has won awards for its restoration efforts. The castle was a first stone castle built by a Welshman – The Lord Rhys ap Gruffydd. To mark its completion in 1176 he held a special celebration of music and poetry which is recognised as the First Eisteddod – an important cultural festival which is still held in Wales every year. The castle bears the marks of many ages ranging from Medieval and Civil War right through to Georgion and Victorian eras. The castle, house and grounds fell into disrepair from the 1940's and was restored in the early 2000's and opened to the public in 2015.

Green House inside inside Cardigan Castle grounds

Kitchen gardens, Cardigan Castle

After visiting the castle, we crossed the river Teifi into the town of St Dogmaels where we visited the ruins of St Dogmaels Abbey. Founded about 1115 for a prior and 12 monks of the order of Tiron, St Dogmaels occupied the site of a pre-Norman monastery. It was raised to the status of abbey in 1120, and the monks followed an austere life based on the rule of St Benedict. The surviving ruins span four centuries of monastic life and show much alteration.

North transept St Dogmaels Abbey

Chapter House St Dogmaels Abbey

Following this we visited Y Felin one of the last working water mills in Wales producing traditional stone-ground flour. The mill operated from the 1640's to 1926. The present owner purchased the mill in the late 1970's and restored it to full working order in 1981 complete with mill pond and water wheel. The miller’s daughter showed us all the mechanical workings and process to produce flour from wheat.

Y Felin Mill

Mill pond Y Felin

Leaving St Dogmaels, we walked alongside the estuary before climbing steeply up the road to join a cliffside path that took us around Cemaes Head. We followed the sedimentary cliffs over the highest point on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path before descending into Ceibwr Bay where we completed our walk for the day.

View over Teifi Estuary

Pen y Afr