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]

Monday 15 September 2014

Welsh Coast Path (WCP): Outside Cardigan to Mwnt

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Sunday 14 September 2014 (1620-1835)

Distance: 7.1 miles

Weather: Quite splendid

Had September gone entirely to plan, I would be 14 days through a walk around the Welsh coast by now, all walked in fine weather. The silver lining is that, even though I’m two weeks late in starting what is now a severely curtailed trip (starting from Cardigan, rather than starting from Chepstow), the incredible weather is still holding. At 6pm today I found myself walking along a stunning bit of coast, looking down at people sunbathing on the beach below. That’s surely not normal in the evening in mid-September?

Even with the warmth, shorts may not have been the best choice of leg wear. Whilst almost the entire section of the trail that I walked today follows roads, I decided to take a little detour to see if I could take an alternative route along a beach. The answer was that yes I could … but it was significantly further, involved a back-track and a fight with brambles before culminating with a clamber over a fence. I would say that I’ve learnt a lesson, but the reality is that each time I see a potential beach-based alternative to a road walk, I’m likely to give it a try.

The day (albeit a very short day) didn’t finish entirely smoothly either. At 1755, I was (as it later transpired) about five minutes away from Mick, who was sitting in Colin in a field waiting for me. That field wasn’t quite where I expected it to be, which left me taking an unnecessarily circuitous route and (thanks to a lack of phone reception to aid me locating him) wandering randomly around lanes trying to find him. Find him I did, but not until forty minutes had passed since I had been standing five minutes away! All good for the step count, I suppose…

I shall be taking the more direct route back to the coast tomorrow morning!

1 comment:

  1. You're away! Going well I see...up to your usual standard, well done :-)

    ReplyDelete