The Road goes ever on and on; Down from the door where it began;
Now far ahead the Road has gone; And I must follow, if I can;
Pursuing it with eager feet; Until it joins some larger way;
Where many paths and errands met; And whither then? I cannot say.

[JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]

Wednesday 24 September 2014

WCP: Porth Colmon to Nant Gwrtheyrn

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Wednesday 24 September 2014 (0740-1435)

Distance: 17.2 miles

Ascent: 3500’

Weather: Breezy with sunny intervals. Warm when sun out.

After the rain stopped last evening, it remained dry all night. Or, at least, I didn’t hear any rain and the road was dry when I set foot on it this morning. Thirty seconds later, drops of rain were felt. What bad timing! Happily, it was the briefest of passing showers and the weather then improved as the day went on, with the periods of blue sky getting longer and longer.

Continuing as yesterday had finished, the path hugged the very edge of the coast all the way up to Morfa Nefyn, (where I arrived in time for elevenses), taking in every wobble in the line of the coast and going up and down many an inlet. A fine coast it is, and a fine walk.

With no repetition of yesterday’s meet-up-failure, Mick stayed put in Colin today and thus was there and waiting when I came into Morfa Nefyn. He was even in the best sort of car park - as the coast path went straight through the middle of it, I didn’t have to stray more than five paces off route to be served my coffee and cake on Colin’s sofa.

Beyond Morfa Nefyn/Nefyn, the path left the coast for a little while and I wasn’t inspired by the immediate surroundings, fearing that they were going to remain lacking for the rest of the day. My fear was unfounded and a couple of miles later I was back into a more interesting area. Interesting in this case wasn’t just coastal scenery, but industrial remains in the form of quarries.

My thought of naughtily (and lazily) taking a shortcut at the end of the day, to avoid a drop back down to sea level only to climb back up to nearly 1000’, went out the window when I was striding along so merrily that I strode straight past the turn. I’m glad I did, as the view as I rounded the corner and started a steep descent made the extra effort well worthwhile (plus it took me past the most interesting quarry workings of the day; old quarries can often be a bit of a blot on the landscape, but these were of the ilk which added interest to the view).

The climb back up wasn’t too bad either – largely, I think, because after all of the miles and ascent of the last 10 days, I’m feeling quite fit just now. The blue skies, sunshine and views also helped. It was at the top of that climb that Colin hove into view and my day was over at just half past two, giving me a good rest-up before tomorrow.

I’ve only got about 30 miles to go now until I reach the north coast section of path, which I’ve already walked. Those 30 miles look, on paper, to be sadly lacking in quality. Let’s hope the reality is better.

3 comments:

  1. There was a good café at the language centre at the bottom of the hill on the coast at Nant Gwrtheryn. I visited earlier this year when the storms were on and I was doing Marilyns. At Trefor don't ignore the first shop like I did on the Wales walk, it is the only one. Trefor looks big enough to support more than that. Look out for Londis at Clynnog Fawr.

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  2. I'm not very good at contributing to the economy via cafe visits when I'm walking by myself, instead preferring to eat my own home-made cake and having Mick make me cups of tea in Colin, so I didn't visit the cafe, even though I noted it was there.

    As I've indicated in today's blog, I didn't walk through Trefor, but it was good to know that there is a shop in Clynnog Fawr, as it saved Mick from unnecessarily diverting into Trefor himself to solve our bread and milk shortage.

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  3. Nant Gwtheryn is a fascinating little settlement, Gail. I did a Welsh language course there one weekend a year ago. Well worth the visit. Also an interesting bit of coastline, thought.

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