DAY 25

Thursday 16^th 2016                                                      

Caernarvon to Cardigan                                                                      Miles 205

I set off early today from Caernarvon with the intention of seeing how far I could get and yet still enjoy all of the coastal views and villages.  I saw more castles, drove miles up and down estuaries just to cross over to the other side, watched England beat Wales at football and ate an Indian meal on a boat on the river.

More Nefyn Beach

My first stop was at Morfa Nefyn on the Lleyn Peninsula.  This was a place that we had vacationed a number of years ago as a family, with some friends.  I tried to find the original beach but not sure that I recognised it.  At what I thought was the beach a woman was helping a man launch a dinghy.  There was quite a wind blowing and the ocean was kicking up, but he was obviously going out.  There were some sail boats anchored about a mile out so perhaps he was going out to one of these.  He put on a rain jacket, but no life jacket.  I did not say anything (but perhaps I should have?).  Over 80% of boating fatalities are people not wearing life jackets.  His wife later passed me with the empty launch trailer so he was obviously going out on his own.

In the village I stopped to fill up with fuel and was surprised to find that not only was it cheaper than on the “mainland” but the attached village store was superbly stocked, with lots of fresh local items.  A gem of a place.

 

Aberdare

From Morfa I drove to the end of the Peninsula to the pretty little village of Aberdaron, with its vey nice beach.  Indeed all the beaches on this Peninsula have very good sand.

I then had to drive very narrow country lanes, mostly behind a tractor, to get to Abersoch, a well known sailing town.  When I lived in Cheshire Abersoch was known as ‘Wilmslow on Sea’ as many people from this well to do town in Cheshire would have weekend homes here.  I must say that Abersoch did not quite seem so thriving as I remembered it from 20 years ago.  

Abersoch

I still remember the first time we went shopping in Sainsbury’s in Wilmslow.  There was no one in casual clothes and the women were not only dressed up, but actually were wearing their jewels!  Also, the local department store in the town used to pride itself on serving “our kind of people”!  This was the north of England in the 1980s.  In contrast the south of England at the same time, was somewhat the opposite.  People with money tended to be the most casually dressed with old worn clothes, not designer labels.

I moved on to Pwllheli, which seemed as I remembered it, a town dominated by a holiday camp and caravans.  I did not stop thought it has to be said that it has another superb beach.  Further on I came to Criccieth, another town with a ruined castle, but a small one.  I parked on the sea front next to a car identical to the one that I was driving.  You might recall that in Whitby I saw the “twin” to my vehicle with the number plate being the next in the series. This vehicle was also close in its number, so I think Hertz must have received a large batch of them.  This one the driver told me had been picked up in Birmingham.

 

The shape

The shape revealed

While I was there a group of people were looking out to the ocean at something in the water.  They thought it might be a whale in distress and they were thinking of calling for help.  It was a black shape about a half mile out, staying in the same spot but moving in a strange way.  I could not make out what it was but took a photo of it with my telephoto lens and then zoomed in on the image.  It turned out to be a large grey seal that was obviously sitting on a rock that must have been just at surface level.  I was amazed how clear the picture was with my camera.

 

Porthmadog

The next town was Porthmadog a cute place with a terminus of the Festiniog steam railway.  Unfortunately I would have to wait for two hours for the next train and didn’t feel that I could hang around for that length of time.  However the car park attendant very kindly allowed me to park, without charge, to use the facilities and also walk back into the town to take a couple of pictures.  I later saw one of the trains passing me on a high track and as I pointed my camera out of the car the driver blew the whistle and gave a wave.

Close to Porthmadog is the fantasy village of Portmeirion.  This is a pseudo Italianate style village built by the architect Sir Clough Williams -Ellis between 1925 and 1975.  It is most famous for having featured in an old television series called “The Prisoner”.  Having visited it a number of years ago, I did not feel the need to go again.

 

Harlech Castle

My next destination was Harlech but to get to it I first had to drive inland to go around the Traeth Estuary, a distance of 13 miles.  Harlech Castle is the fourth of the UNESCO rated castles built by Edward I to suppress the Welsh.  Unlike the castle at Caenarvon, built as a palace, Harlech was built as a garrison to hold a force of soldiers.  It has a very interesting entrance built about half way up.  Today this is linked by a modern walkway to the Visitor Centre.

 

The Coast

The drive further south is particularly attractive as you follow the coast, but from on high with a good view of the ocean, which today was blue and sparkling.  There were two caravan parks along this road, one I would estimate having perhaps as many as 1000 static vans.

 

Barmouth

The beaches along this coast continue to be large and sandy and I stayed close to the coast down to Barmouth, which as the name suggests is a large sandy bar that is almost right across the mouth of the Afon Mawddach river and its tributaries, which drain the Snowdonia range of mountains.  Barmouth is quite a large town, but too many “tourist tat shops” for me.  I had lunch at a café close the Bar.  Unfortunately I asked for a pot of tea.  Big mistake.  The girl serving me said they didn’t have any teapots and did I want a large mug or a giant mug.  I said I would have the smallest size.  She then put a tea bag in the mug, added water from a tap and then mashed the tea bag as hard as she could with a spoon.  Milk was then added and she asked did I want the teabag left in or taken out!  This is Britain today.  I should have brewed it myself with my stove.

Outside the café on the sands were a number of boats, on them an old RNLI lifeboat that apparently had been there a long time.  I would have thought that it should be in a museum not decaying on the beach.

 

Barmouth from the opposite bank

To move on from Barmouth you once again you have to drive up the estuary and down the other side, a distance of 22 miles.  I was able to save 2 miles by using an old wooden toll bridge that cost 70 pence.  I didn’t save much time as the toll keeper, who clearly wasn’t busy wanted to chat about the upcoming England, Wales football match.

Rail Link Barmouth to Fairborn

I reached Fairbourne, the opposite bank from Barmouth and watched once again a train taking the “short cut”.  Perhaps one day there will also be a road bridge.

After Fairbourne I drove on with the sea on my right and then turned once again up another estuary, this one of the River Dovey.  The town of Aberdovey is a charming place with many coloured houses.  I drove past the Outward Bound School, though having moved from Burghead, it still exists here in Aberdovey.  Presumably the young people in canoes on the water were from here.  Though the tide was out the river flows along the bank on this side so Aberdovey always has boat access.

One phenomenon of today was the weather.  On the coast it was sunny, but as I turned inland to drive around the estuaries, so I came into rain.  In each of the three estuaries the weather was the same.  Dry on the coast, wet inland

 

Aberystwyth

It was a 30 mile drive to Aberstwyth.  This again proved to be a surprising and attractive town.  It has the remains of an old castle but not much of it is left.  This seems to divide the town with separate beaches on either side.  The town is a large one, but it was eerily quiet with hardly anyone on the streets.  When I turned on the radio I realised why – the match had started!

 

New Quay

This part of the coast is particularly lovely with pretty little towns like Aberaeron and perhaps my favourite New Quay.  This is a town I fell I could enjoy staying in.  Despite a very strong wind blowing the harbor here kept the boats in calm waters.  My original intention had been to stay in New Quay but it was only 2.30pm so I decided to head further south and stay in Cardigan.  I am meeting my friend Bob tomorrow in Tenby.  Staying overnight in Cardigan will give me less miles to travel tomorrow and I can aim to meet Bob from his train at 3.40pm.

Aberaeron

Just outside Aberporth I saw a pub that was showing the match.  I had heard on the radio that Wales had scored first and that England had eventually equalized.  There was only 30 minutes left so I decided to go in and watch the last few minutes.  The pub was clearly full of very loud and excited Welsh fans.  Although England scored in the last minute, it remained a friendly affair.

I found a B&B for the night in Cardigan.  It is an OK sort of place but not as good as some I have been in. There is no blind for the Velux window and as sunrise is around 5.00am, I shall probably be awake early!  Cardigan itself is not a particularly smart town and I wished I had opted to stay at New Quay.

I went out to find a place for an evening meal and came across a “Junk Food Fest” where I was warmly invited to join.  This was organized by a group that collects discarded supermarket foods and turns them into meals.  At this event a meal was being prepared and you were asked to give whatever you felt the meal was worth.  I thought that this was a great idea, but unfortunately I did not like the menu and what they were offering.  It was all vegetarian, not necessarily a bad thing, but it did not sound very appetizing.  One of the young women organising the evening told me about an unusual Indian restaurant on a boat on the river.  It was tied up to a dock and actually did not look particularly seaworthy.  But I went aboard, the food was excellent and it was still afloat when I left!

Tomorrow, with Bob joining me for two days, I again have companionship and someone to make notes.  Bob comes from South Wales and is looking forward to showing me ‘his country.’