Criccieth 8-mile Group walks
Saturday 10th April 2010
On a glorious Spring day we took the train to Porthmadog along with members of the 5 mile group. We overwhelmed the conductor by sheer weight of numbers. He was unable to get around to collect all our fares and asked us to pay on the way back. I approached him to explain that as a group, a number of us would not be making the return journey by train and enquire as to the cost of a one-way ticket with a view to collecting the fares myself and leaving the money with one of the other passengers. The poor unfortunate explained, rather rudely, that he only had one pair of hands and he could only do one job at a time. Oh well!
Before the walk back to Criccieth we spent an hour in Porthmadog to allow the ladies of the group to indulge in the sport of ‘charity shopping’ and the gentlemen to do whatever gentlemen do on these occasions. I opted for a coffee and a stint of people watching.
The walk itself involved following the Llyn Coastal path via the delightful seaside village of Borth-y-Gest (comfort stop and ice creams) and on to Black Rock sands where we had a leisurely lunch at the edge of the dunes after a paddle across a shallow rivulet that obstructed our way.
The route was relatively straight forward apart from a couple of places where we started out on the low road instead of the high and had to backtrack. At one stage we were surprised to see the 5 mile group waving to us from upon high. We had another detour across the Porthmadog Golf Course at Morfa Bychan where the footpath had apparently been diverted without any notification or signage. This was a problem that we encountered on Day two (more of that later).
From Black Rock Sands the route was simplicity itself to follow. We walked over the headland at Graig Ddu via Pentrip and Penrhyn Farm to continue alongside the railway line for the final section back to Criccieth.
Sunday 11th April 2010
Another glorious Spring day! I don’t know how John Pimblett does it when he arranges these breaks but he obviously has friends in high places.
For our second walk I had taken a walk from the internet and rerouted it via field paths that are shown on the OS map. The original walk involved a fairish amount of road walking which I wished to avoid.
We made a leisurely start at 11 o’clock and headed west along the Llyn Coastal Path as far Afon Dwyfor and then north across fields to rejoin the river at Llanystumdwy to continue along the river bank as far as Pont Rhyd-y-benllig.
We passed through the village of Llanystumdwy where Lloyd George’s grave is to be found. Whilst we were having a minute to examine the great man’s resting place we encountered a young fellow with a magnificent female goshawk on his arm. He kindly gave the group an informative lecture on goshawks, their habits and their history.
Lunch was taken alongside the delightful River Dwyfor and the background noise of rushing, splashing water induced some of the group to seek comfort in the surrounding woodland!
After lunch we continued alongside the river to the road junction at Pont Rhyd-y-benllig. This is where I had decided to change the route of the original walk and head across the fields rather than walk the tarmac. It soon became obvious why the author of the original route had stuck to the road.
The fields became more and more boggy and at one stage a stile into the next field involved a ditch crossing that would not have been out of place on an army assault course. Thanks to assistance from some of the more able bodied members, the obstacle was put behind us.
After more bog-hopping we followed the map via a farm (Cefn-collfryn) and along a track continuing through some woodland where our exit was blocked by sheep netting where a stile had been removed despite there being a footpath marker on the other side. That obstacle overcome, we emerged onto a caravan site to be challenged by a young chap who directed us between some log cabins to where in his opinion the footpath ran. This was a hundred metres or so from the route indicated on the OS map. We followed his directions and emerged onto a field where again we attempted to proceed along the route of the path indicated on the map. Once again the young chap challenged us and angrily pointed out his version of where the footpath went. I showed him the map and tried as best I could to explain that our OS map indicated otherwise. I also informed him that we weren’t happy about the illegal obstruction that we had encountered earlier when entering the caravan site. He was adamant that the map was wrong and that the sheep-inhabited field that we were now crossing was for silage and our presence was destroying it. We obliged him by making our way along the opposite side of the field.
In the far corner we got back onto our mapped route between the cottages at Cefn-y-maen where an elderly gentleman informed us that not only were we on the right track but also gave us an update on the football score at half-time!
We continued down the track to the road which we left at the driveway to Broneifon Farm (green footpath sign destroyed) after Marie had confirmed the right of way with the occupants of the house at head of the drive.
We left the driveway to pick up an easterly track just before the farm. We followed this track as far as the minor road down to the A497 and Criccieth without further incident.