It’s a cold, grey winter’s day, as I cross the Loughor Bridge, into Carmarthenshire. The welcome sign displays in Welsh before English, a reversal in order on crossing the county boundary, due to the much higher use of the Welsh language in West Wales.
The Millennium Coastal Park takes me through wetlands, full of geese and other wildfowl, and past the relocated original posts from Llanelli’s Stradey Park, which hosted a famous victory over the All Blacks in 1972, complete with Phil Bennett sidestep. A couple of locals are surprised to find an Englishman so excited about the image.
“I’m a rugby fan first, and an English fan second.”
The entire walk has fine views back to Gower.
I come across a lot of yarn bombed postboxes, but this is the first harbour railing. It does add a welcome splash of colour to a grey day.
Pembrey Burrows are austere, but beautiful, with the Gower Peninsula gorgeously framed by the setting sun.
The path winds across the lovely Pembrey Country Park. There are grassy meadows that would be perfect for camping, but it’s still far too busy, and near the main entrance, so I head deeper into the park, and down to the beach.
The walk along the deserted sand is longer than I thought. I need to find the path into the high bank of dunes before dark. My head torch is on, before I spot the gap in the dunes. I consider following the narrow trail into the forest, but it’s too dark. There is a rough, open spot, just behind the dunes, so I pitch quickly, take a final look at Worms Head, and fall asleep easily to the sound of the waves.
Walk distance: 18 miles.
Total distance: 1,343 miles.
Hi Tony, I remember the commerative Rugby posts statue when I walked past them some years back. In fact I went to my first Gallagher Premiership on Sunday to watch Wasps play Saracen at Coventry.
I’ve been subscribing to a Youtube channle for awhile now about a chap called Harry Dwyer, who has been sailing a small RIB around the coastline of the UK in a clockwise direction. He started out from London and has now reached Abersystwyth an has just overtaken you. Its a good channel with great music and good camera work. Probably worth watching from episode, the link link below is a link to the last posting. Cheers Alan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs6EgwvE8bM
Hi Alan. Looked like a a good match. Thanks for the link, I will definitely check it out. I have been watching some great Youtube videos by a couple of different people walking the Cape Wrath Trail, which is on my bucket list, once I get a little more proficient with navigating without my OS App! 🙂
I’ve fallen behind with reading your blog so trying to catch up. Beautiful views and photos as always. I’ve been to Pembrey Country Park a few times, it’s a lovely place to visit but probably a bit busy during the holiday season.
Thanks Karen. I guess there is a trade off between the weather and the number of people. It would be nice to see it change through the seasons.