Welcome to Llwybr Arfordir Cymru, which in case it isn’t obvious, is Welsh for the Wales Coast Path. A hiking trail that follows the entire coast of Wales. In fact, it was the very first hiking trail in the world that circumvents a countries entire coast line. We start our journey in the town of Southgate. Where I’m sure this house overlooking the coast is very reasonably priced. You may wonder why Southgate to start? It’s simple ,that was the last stop on the bus route. If we started any further down the trail we would have needed to rent a car.We are off to a great start. The views are amazing. In the distance is the famous Welsh beach named Three Cliffs. But we are going to head in the opposite direction, south toward Swansea bay. It’s a bit too early in our journey to stop for a rest, but this would be the perfect spot. However, it is never too early to decide you have already reached the high point. Traditional summit selfie.A look at the hiking that we have ahead of us. The entire Wales coast path is 1400Km long. That might be a touch too much for one day, so we are walking a 16Km long section today.It would seem like we picked the right place for the summit selfie as we had to descend these old stairs. If you were to walk the entire Wales coast trail in one go, on average it takes about 12 weeks to complete. Parts of the Wales Coast path cross private land like it does here. Most land owners will allow you to cross provided you are respectful and close their gates etc… But there are places where the trail has to go around private land and down public roads. In addition to 1400Km of hiking trail, the coast path passes 7 nude beaches along the way. I see a beach around the next corner, better check that out, just in case. Alright, so this must not be one of those 7 nude beaches, but it is still really nice. The coast trail passes marine reserves, 2 national parks, 3 world heritage sites and 21 natural conservation areas. The trail opened on May 5th, 2012. And in the very first year alone, over 2.8 million people used the path. You can see the trail cutting along the hills. Looking back at the coast path we have already traveled over. The Welsh also have a system where you can walk a portion of this path each day, and a company will transport your luggage to the next town. So you only have to hike with a small day pack, but can spend weeks on the trail. There were forests along the way that offered some shade from the hot sun. At this junction the trail split in two. There was a warning sign that you should only take the path on the left at low tide.
Problem is, I have no idea when low tide is and couldn’t figure it out. So we decided to make the smart choice, and roll the dice, low tide path it is!
Our gamble had initially paid off. Rewarded as the trail popped out from the forest at this cool little beach. We would later learn our gamble didn’t pay off, and got stuck because it was indeed high tide and had to backtrack to gain the higher trail. I will never learn. There are numerous little beaches all along the trail. And if the one day in Wales it happens to be sunny also falls on a weekend, every single person in the country goes to those beaches at the same time. Where despite this suggestion, they almost certainly turn into lobsters. As we approach the next beach town we pass these little huts. People buy them and use them as places to hang out in the summer. They were just large enough for a couple of lounger type beach chairs and provided a bit of shade. Walking into the town of Mumbles, we have reached the end of our hike for today. We finished off at a pizzeria / bar where we met two very nice Welshmen who had visited Calgary. They bought us a couple drinks. The Welsh are very friendly. You can read more about Mumbles here: https://www.tripbagger.com/2025/05/25/shawn-bags-mumbles-wales/
0 Comments