Around the Edge of Wales (20)...Llanon to Aberystwyth

Around the edge of Wales (20)….Llanon to Aberystwyth

10am above Llanrhystud, under a blue sky, I find myself standing eye to eye with a hovering red kite. Three chough are wheeling above my head. There is no one else around – not now, not all day.

The path north of Llanrhystud opened up one of the loveliest views I’d seen throughout my journey. I’d never imagined that the coastline, west of the Blaenplwyf mast, fell away in such a beautiful sweep, reminiscent of the Rhosili coast. On these Penderi slopes black backed gulls were mobbing a buzzard whilst another kite circled lazily above the woodland that clung to the cliffs. A flock of six chough swooped, dived and pecked around a ruined farmhouse and its collapsed hedgebanks, whilst a team of two workmen strimmed the path nearby, creating a soft carpet of grass cuttings underfoot and a fresh smell of mown grass through tunnels of hawthorn trees.

The long detour around the Morfa Bychan caravan site was frustrating and the next part, along steep slopes, was hard on the ankles. High above Tanybwlch beach, where the steep black shaly cliffs are sparsely covered with strange yellowy-orange vegetation, the blustering easterly winds made it almost impossible to stand up. Below me, the low fields behind the shingle ridge still showed signs of last week’s rains and floods. I ended the clifftop walk just as I’d started it – face to face with another red kite, and in the company of a pair of chough busily feeding below.

 At the southern end of Tanybwlch beach the rock formations were incredible. I stopped there for a while to take photographs, and to get out of the wind. The dog fell asleep on the cobbles nearby but when we set off again she was limping slightly. It started to rain again as we reached Aberystwyth harbour and I decided it was time to swap dogs and give Caio a break.