11 Mar 2026

[Will add photos to this post soon]

From the bus stop at Llanfair I walked three quarters of a mile down the road to Llandanwg. I did a little diversion to visit the tiny and incredibly old St Tanwg’s Church. The building of the present church started sometime in the early Middle Ages but the original church dates to the 5th century. From here I walked around the edge of marshy ground almost back to the railway and crossed a footbridge then on to the CMC Adventure Centre at Pensarn. They mainly provide outdoor adventure education for schools, colleges and other youth groups.

The path follows the A496 main road for a short stretch partly along the grass verge and then on a path squeezed tightly between the road and a field. There had been a lot of rain and the path was very wet and muddy mud there was nothing to grab on to except a barbed wire fence. Thankfully, this didn’t last for long and the path cut across a field to a magnificent modern footbridge over the Afon Artro. I heard a chiff-chaff for the first time this year signalling to me the start of Spring! The path follows the river to a small car park and then down the road past Llanbedr station to the old airfield at RAF Lanbedr. The road turns through 90 degrees here towards Shell Island.

There is a large campsite on Shell Island and the road across is tidal. The coast path however leaves the road before the tidal section and goes along a very long concrete track along the edge of the airfield. There were lots of reed beds by the side of the path which looked beautiful backlit by the sun. I continued along some tracks through the dunes to the southern tip of Shell Island and looped through the campsite before arriving at the beach.

I walked along the beach at Morfa Dyffryn south for about 2 and a half miles with the extensive dunes on the left. It was cold and breezy but with an almost cloudless sky at this point. It was a very pleasant walk and I eventually arrived at a pebbly part of the beach where I knew there was a path on the left I needed to go down. I spotted a pole which looked like a marker so I scrambled up the pebble ridge and found the long boardwalk through the dunes to a car park. From here I walked inland along the road to a house where the path left the road to go over fields. One of these was so waterlogged it was impossible to walk along the path without sinking knee deep. I had to cling on to a stone wall along the edge and work my way round.

From here the path went across fields past some ruined farmhouses and then through several oddly shaped fields bounded by stone walls. A wooden footbridge carries the path over the Afon Ysgethin and the path goes through the Dalar and Sarn Faen campsites to a road. From here I walked across fields to yet another farm and campsite and across a level crossing. The final bit before I got to the main road went, according to the map, through the grounds of a house but it looked private so I went around it looking for a path. I couldn’t see an alternative so I walked past the house and along the drive to the main road. It was only when I got to the main road that I noticed the official path going along the edge of the field.

I was going to finish the walk here but I had some time to spare so I continued along the main road towards Barmouth. I kept checking the bus times when I reached a bus stop and eventually I decided it was too risky to carry on to the next one without missing the bus. I finished the walk at Llanaber which turned out to be a good location for starting the next section. This walk was my longest one so far at 12.3 miles.

12.26 miles