River Clwyd

Tuesday : Up 09:00, away 11:00. A late start today because I was tired from yesterday's long walk and it was raining first thing. Once rain stopped packed quickly in case rain restarted then walked across road to the 'Bells of St.Mary's' pub for breakfast before catching bus back to Prestatyn.

Lots of shops in Prestatyn so stocked up on supplies and lunch. Supplies included a £6 triple pack of socks from TKMaxx badged as 'JCB'. They have padded sole, toe and heel so I will see tomorrow if they are as good as the £17.50 Bridgedale socks.

Then walked back to end of Offa's Dyke path and turned left onto Wales coast path. This is the third of the 4 left turns I will make on my odyssey, this time westwards.

The walk along the coast path was all on a concrete promenade sea defence wall. The height of sea defences differed, and around Rhyl there was lots of civil engineering activity to improve the sea defences. Here and in a couple of other places the promenade was closed requiring a walk out to sea or inland. At one point I arrived at the entrance to a works yard as a dumper truck was exiting. I motioned to the driver to carry on. But he insisted I cross first. Made me wonder whether the contractors had been briefed to show maximum courtesy to the locals.

Although level the whole way, the walk was made hard because I was walking into a strong wind all day and surface was hard underfoot. Half way along I stopped at a café for tea & cake, to charge my device and write my blog.

Along the way I passed lots of holiday parks with row upon row of static caravans. Caused me to reflect what sort of holiday was it where your accommodation was below a sea wall, so unable to see the sea and with just neighbouring caravans to look at? Prestatyn was definitely a better quality town than Rhyl or Towyn.

Eventually arrived at Henllys campsite greeted by Ndav (spelling?). A Welsh name that I have not heard before despite my living 42 years in Cardiff. Large site with huge numbers of facilities and a laundry with seriously professional machines - not something I have seen previously. Camped beside 2 cyclists mates from Australia Steve and Emery, another 2 cyclist Anglo/Russian couple Natasha & child Thomas and a German cyclist Hasan. Joined the Australians Steve & Emery in the pub later. Steve had worked in security in a number of countries and said UK was much better at anti-money laundering than Aus, but the USA were the leaders.

8 miles from Prestatyn to Towyn completed at end of 29th day of walking.
Total miles so far : 307
Average speed : 2.3 mph
Weather overcast all day with a strong westerly breeze all day.
Number of people passed : Hundreds
Objective tomorrow : Llandudno?Read more