Leaving my hotel I admired the gate house of the old Norman Castle as I wandered down to the river joining the Coast Path by a rather dirty cable stay pedestrian bridge. Nearby was a wire mesh enclosure containing coracles, traditional boats used to fish in this area. Small, oval, single person craft, they were originally made of hide, stretched over a willow frame, but fibreglass was evident in some of the examples in front of me.
After some playful "sculptures" beside the road the path continued by the river, passing under a railway bridge. The gear wheels on its side, now locked with grey paint, showed that at one time a section of the bridge could be lifted to allow the passage of taller ships. A sign perhaps that Carmarthen was once an important port, before the arrival of the railway, when shipping goods by sea was considerably easier than transporting them overland. A subsequent road section was not to my liking, passing cars forcing me into the rather limited verge for safety. Following was a much preferable walk through Green Castle Woods on a path among wild garlic and white anemones where the ground sloped away to the river.
Much of the rest of the day was on lanes and paths across lush green pasture in drizzle which obscured the views. The environs of Llansteffan was the most attractive period. Leading into the village was a well maintained path with verges or hedges each side. Then the route took me down to the long, sandy beach. With the tide out the area of sand was massive, although I would not want to stray too far out for fear of being caught by an incoming tide. Instead I repaired to the tea shop at the end of the beach for a takeaway latte and iced cherry cake. After I bought it I wondered if a toasted tea cake would have been better, dripping with butter, then I noticed a stall selling pies, maybe one of those, rich with gravy, would have been even more gorgeous. Irritated by my lack of appreciation for getting anything I sat on a bench in the light rain, overlooking the beach and ate my cake, coffee and a sandwich I had bought last night, while watching people on the beach, well wrapped up against the blustery, wet weather. Having gained a cherry red face from the sun yesterday, I had applied plenty of sun cream this morning, but the effort was clearly misplaced.
Climbing up from the beach the path took me under the ruins of yet another Norman Castle before plunging into woodland on a track lined with primroses or celandine. On an earlier hikes I was astonished by the scale of the sandbanks and interweaving channels of the estuary, but today the views through gaps in the vegetation were disappointing, obscured by the grey, wet mist. As the path rounded a second headland I could just about see the end of Pendine sands, and later, the village of Laugharne which I will visit tomorrow.
As I now headed up the valley of the River Taf, the route wandered up and down hills, and along a muddy section of flood plain. The quiet lanes and green fields were not that exciting as I pushed on with my head down against the weather. At around 5:30 pm, eight hours after I began I arrived at the outskirts of St Clears. While the village is not directly on the coast path I diverted into it for my accommodation for the night. Only an earth mound remains of St Clears' Norman Castle, and the river looked too small for the shipping which was said to have once used it, but it was the scene of the Rebecca riots in the 1840s. These events caught my imagination in my youth. Railing against high tolls for using the roads, men dressed as women (I assume as a disguise) attacked the toll booths.
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