D168: ST CLEARS to PENDINE
Friday 13th June 2025
Today miles: 11.8 Total miles: 2767.6
With anything now dry I was off again. The weather had vastly improved and as I boarded the bus back to St Clears the sky was cloudless. I had been tempted to drop into the pizza shop where my stolen card had been used but decided that it wouldn’t be appropriate. Before leaving St Clears I picked up some snacks and then made my way in a Southerly direction along the side of the A4066. The path was dangerously slippy in places from the previous days rain so I decided to walk along the side the road instead. After about two miles the official Wales Coastal Path leaves the side of the A4066 and is then supposed to head off to the left towards the River Taf. I saw a small gap in the high hedgerow where the path was meant to be but the vegetation through the hedgerow and the copse of trees beyond was so dense and clearly rarely used that there was no way I was going to get through. I carried on along the road for a further mile and then just before Hill Farm I turned off and rejoined the coastal path fifteen minutes later. On arrival at the edge of the estuary I was able to catch a good glimpse of the views that I had missed out on yesterday. I passed close to the Dylan Thomas boathouse where the renowned poet lived with his family until his death in 1953. There’s a reasonably steep climb down towards Laugherne Castle. I was astonished about how pretty the location was so I decided to sit on a bench looking over towards the castle and have a long break and a late breakfast.
There’s a Ministry of Defence firing range across Laugherne and Pendine Sands. The Wales coastal path skirts inland to avoid the range and crosses East Marshes. There’s a footpath adjacent to the road which continues all the way to Pendine. After Pendine there’s a series of steep climbs which gets me too around 140mts above sea level. Thorning Farm camping and glamping is only meant to be a short walk from the path but it was a nightmare to find. I trudged down a muddy, prickly path and found a man working nearby. He gave me vague directions and I finally arrived thirty minutes later. The campsite is actually only 100mts from the coastal path but I left the path a quarter of a mile too early and that small error cost me an additional mile.
I set up quickly as rain is expected later and prepared some food. Each tent pitch has its own shower and compost toilet, there’s also a small coffee shop which serves hot food, it’s unfortunately closed.
Werewolfandflump UK Coast Path 