With Mrs Navigator needing to be back home in time to doll up for the monthly W.I. meeting, The Navigator decided on a walk close to Carmarthen and chose a walk from Mr Alan Richards book Great Walks in Carmarthenshire Volume 1 .Mr Richards has two such volumes and come highly recommended from us.

We met up in the picnic area by Dryslwyn Castle overlooking the flooded fields adjacent to the Afon Tywi. From the road the castle may just seem a small ruin but if you climb up to the castle you can see the extent of this fortification and the extensive views of the Tywi Valley.

The reason why the castle is in ruins

The walk took us along a minor road and then up to the woodland below Grongar Hill (click the link for a related poem) and down to Aberglasney Gardens and on to the village of Llangathen where we had a coffee break in the church yard.

Any idea what this is for?

Aberglasney

View back to Grongar Hill

We deviated from the guide book here and took the footpath down to Berllan Dywyll Wood  and rejoined the route at Cilsan bridge and then across the field into the agricultural college grounds.

Afon Tywi from Cilsan Bridge

Frogs have been at it

This led to the main road which we crossed and then into the grounds of Gelli Aur, our lunch stop. The path through the outskirts of the grounds showed the extent of the recent storms with many trees uprooted.

Once back on the road we headed west on a mixture of lanes and off road paths, a muddy experience, and back to Dryslwyn Castle.

Good old Dr Beecham