Dunns On Tour

  A kind of his and hers day. Or rather hers and his, as we started at Trebah gardens. It's a steep-sided valley stretching down to its own private beach. It's not really a flowery garden, but it's a real treat nonetheless as there are loads of tree ferns, stands of massive bamboo, and a huge area of gunneras which you can walk through. You really feel as though you've landed on an alien planet under their massive leaves, and their weird spiky flowers. The paths meander up and down the valley in amongst huge hydrangea, and, having arrived at opening time it was very quiet and peaceful. After a decent lunch we carried on to Falmouth and a trip to the Maritime Museum, where we spent a couple of hours browsing all manner of small boats. I think the highlight for Joff was the viewing area overlooking the harbour with an interactive computer showing the live movements of every vessel. If there had been a comfy seat I might have had to collect him the following day! After a s...

  Our first port of call today was Porthleven, an attractive fishing village protected from the blowy Sou'westerlies by a solid double harbour.  Porthleven has garnered a bit of a foodie reputation, centred around the daily catch, and is dotted about with artists studios and galleries, as well as a variety of crafty nicknack shops. Em set us on "Bimblin' Mode", which involves mooching around at a sedate pace, and being prepared to take detours to explore all these nooks and crannies. We had small plates at Kota Kai for lunch, apparently a fancy chef's spin-off, then bought up some local cheeses from the deli for later. The second half of the day took us with almost fatalistic inevitability to the section of the SW coastpath between Kynance Cove and Lizard Point. This is well-trodden territory for lots of tourists, and classic Cornwall seascape, though nonetheless breathtakingly beautiful for all that. We finished up by the old lighthouse with a scoop of Roskilly...

  We have a few days staying in Little Karenza, a self catering place in Gillan. The journey down yesterday didn't go quite to plan, thanks to the vagaries of the EV charging infrastructure. However, we made it with sanity more or less intact, via a pitstop in Helston involving a very good pasty and a pint. Although we didn't spend all that long in the car, we had a lot of time fussing about it, so today we opted to explore our immediate environs on foot. We're staying a stone's throw from the SW coast path, so despite this little break being very definitely not a walking holiday, we spent the day walking to Helford and back, a mere 11 miles or so.  It was lovely - lots of delightful creeks and coves - making us wish the air temperature was somewhat more swim-inducing. We passed through quaint hamlets, including St Anthony-in-Meneage, with it's church, dating back to Norman times, right by the water. Helford is another dinky little place, and we had a good lunch in ...

  We successfully negotiated our first car charge away from home, in the extremely glamorous location of the Aberystwyth Tesco. An hour while we breakfasted gave us enough to get to Swansea without undue range anxiety. The attractive route suggested by Si, via Lampeter and Llandeilo, was hidden under low cloud, and delivered us to Tavistock Road in a couple of hours or so. Si rustled up a tasty stir-fried rice for lunch while he explained that we'd be going for a coastal walk and a restaurant was booked for dinner at 8.30. I don't think he was trying to punish us... We hopped in the car to Pitton Cross, parking some way from the start at Middleton, so that Si could avoid the car park charges. He never pays for parking if it can be inconveniently avoided. The walk wasn't long, at under 5 miles, but very beautiful. It's a delightfully craggy stretch of coastline on this part of the Gower, taking in Mewslade Bay and Falls Bay. We had brought our weather luck with us from C...

  Fortified by veggie hash breakfast at Sophie's cafe, topped with slabs of halloumi that could have been carved direct from the Acropolis, we embarked on the final push of our Ceredigion coastpath adventure. 12 miles along rugged clifftops, passing Borth, and finishing at the dunes of Ynyslas. All very Tolkien sounding. Em had done a full body audit this morning, and pronounced every part to be in need of WD40. Ligaments and sinews loosened up after a few strides, though, especially as the funicular was not running and we had to conquer Constitution Hill without mechanical assistance. Em would argue that my puritanical streak would never have countenanced this cheat code anyway. The view back to Aberystwyth and coastline that we had travelled yesterday was spectacular.  The next couple of hours were full of puff and exertion, but good going. The up and down variety really puts your legs through a proper muscular workout. The sun gradually broke through and warmed the air, tho...

  Nearly 12 miles today from Llanrhystud to Aberystwyth, the first mile of which was getting from our accommodation back to the coast path. It was a coolish overcast day, but luckily not a cloud blanket, so we enjoyed the lovely variety of blues and greys out to the horizon. The walk was very attractive, undulating over cliffs, some quite precipitous, and mostly home to bracken, gorse, and a few sheep fields. Quite a long stretch is being actively managed to support bird life, and amongst others you can apparently see peregrins and kestrels. We definitely saw birds of prey patrolling the cliffs, but checking afterwards we think they looked more like red kite. Quite hard to tell from a blurry photo! Aberystwyth appeared and disappeared from view as we navigated various headlands. Although it was pretty hazy, today was the first time that we could get a reasonable look at the long fingers of the Llŷn peninsula pointing into the Irish sea. The mountains in the distance mark the southe...

  An excellent full Welsh breakfast at Y Seler, our lovely boutique hotel in Aberaeron, set us on our way today. Sunny, but cool, very good walking conditions, and a renewed swing in our step. The character of the coastpath changes here, flattening out by the shoreline, with dark-grey shingly beaches. We ambled easily along a low-level, grassy path to Llanon, formerly a shipbuilding centre, and then gained a bit of elevation for Aberystwyth to come into view just 10 miles or so up ahead. The weather closed in briefly, a strong northerly wind bringing a sharp flurry of showers, which seemed a perfect opportunity to perch on some beach-side rocks for our midwalk cuppa, and get refreshingly slapped around the chops by the elements.  The weather then started to clear as we approached our next pit stop, Llanrhystud, a modest 8 miles in the bank for the day. I was particularly taken by the compositional lines of this picture. For want of accommodation options in this tiny hamlet, we...

  This statue of a young woman blowing kisses out to sea marks the midway point of the Wales coast path, and is more or less half way on our Ceredigion section. We woke to a bright and breezy day, which meant that we could once again see the coastline. Dolphins were doing dolphiny stuff quite close in to the harbour, which was the only positive thing I can say about breakfast at the Penwig Hotel. If our timings had been different we could have walked along the beach out of New Quay, but we were at high tide, which necessitated a diversion inland, along a busyish road initially.  Along the way we passed Dylan Thomas's various watering holes, and his cottage. He wrote Under Milk Wood whilst living here. With the clouds nice and high we were at least able to get a view back on New Quay, which we couldn't see through the fog yesterday. It was lovely to be in the sun again making our way north along the coast.  At just under 7 miles, and with only relatively minor ups and down...

  The forecast this morning was for sustained heavy rain all day, so we donned waterproofs from head to toe, and wrapped the backpacks in their rain covers, in anticipation of a proper drenching. In the event, there was not much rain, just a couple of light showers, but the low clouds descended and mist rolled in steadily from the sea, turning to thick fog half way through our walk. This was a day for hardened walkers, determined to complete the stage at whatever cost, and look ahead to better days. There was precious little visibility, and the warm, muggy conditions felt really oppressive. Sweat poured off our brows with nowhere to evaporate, and glasses steamed up like we were in a Turkish sauna. It was pretty hard going as well on the roller-coaster path, long steady climbs followed by long steady descents. We found a sheltered cove at Cwmtydu, for our tea break with biscuits, and by chance witnessed the spectacle of a pod of dolphins, arcing gracefully amid the waves, at times ...

  Our overnight at High Cliff Hotel was spent tossing and turning on a very uncomfortable bed, which wasn't quite what we were looking for. It was unstaffed and offered a breakfast tray that we didn't want, so we took our time and waited for the Hwb to open. A nice  community space and café, we enjoyed our respective meals. Today's walk was much shorter than yesterday  - only 6 miles, but it had more up and down and of a steeper variety. The first mile or so was very easy going, and then we descended into Tresaith. We plopped onto a bench by the beach for a little while as there was some interesting activity going on, with people preparing their catamarans for the sea. There was one party with a dog, which had its own life vest on. The forecast had been for some showers, but these barely made an appearance, and the few drops we had were welcome as it was a largely overcast and muggy day. We considered detouring down to Penbryn beach, but pushed on. Further along we came t...