Coast Walking (Wales): Llanelli to Gowerton 1 July 2015

This day was dominated by the wide surfaced track of the national cycle trail, which the coast path followed all the way from North Dock, Llanelli, round the coastal saltmarsh fringe and to the main road just before the River Loughor Bridge. This was easy walking but the surroundings were largely uninteresting, the trail rarely giving direct views of the coast we were passing. At North Dock there was a group of the mullein Verbascum chaixii with Argentinian vervain and a very tall oat-grass that were all presumably planted, although looking rather wild. Further along were vervain and pale toadflax. By taking a footpath close to the sea-wall and just off the trail we were able to look down on the vegetation of the saltmarsh fringe, which included rock samphire, golden samphire, and at one spot for a hundred metre or so plants of marsh mallow. We passed a pool near the golf course on the Machynys Peninsula that had thread-leaved water-crowfoot, moorhen, mallard, pochard and tufted duck.

We eventually came to the Welsh National Wetlands Centre, where we could get refreshments and watch tame wing-clipped ducks and geese of mixed native and foreign species fighting with jackdaws over food provided by visitors (bought at the visitor centre). These birds included shelduck, black-necked swan, and golden-eye. A view of really wild birds could only be obtained by paying an entrance fee. The coast path wends through the lakes of the wetlands centre, but is carefully screened off by trees, so that one sees no birds of note at all, which was a disappointment. The path-side was occasionally punctuated by southern marsh-orchids, but the main wildlife was abundant rabbits. Subsequent views of the estuary often revealed an isolated heron, but more unusually a curlew flew past with its haunting cry. Gulls were dominated by black-headed ones, rather than herring gulls as on previous days.

When we reached the main A484 the coast path crossed both it and the railway running beside it by means of a large humpback bridge and avoided going along the A-road by using back streets, of no interest but quieter and less dangerous. The path returned to the road at a bridge where there was a walkway alongside the road with good views up the river. Across the bridge the coast path again kept to local streets paralleling the main road, and eventually became a bridleway through a double hedgerow on the outskirts of Loughor. This was signed as coast path at the beginning, but not at the far end where it gave into a small lane returning to the road and passing beneath it. (A damp verge had a strong-smelling colony of wild celery and a plant of parsley water-dropwort, both indicators of brackish water.) In the middle of the bridleway a footpath crossed it and CP was crudely daubed on the stile as if indicating the coast path, but we did not try this, as it may have been a deliberate attempt to deceive. After the road, our narrow lane crossed a stream (Afon Lliw) and included a cycle lane. It was still made difficult, however, by a continuous stream of cars doing the school run. This continued up to the B4295, which goes west along the north side of the Gower Peninsula, which we had now reached. Where the lane reached this road it was signed as coast path, although there had been no intermediate confirmation. Eastwards the B4295 goes into Gowerton, so we stopped our walk and went to Gowerton station, a good kilometre away, to catch a train back to Llanelli. This service is very good, with one every half hour or so.

Tonight we stayed at the Premier Inn at Sandy, just north of North Dock, where we had started. We ate out at Sosban Restaurant, which is in a converted church close to North Dock, traditional fare very well cooked and with very efficient service (they were coping with several large parties in the cavernous interior). Sosban (“saucepan”) is the traditional symbol of Llanelli, and particularly its well-known rugby team, arising from the town’s steel-making past and making of these domestic implements. In a back street near the station in Llanelli we passed a sculpture of saucepans, formerly a fountain, but now dry.