Saturday, August 20th, 2011: Trying the Coastal Trail near Criccieth
Bob: For our last day in Criccieth we decided to try the segment of the Lyn Coastal Path that runs along the coast there. Since we had driven the road East to Porthmadog several times and knew that area fairly well, we further decided to strike out to the West, starting on a beach-side segment of the Coastal path to see what it was like We had hoped to loop back through the countryside to our hotel in some way using the Ordnance Survey Map #254 that gave us fairly detailed information on trails and country lanes. As it turned out, when we stopped into the Royal Post Office to purchase stamps the gentleman at the counter courteously took some time to show us a path along the East bank of the Afon Dwyfor (River Dwyfor). He recommended it as a very scenic route to come back to the northeast, and I saw some cross-country paths that looked like they would close out the last side of the roughly triangular route. Happy to have A Plan (or a Plan A as the case may be), we worked our way downhill past the railroad station and zig-zagged through a neighborhood to arrive at the sea. There we found a beachfront promenade that led westward from the castle on a hill that dominates Criccieth. I didn't expect the broad concrete walkway to extend very far because, after all, constructing and maintaining something like that costs a lot of money, and sure enough the promenade ended right about at the western city limits. |
Monika: Since we were going to leave tomorrow and Bob would have to drive a lot, we decided to spend today walking some more on the coastal walk, but this time starting from Criccieth. We had seen quite a bit of Porthmadog to the east, so we decided to walk to the west. But first we stopped at the post office for some stamps and the postmaster gave us also some advice on where to walk after leaving the coast. Our first stretch was past the railroad station of Criccieth down to the seashore, where we found a nice path. |
Bob: However, from that point on we still had a very nice broad gravel path on the low bluffs at the back of the beach. For a while we walked between tall, bushy hedgerows on either side that gave us protection from the wind for sure but also had the irritating side effect of interfering with actually seeing the scenery on either side. The bluffs finally petered out and our path became a dirt or sand path on the low dunes at the rear of the broad beach that stretched on for a couple of miles. The slight elevation of the path gave us great views down the beach to the West, as well as back toward Criccieth with its castle to the East, and of course directly out to sea where we saw the occasional sailboat. We finally reached the mouth of the Afon Dwyfor as it came down to the beach and entered the Irish Sea. Although the river wasn't all that big, it was still large enough that you could not easily cross it like many of the smaller coastal streams. Instead the trail swung inland and followed the course of the river for a half a mile or so before veering off due North across the farm fields for the town of Llanstumdwy. |
Monika: Once on the path, most of the time we could see the sea, but at other times we were in a tunnel of hedgerows. Once we got to Afor (river) Dwyfor we turned inland. At first we walked past the remains of an old seawall. |
Bob: It was at that point that I really started to see the value in having one of the fine-grained Ordnance Survey maps to guide us on a cross-country ramble. Even some of the farms had their names printed on the map so that you could be doubly sure you were taking the correct path. That said, at the step-by-step level you still had to couple the map's information with a large dose of common sense about exactly where the path lay. In particular, I found myself looking for the faint trace of previous walkers in the grass in order to find my way across the field to a stile or gate on the other side. These country paths are typically only clearly marked when they intersect a street or lane, but when you are crossing the fields you are on your own and have to rely on a keen eye and a bit of judgment to feel your way along. Still, walking right across a farm and coming face to face with some of the farm animals did lend a certain bucolic immediacy to our walk! |
Monika: Then we walked across a field to a farm where we saw sheep that seemed to be kept for their meat rather than wool. We also saw a true free-range chicken herding her little chicks away from us humans. After crossing the coast road we passed the old church at Llanystumdwy. A little farther on we came to the grave of David Lloyd George, a politician from Wales. It was quite elaborate but set quietly next to the river bank. |
Bob: At Llanysstumdwy the official Lyn Coastal Path turned West along the main road and I was just as happy that the route recommended by the Postmaster took us North along the Afon Dwyfor instead. Since most of the rural roads in Wales, as in all of Great Britain to my knowledge, do not have shoulders, you have to walk along the right-hand side facing traffic and just hoping that the cars will swerve out and miss you as they whiz by. Call me cynical, but trusting other people to avoid hitting me with their cars just strikes me as a bad idea, so I eschew that kind of walking whenever I can. In this case, we followed the Afon Dwyfor for two miles more or less, and passed by a fascinating set of small waterfalls and cascades. The river was swift, clear, and with enough white water and calm pools to make it a first-class fishing stream in my inexpert opinion. Certainly back in the U.S. on a hot, sunny summer's day I could envision folks floating down the shallow, rocky riverbed in some big inflatable innertubes. I'm not sure if that would work in Wales because I'm not sure if the fly-fishing Welshmen would get along with the innertube Welshmen. But it's a moot point anyway because judging by the weather we experienced in Wales there's never going to be a hot, sunny Summer's day! |
Monika: The river itself was full of cascades and small waterfalls. It was quite pleasant just walking beside it and taking pictures whenever it seemed particularly picturesque. Some fallen tree trunks besides the path fired up our imagination: Bob seemed to be trying to tame a Welsh Dragon, whereas I was sitting down for tea. |
Bob: However, the rain held off until we had reached a bridge apparently named Pont Rhyd-y-benllig, according to our Ordnance Survey map. We even had time to sit down on the stone wall across the road and eat our snack of apples and potato chips. My water bottle filled with apple juice had popped off my belt loop when I sat down and fallen into a briar patch on the other side of the wall, so after we finished our snack I had to clamber over the wall, fight my way through the briars, and retrieve it before we ambled on. We had been walking about two hours by that point, so we decided to walk along the road for a couple hundred yards and then cut back southeast on some cross-country paths marked on the OS map. A surprising number of cars came whizzing past us while we walked the short stretch down the street, making me uncomfortable, so I was relieved when we departed to the southeast across some fields. Mind you, we had to be careful of our footing because typically somewhere in each field the path would have a mud bowl churned up by cows, sheep, or farm implements. Avoiding animal droppings scattered everywhere also made us step carefully, but we were still having fun until the afternoon rains started up again. |
Monika: We finally reached a crossroad next to a bridge. We decided to sit down to look at a map and have a snack of apples and baked chips, quite satisfying. But when Bob got up he could not find the coke bottle that had apple juice in it. He had it hooked to his belt in back. I looked over the wall where he had sat and there it was among the flowers. So Bob went around into the pasture to retrieve it and we were once again ready to forge ahead, having made certain of our route. |
Bob: At first I resolutely ignored the fairly heavy drizzle, hoping I guess that it would just go away. It didn't, of course, so I ended up with a fairly wet T-shirt before I finally gave in and donned my rain jacket. I had optimistically omitted an extra layer between the T-shirt and the jacket that morning as I had hoped the weather was clearing, and now I paid the price for that optimism by having a wet, clammy rain shell plastered against my bare arms for the rest of the walk. Traipsing through the Welsh countryside was still interesting enough, however, that the walk was enjoyable, but just. We were thwarted in finding the start of one cross-country path in that there was no official sign and I was reluctant to just bust into somebody's farmyard on the assumption that I was on the right path. Instead we backtracked to the last officially-marked path down toward Criccieth and followed it to route B 4411, which we had used to drive to our hotel a few days back. Given the amount of traffic on a more major road like that, I was extremely happy to find that the local council had installed small sidewalks that far outside the city limits. Thus we could safely walk along the street back down to our hotel and finish our loop. |
Monika: And now, like it had so often before, it rained steadily during the last hour of our walk. When we got to our hotel our feet and pants were wet and I had found out that my coat was not really waterproof. But it was a warm rain. I made us some coffee and we sat down and rested a bit. |
Bob: We were both pretty wet and bedraggled by then, so we stopped off in our room to doff our sopping clothes and have a hot, bracing cup of coffee and biscuits before we went out in search of lunch. I was looking forward to a stuffed jacket potato, but it was precisely 2:00 p.m. when we hit all the little cafes and restaurants in town, and several of them had just stopped serving! Some of the others didn't even open until 6:00 p.m., apparently relying on only one meal a day for their customers. Arrrgh! In the end, we gave up and purchased some sandwiches for lunch and a salad for dinner at a Spar grocery store on the main street. We retreated to our warm, cozy room for our afternoon meal and listened to the wind and rain howling around the eaves of our hotel (we were on the top floor) while we ate. I then turned in for a nap whilst Monika took Baby-Baby down to the lobby to Internet for a while. We then read a bit, had dinner, and updated journals and goofed around for the rest of the evening. Really, though, I was glad that I had not had to drive a bit that day as I knew I'd be driving through much of Wales to get to our next hotel on the morrow. |
Monika: But by now it was getting onto 2PM and we were getting a bit peckish. We decided to keep with the "no driving" part of the program and walked into town. But the places either did not open until 6PM or closed their lunch business at 2PM sharp. So we finally went into the local Spar store and picked up some sandwiches. I also stopped at the local discount Beer and Wine store and picked up three different beers for 4.50 pounds with interesting sounding names: Spitfire, Bombadier, and Hobgoblin. I just couldn't resist. Back in our room we ate and then read, wrote on the journal, and in general had a very relaxed afternoon and evening while outside the rain kept pouring down. |
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