Day 104: Hell's Mouth to Aberdaron
Distance: 12.22 miles
Ascent: 1759 feet
Weather: Overcast, Light Rain
Accommodation: The Ship Hotel, Aberdaron (Kindly Complimentary)
I woke up and as it was forecast to rain soon, but was currently dry, I decided to pack up as quick as possible. Fortunately, I got the tent down and everything packed whilst it was still dry. The coast path heads inland about 1/3rd of the way along the 3 mile or so beach and I wondered whether I could walk the whole length of the beach, after walking along a bit I decided it was a risk with the tide still coming in and turned back walking back a few hundred meters to head inland on the coast path.
This inland section crossed lots of sheep fields which were all incredibly boggy and did not make for particularly fun walking. Fortunately, the rain when it arrived was not to heavy and the path finally left the boggy fields and onto a country lane which made for much more efficient walking. I soon reached the National Trust’s Plas Yn Rhiw, a 16th century house, which alongside its tea room were unfortunately not open till 11am (a 15 minute sit in a tearoom would have been a lovely break from the rain.)
As has happened a couple of times in the last 2 days the path has not always followed the route that is on the OS map, in fact the actual route has been closer to the coast and more logical. I think the people running/planning the Wales Coast Path must be slowly fixing some of the more dodgy/strange areas and the changes today made the route much better.
This next stage took me out onto the pointed headland and slowly upwards eventually to the trig point amongst the heathland. I encountered some ponies here and they can be incredibly wild, 2 males began a confrontation with the first one aiming a rear kick towards the face of the other one, before there faced off and both ended up on there rear legs taking small bites out of each other. It was incredibly impressive, though I was slightly wary walking past.
After joining a road briefly the path headed down Nant y Gadwen, towards the cliffs and to the location of some historical mining infrastructure, though I am not sure what was mined. From here the path stuck rigidly to the cliff until a kilometer or so before Aberdaron where it joins the road which takes you into Aberdaron.
I was very fortunate to have kindly been offered a room for my rest day in The Ship Hotel, Aberdaron. It is perfectly located in the centre of the village, and the room is absolutely lovely, with views of the sea. On top of all this the owner offered me a free dinner, but I was to embarrassed to accept this on top of his already incredibly kind offer.
So a short day, the rain wasn’t as bad as forecast and I am very thankful for the kind room offer.
