Harlech

Less than ten minutes after leaving the boundary of the County Borough you enter Powys and pass beneath the highest peaks in South Wales, while the A470 eventually meanders it's way into Gwynedd when you start to encounter the really 'big boys' of North Wales.

Towering above the valley floor, you pass Cadair Idris, less than a mile west of the main trunk road that links South with North Wales just before you reach Dolgellau. Then mighty Snowdon, peerless to its contemporaries, dominates the sky-line from Tremadog Bay and the Lleyn Peninsula.

Poet and author, John Ruskin, said that there is "no better walk than from Barmouth through to Dolgellau other than from Dolgellau to Barmouth" - with the toes of Cadair Idris dipping into the Mawddach Estuary it's a phenomenal setting.

After a short refreshment break we head north to Harlech with it's medieval Castle, and a coastline that is one really 'extra' long stretch of golden sand with massive dunes as a glorious backdrop.



Perched on rocky outcrop, two hundred feet above the town, the castle is a World Heritage site, built by King Edward I ('Longshanks') in 1283, as one of an iron ring of fortresses designed to subdue the Welsh Nation.

The castle has been attacked many times and was taken by the Welsh leader Owain Glyndwr in 1404, who held a Welsh parliament there. For a time it served as his capital before being retaken by the English in 1408.



The town also boasts a Championship golf course, established in 1894, Royal St David's Golf Club is the home of one of the finest traditional links courses in the world with undulating fairways and fast true greens.



A walk along the miles of deserted beach (it was 28 degrees with a cloudless sky at the time!) to the Glaslyn Estuary with superb views of the Lleyn Peninsula was the highlight of the first day in North Wales.



The beach at Harlech is a potential rival to Rhosilli.



It was an ideal opportunity during the stroll to paddle in exceptionally clear, warm blue sea!



All of the photographs taken on this walk can be viewed here. Select 'slideshow' for automated viewing.