This has been a wonderful place to relax and recharge. The home I’m staying in is about a 20 minute walk from the western coast; from there I can take the Ceredigion Coast Path, part of the All Wales Coast Path, along the entire coast of Wales in both directions. Yesterday I turned South and walked about 9 miles (14ish km) to Cardigan (yes, like the sweater!). The coastline is beautiful and I was spoiled by sunshine on my first day. I also got to watch a red kite (bird that used to be endangered) and almost stepped on an adder, the only poisonous snake in Britain! I wouldn’t have looked for it except my hosts were taking about a recent sighting over breakfast. Funny how that happens!
Signpost and kissing gate to Coast Path
Adder with my poles for scale

Halfway to Cardigan is a placed called “Mwnt”, pronounced “Munt” and meaning “mountain.” It isn’t particularly tall but you can see it from a ways away.

From the top you can see far up the coast in both directions. It’s also known as a good place to see dolphins, and thanks to a little girl sitting close by I saw one chasing a fishing boat in the distance! There is also a gorgeous beach there which was making interesting spiral patterns in the water…

From there the path detours a bit due to a property dispute; after awhile I got impatient and tried to cut back across fields to the coast and got totally mixed up. Luckily for me there is no “trespassing” in the UK. It was explained to me that here you are considered to be “stewards” of the land instead of “owners.” So as long as people aren’t affecting your ability to use the land productively (like destroying crops), everyone can go basically anywhere. I think that is so much nicer than the way we run things in the US. But anyway I eventually got down to the water with only a few nettle stings to show for my discretions. I saw some jellyfish on the shore and some beautiful fields of peas and then caught to bus back to home base.

Today I turned North and my first stop was Seal Rock. After sitting on the springiest grass and watching the birds for about 15 minutes (pretty sure there were a couple of gannets) I realized that what I had thought was a buoy was in fact looking at me. A seal!

Then more beautiful coastline, with a few waterfalls and caves thrown in. I also walked through a couple of small towns including Penbryn and Llangrannog (no idea how to pronounce that one).

This morning as I was walking down the long drive to the sea I had a moment of “What am I doing? Am I just wasting time?” And while it is somewhat true that I’m waiting until I can get back into the main European Schengen Visa zone, it was clear to me that no, this time is valuable. I am here for a reason, and even if the reason is to relax and walk and catch up on sleep for a few days, as long as I am happy I’m in the right place. This afternoon the question came back in a slightly different form; the urge to do something productive. Surely I could be helping a community organization or something with this time…

Yesterday I almost booked a spontaneous trip to Ireland, and may still, but I need to reexamine the volunteering options again first (everyone I’ve asked has assured my the government isn’t tracking me and won’t really care if I do volunteer). It feels weird to be basically vacationing after everything else that has happened and I’m not sure I can continue for another month! I’m here until Wednesday so I need to make a decision soon. I’m open to suggestions!