Today marked the start of stage 7
of our journey around Wales – The Carmarthenshire Coast. Our day began in Amroth
where the path followed the top of beach before climbing the headland
and following the slope above Black Rock and round Telpyn Point.
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| The slopes above Black Rock |
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| Telpyn Point |
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| Telpyn Beach |
From here our path descended into a forested valley, before climbing steeply around the hill fort of Top Castle as spectacular views of Marros Sands opened up before us.
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| Marros Sands |
The path sidled across the side of Marros Beacon before zigzagging down towards Marros Mill. From here we traversed Ragwen Point which was apparently littered with ancient burial cairns and settlements however was covered in too much bracken and blackberry for us to make out anything. We did however pause for a bit to forage some blackberries for dessert.
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| The path along Marros Beacon |
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| Bucolic landscape |
The way dropped steeply down to the back of Morfa Bychan. This beach was used to practice for the D-Day landings and the concrete blocks were part of the defences used in this exercise.
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| Morfa Bychan |
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| Concrete block defenses at Morfa Bychan |
The path climbed steeply out of Morfa Bychan before eventually making its way round to Dolwen Point where we zigzagging down some steep steps to reach the small seaside resort of Pendine. Pendine Sands stretched endlessly away towards the mouth of the Taf estuary, however only the first few metres of beach are publicly accessible as the rest forms part of a military range.
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| Pendine Sands |
On our way down the steps to Pendine we met a lovely young man called Peter Mears. For those of you that think we are crazing for walking around Wales, this guy is a whole new level of crazy – he is walking the entire coastline of the UK mainland and sleeping outdoors as he goes all in with the aim of raising funds for three environmental charities: The National Trust, the RSPB and Renewable World. fundraiser! So far, he has been walking for 15 months and completed nearly 1,500 miles of his journey. If you would like to sponsor his efforts you can do so using the sponsor page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/petermears1
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| Peter Mears on his UK coastline quest |
From Pendine the path travelled inland around the military range until we reached the edge of a marsh near the Taf estuary. From here the path skirted the foot of the wooded slopes of Sir Johns Hill before joining the estuary shore of the Afon Taf where sections of Dylan Thomas’ poetry adorned the path. The poet lived in Laugharne during two periods and described it as ‘this timeless, beautiful, barmy town… a legendary lazy little black magical bedlam by the sea’.
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| The path through the fields near Plashett |
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| Wooded slopes of Sir Johns Hill |
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| Afon Taf estuary |
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| Afon Taf estuary |
The path travelled through a lovely woodland before the magnificently-sited Laugharne Castle greeted us. Laugharne Castle was established in the twelfth century on the Landsker Line, the division between Welsh and English speaking Wales. To the south and west of here is the ‘Little England Beyond Wales’ that was settled in the Middle Ages by a Flemish colony who became fiercely loyal to the English Crown and fought against Owain Glyndwr.
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| Woodland path |
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| Laugharne Castle |
We had no time to explore the castle as we were due to catch the bus back to our car, so leave you with this Thomas Dyaln quote.
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