Wales Coast Path (Llwybr Arfordir Cymru)

The Wales Coast Path (Llwybr Arfordir Cymru in Welsh) is a 870 mile route around the whole coast of the country, from the outskirts of Chester in the north, to Chepstow at the end. That's a long way! We'd wondered about starting this walk a few years ago, with the aim of finishing it a year or two after retirement, but that became untenable as the length of time we felt we could leave Richard's Mum decreased.  The journey from Norfolk to the coast of Wales is slow, especially by public transport - you really have to set a day aside in each direction - which means that walking legs of the Wales Coast Path on short holidays is not really practical. Eventually, we  started the walk on a 10 day holiday to celebrate Richard's retirement at the end of September 2025, six months after his mother's death; I'd retired at the end of July.

We started from Prestatyn (where we'd completed the Offa's Dyke National Trail in 2006) rather than Chester. This makes the length of the whole route a little shorter, but not much! Given our age, the other paths we want to walk, and the other things we want to do more generally, it's probably not very likely that we will ever finish it. It would be lovely to do so; it looks like a varied and interesting path and there are some sections we'd particularly like to explore (e.g. the LLyn Peninsula, Pembrokeshire and the Gower) though we know the Welsh Coast well, so there will be lots of other interesting places too. However, we'll just take it one step at a time and enjoy the experience, however far we get, even if we don't manage any further legs.

Some of our friends are surprised that, now we are retired, we're not travelling to foreign countries, but there is a lot we still want to explore in the UK - and Wales, although part of the UK, is a foreign country! I won't debate the pros and cons of nationalism, but it is inarguable that Wales has a distinct culture and its own language. I love to hear Welsh spoken, even though I understand very little of it. I debated with myself whether to use the English or Welsh form of place names on Jordanwalks and decided to try to use both, usually with English first (which is the opposite of what's used on official signs), reflecting the fact that Jordanwalks is written in English). The exception is names like Eryri, the correct name for what was formerly called Snowdonia, which I give first. It is amazing to reflect on how times have changed - on this occasion for the better - since I visited Wales on holiday when I was a little girl; then English was the only language used on signs, and Conwy and Carnarfon were written as Conway and Carnarvon.