Monthly Archives: September 2013

Ammanford to Brynamman.

Posted on by under Cycling

Paul and I are gradually ticking off the various traffic free cycling routes in West Wales and today was the trail from Ammanford to Brynamman.

The route in fact starts at Pantyffynnon just up the road from the train station.  We however, joined it just outside Ammanford.  There is no route description in this blog as it is not fully shown on maps as yet.  However it is well sign posted and totally traffic free on a good tarmac trail, with frequent views of the Afon Amman.

 

 

If there was one grumble it is the way the council have installed gates which are either not convenient or just impossible to squeeze a bike through – the one at the back of Tescos is an example in point. I understand from Sustrans numerous complaints have been made.

However this did not spoil our enjoyment of the ride. There are quite a few interpretation panels along the route explaining the history as well as the Mabinogion stories connected with the area.

 

 

 

 

 

At the Brynamman end we left the trail and joined the road and peddled up the hill to the Black Mountain Centre where a welcome coffee and toasted teacake were had.

We cycled back and continued on to Pantyffynnon and in fact a bit further along a minor road  which led to a wobbly bridge, a ford.and to a railway line crossing where we stopped for lunch and then back to the car.

 

Overall about 18 miles of traffic free cycling.

Llechrhyd to Patch (Canoe trip)

Posted on by under Canoeing

Yes, I know it says “Random Walks”, but at least today the trip did involve some walking as the river levels and tide were low.

With the weather looking good for Saturday (31st August) I thought I would introduce Paul to canoeing but the shuttle aspect with one car is a non starter.  However Nigel another canoeing buddy phoned to suggest a trip on the Teifi and the shuttle problem disappeared.

Route

We met up at Llechrhyd bridge together with Nigel’s wife Sue, his daughter Isobel and Bonnie the bearded collie.

Nigel and I drove to Patch and left his van there and hightailed it back and launched. The river was very low, which with the lack of rain recently was only to be expected.

I should add that this was Paul’s first long paddle and so far he was doing well.  We had a coffee break under Cilgerran Castle before paddling on. The water was mirror calm with lovely reflections but sadly no otter sightings.

Nearing Cilgerran

 

Coffee break

 

Bonnie

As we approached the first small rapid Paul was instructed to kneel and we bounced through and even managed some ferry gliding. Bonnie was quite non-plussed in Nigel’s boat as they played in the moving water.

Ferry gliding

 

Getting the angle right

 

Made it

 

And now back again

We stopped for lunch just downstream and then carried on to the next rapid adjacent to the Cardigan Wildlife Centre.  This braided rapid can be shallow in normal levels but today I had to walk the boat part way down.

The calm conditions now changed as a strong wind made the paddling that much harder as we entered Cardigan. This was the first time I had seen the recent renovations taking place to Cardigan Castle

As we entered the estuary the wind was much stronger and as the tide had not made its entrance it was very shallow with again some walking involved.

Approaching Cardigan

With hindsight an exit at St Dogmaels would have been a better choice, but the van was down in Patch and we struggled on.  This was a bit of a baptism of fire for Paul, but I can report he is still talking to me and seems none the worse for the experience.

The start of the estuary

Sue rustled up a nice pot of tea to help us all recover and the day came to a good end.