D191: MACHROES to ABERDARON
Tuesday 30th September 2025
Today miles: 18.9 Total miles: 3138.8
After a good sleep I departed the caravan park mid morning and within a few hundred metres I’m back on the official Welsh coastal path. The first mile of road walking turns to wide farm tracks which appear to have been well tended by the landowner and provides easy walking. The route is around 60mts above sea level and that provided a nice view back across Machroes beach and forwards to St Tudwal’s Islands. The two islands are around a kilometres from the coast and none tidal, therefore they can’t be reached on foot.
After rounding the headland I reached another beach named Porth Ceiriad. I’d only walked two miles but took the opportunity to stop and make coffee and prepare breakfast whilst enjoying the pretty views. As I was preparing to move off I was joined by a small group of older ladies who were out for the day walking the coastal path in the opposite direction. We chatted for a few minutes. There’s no easy access to the beach so I stuck to the coastal path. Unlike yesterday’s walk there’s no towns or villages today and therefore no facilities to pick up any additional supplies.
The route now winds around another small headland, climbing slowly to over 120mts above sea level. There’s a trig point on the far side of the headland and I stopped for a few minutes to admire the view out across Porth Neigwl. This particular bay is a spectacular sandy beach and it’s over four miles in length. It’s locally known as ‘Hells Mouth’. I was surprised to see that there was nobody walking on the beach so checked my online map. I wanted to walk along the pretty beach but it’s unclear that even if I got access down to the beach I may not be able to get up the twenty metre high cliffs at the far end and that (could) be disastrous. The official coastal path diverts walkers inland which is slightly disappointing.
The first two miles were easy to walk but as the route continued it became more difficult to follow. The path cuts through several farm fields and many of these were occupied by mellow sheep and more problematically hundreds of cows and calves. I took lots of wrong turns and had to divert several times to avoid the angry cows on the route. Eventually I thankfully reached the far side of Hells Mouth. I decided to take an extended break in order to recover from the trauma’s of the previous three miles.
The next section started with a significant climb to almost 180mts. It wasn’t particularly difficult as the path was well worn and dry.
The path then continued across the top of the cliffs with a mix of well cropped fields and the occasional heather covered section. The route dropped gradually over the next two miles until I arrived on the singular road into Aberdaron. I hung around the town for a while and managed to grab something hot to eat and some snacks for later. The campsite at Dwyros is only ten minutes further along the coast and it’s ideally located very close to the coastal path. It was another long but pleasant day.
Werewolfandflump UK Coast Path 