Pen-Clawdd to Llanelli

After walking almost 50 miles in Edinburgh last weekend (48.6 miles to be precise and not a step of it counting towards the coastal path alas), we are back on the trail this weekend, with kids in tow.

As luck would have it we have a few days on Gowerton caravan site with the van, and the coastal path runs right by the front door…. how convenient, and our first walk on the Carmarthenshire and the Gower section of the coastal path.

We are sited about a third of the way along the Pen-Clawdd to Llanelli leg of the path so for Saturday we decided to turn left and pick up the first third. That bit was sensible, however, letting the kids take bikes on a non-bike path section was slightly less sensible.

So we turned left out of the campsite and walked to the main road, where across the other side of the road the coastal path ran down an alleyway and into a muddy wood.

 

There were a few stiles and gates to navigate with the kids bikes, as well as 4 inch deep mud in places, and a few bemused looking sheep, not used to seeing people on bikes. After briefly touching the road at one point, the coastal path then joined the road for the rest of the journey into Pen-Clawdd.

 

 

The rest of the way followed either the bike path or pavements and ran along beside the Burry estuary.

At Pen-Clawdd there is a fabulous fish and chip shop (more about that in a future blog) and a large blue upside down boat…

 

To finish this direction we walked down to a lane by crofty which was the official end/start point of this walk.

 

4.5 miles of coastal path done, but then the slightly more direct route back made a total walk today of 8.9 miles.

After a nice evening in the caravan we awoke on Sunday with the threat of heavy rain in the early afternoon but still decided to try to complete this leg. So this time we turned right out of the caravan site and headed for Llanelli.

We walked along a narrow road and over an even more narrow bridge (note to self, don’t take the caravan out this way!!) and soon hit the estuary again and a big bridge to cross over it….time for a photo opportunity.

 

 

After crossing the bridge (And the Swansea/Carmarthenshire border) turn down some steps, through a housing estate, across a road and along a park walk to get to a massive blue footbridge which takes you over the road and railway lines.

 

 

After this the coastal path mainly does as it suggests…. follows the coast, except when it detours inland to get past the Wetlands bird sanctuary. And if we looked carefully across the estuary we could see where we walked yesterday, including the blue boat.

 

The path runs alongside the golf course and some lovely new houses which have an amazing view of the inlets and beaches along the estuary, definitely another contender for a beach house. And then after passing a sculpture we reached the road and a short walk to the Llanelli Discovery centre which marks the end of this leg of the walk, as well as providing useful maps and literature for future walks.

 

So that is the first leg of the Carmarthenshire and the Gower section completed, 12.5 miles of coastal path complete, although it took 18 miles to do it, making 76 miles completed and 794 miles to go. A very pleasant and very flat section of the coastal path, and definitely one for a sunny day….although we did just beat the rain!!!