Southbound Start: Chester, North Dee Cyclepath Finish: Old Wye Bridge, Chepstow Distance: 870 miles (1,400km) Total ascent: 100,414ft (30,606m) North Wales Coast (78 miles)Anglesey (133 miles)Llyn Peninsula (123 miles)Meirionnydd Coast (57 miles)Ceredigion Coast (71 miles)Pembrokeshire Coast (175 miles)Carmarthenshire Coast (62 miles)Gower (64 miles)South Wales Coast (114 miles) What is the Trail Like? The Wales Coast … Continue reading Wales Coast Path: Information and Advice
31st January - 3rd February 2022 Image from the Hiiker app Day 62 Swansea - Margam 16 miles/525 ft total ascent Swansea Bay was beautiful in the morning sun, with orange skies over the softly waving grasses sliding down to the sands. Wind turbines on the far horizon gently spun their turbines and, if you … Continue reading South Wales: Swansea – Barry
23rd - 27th January 2022 Image from the Hiiker app Day 54 Saundersfoot - Laugharne 14 miles/2366 ft total ascent Great, deep tunnels cut their way through the rock of the cliffs out of Saundersfoot, lit on the floor by small red lights. Walking through them, aiming towards the pinprick of light the other end, … Continue reading Carmarthenshire Coast: Saundersfoot – Landimore
12th - 17th January 2022 Image from the Hiiker app Day 43 - 44 Rest Day: St. Davids My parents had visited St. Davids a few years ago and had absolutely loved it. I'd been recommended to spend some time there if I could. It hadn't been my initial intention, but I had needed to … Continue reading Pembrokeshire Coast: St Davids Head – Marloes Sands
7th - 11th January 2022 Image from the Hiiker app Day 38 Cardigan - Ceibwr Bay 8 miles/1652 ft total ascent The sleeping pad had arrived by ten thirty and I was off again. I gave the Mountain Warehouse behemoth to a homeless man after awkwardly rambling about how I didn't know if this was … Continue reading Pembrokeshire Coast: Cardigan – St David’s Head
27th - 31st December 2021 Image from the Hiiker app Day 27 Porthmadog - Harlech 12 miles/2027959 ft total ascent I could see the dunes of Harlech sands as a rumpled clutch of hazy shadows across the Glaslyn estuary. This would be the estuary that began my hatred of the coast path estuaries. Where previously … Continue reading Meirionnydd Coast: Porthmadog – Clarach
17th - 21st December 2021 Image from the Hiiker app Day 12 Church Bay - Holyhead 16 miles/941 ft total ascent I slept like I'd been poisoned and it was so nice to sleep hearing the sounds of the sea again rather than the howling of the wind. The Landlady made me up a brew … Continue reading Anglesey: Church Bay – Y Felinheli
5th - 11th December 2021 Image from the Hiiker app Day 6 Beaumaris - Benllech 16 miles/1819 ft total ascent Grassy paths took me away from Beaumaris in the early light; the daunting slumber of the mountains across the strait a crooked, high silhouette. Where the sky was blue over there, but for the morning … Continue reading Anglesey: Beaumaris – Church Bay
Stats for the Snowdonia Slate Trail Start: Bangor Finish: Bethesda Distance: 83 miles (134km) Total ascent: 13,648ft (4160m) Traditional sections: (anticlockwise over seven days) Bangor - Llanberis, 14 milesLlanberis - Rhyd Ddu, 14.5 miles Rhydd Ddu - Blaenau Ffestiniog, 16.5 miles Blaenau Ffestiniog - Penmachno 16.5 milesPenmachno - Capel Curig, 11.5 milesCapel Curig - Bethesda, … Continue reading Snowdonia Slate Trail: Information, Advice and Personal Reflection
I can usually reasonably assume, both at home and in a tent, that I will wake up just before morning light. However, when I peeled open my eyes in the morning, my tent was already completely lit up. I quickly packed my things away, still yawning away a deep sleep and made my way back … Continue reading Snowdonia Slate Trail, Day 6: Betsw-y-Coed to Bethesda (16.5 miles)
The Walking Papers 