It was raining when we woke up; it was raining when we made the decision to drive to Cardigan, catch a bus to Aberporth and walk the Aberporth to Cardigan leg of the Coastal Path. It was raining when we got in the car and left the house. However the Met Office had forecast that the weather would improve . . .
As we arrived in Cardigan it was still raining hard, hard as it only can on the wild west coast of Wales. Faced with the thought of a 7 hour walk in the rain and extremely muddy paths we opted instead to spend the day looking around Cardigan. I think it is fair to say that we are fair weather walkers!
The Met Office were nevertheless proved to be spot-on with their forecast, but by the time the weather improved the bus we'd planned to catch had gone, and the next bus was not for several hours.In other words, we'd literally 'missed the bus' on our travel plans for the day.
We had a pleasant couple of hours wandering around Cardigan with an al fresco lunch in a café by Cardigan Market but it is not a big town and we were soon ready to move on.
Decided to stop off in Aberporth as the sun was still shining and we had read online about a small cliff walk to the neighbouring hamlet of Tresaith - which forms part of the coastal path (and would have been part of our planned walk).
We had never been to Aberporth before and was surprised to see a nice beach around which a working harbour is operating. During our short visit, the tractor was busy transporting boats down to the sea.
The path that we planned on walking started the other side of the harbour behind the town houses.
Taking us over the cliff, we passed a number of converted railway carriages, which appear to be being used as holiday accommodation.
The walk over the the cliff itself was extremely pleasant and very popular - it seems that many, like us, had taken advantage of the break in the weather to stretch their legs.
As we descended into Tresaith we could clearly see the waterfall (the River Saith apparently) cascading over the cliffs onto the beach - couldn't resist taking a closer look as it is a sight to see, probably helped by the high levels of rain we have experienced this summer. In Mid Wales rainfall is not a reliable indicator of what meteorological season we are in!
There was time for a refreshing pint in The Ship Inn before heading back the way we came to Aberporth.
The climb out of Tresaith is the only part of the walk that has any ascent of note but it is no harder than others paths we had travelled along the coastal route.
On the way back to Aberporth were lucky enough to see the Cardigan Bay Dolphins, but from the top of the cliff we were not close enough to get a good photo.
Fortunately it is one we will be happy enough to walk again when we return to walking the Coastal Path proper.
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