Day thirty one to thirty four (5th-8th Sept) Walk Day 13 and 14
Day 31 Walk Day 13 Pwllheli to Afon Wen Pandy
Phone stats: 19870 steps, 8.4 miles, walking time 3hr 2 minutes
Parked the car in Pwllheli (around the back of the fun fair) touched it as the touching point, and set off! It was warm and sunny. The walk started off walking around the marina and then there was about 4 miles on the beach taking in Morfa Aberech. It was delightful and at times warm enough to walk without a fleece. At the far end of the bay I climbed onto the low headland to be rewarded with a 270 degree vista of mountains. Breathtaking.
I had lunch a bit farther along the path after the inevitable array of caravan parks and a park which had once been Butlins Pwllheli. The views were glorious throughout this section and for want of sounding like Greg Wallace…. Walking doesn’t get much better than this.
I was then heading inland back up to the main road for a couple of miles, and was feeling rather weary (and too hot!) so in the end succumbed to the lure of a bus stop I passed (using that as the end of the walk for the day) – this was just beyond the village of Afon Wen, and the bus stop was called Afon Wen Pandy!
Day 32 and 33 – Necessary trip back home for a health update. All good. A very long time spent in the car on both days!!! Note to self. DO NOT trust satnav to pick a sensible route when you are in this part of Wales….Good to see Ronni and Jimmy and pick up a few things I had forgotten (including the bird book). Settled in to a new base camp (on the edge of Harlech!)
Day 34 Walk Day 14 Porthmadog to LLanystumdwy (about a mile short of Afon Wen Pandy)
Phone stats: 23687 steps, 10 miles, walking time 3hr 41 minutes
It was seriously wet as I drove back to Porthmadog. I had motivational issues. I had just missed a bus back to Afon Wen Pandy (and the prospect of waiting half an hour was not good). I knew if I went in a coffee shop, I would probably not walk, so I decided to walk the route the wrong way and start from Porthmadog. This would also mean I would arrive at Criccieth at lunch time (well that was the theory anyway). It started ok, but when the path got near to the coast, it got very bracing! I decided to adapt the route in view of the prevailing conditions, (high wind, heavy rain). The planned route included a couple of miles of the beach at Morfa Bychan, I avoided this by walking through a static caravan park and the village instead. I also took a path up on to the headland, to cut off a corner, I am not sure that was in reality a good idea and the path went higher than I realised.
Surprisingly a church came into view, and I really thought my luck was in, I would be able to have a break from the rain inside. Sadly it was locked, so I ended up having a coffee in the graveyard. It was VERY wet at this point (and all of me was wet despite waterproofs!). The final section into Criccieth after another climb over another headland, included a sheltered section next to the railway line (which was very welcome) and by this stage the rain had gone more drizzly. I had been on a family holiday to Criccieth when I was at primary school. I have to say I didn’t recognise it. I decamped into a café for a very nice lunch, though I did leave quite a puddle on the floor from my waterproofs.
I decided as it was dry to head back to Afon Wen Pandy, so went along a low section of cliff and another good area for wildlife and birds, which eventually cut back in land to LLanystumdwy. As I was approaching the village, the rain started again, and as I was just edging over the 10 mile mark, I decided to cut my losses and not to do the mile back on the main road to where I had stopped on Wednesday. Forgive me! I marked a touching post and called it a day and got a bus back to Porthmadog. Back at base camp I confirmed I was completely and entirely wet after the days exertions! But to be fair this is Wales and this is the first time in 14 days I have got anything like this wet….
The Adventures of Alison 