Holiday day 6

and the final day of my break started rather oddly. I woke at 4am thinking of dolphins and hills. In my sleepy state I looked out of the window hoping to see them. A bit odd as I’m staying 3 miles from the sea and it’s flat.

I went back to bed but couldn’t sleep. It had rained overnight and there were showers forecast all morning. Typical! But I have been absolutely blessed with perfect spring weather all week.

I went into Aberteifi to pick up a few things. Yesterday I called in at Bara Menyn (Bread and Butter), an amazing bake house and bought a pistachio and raspberry croissant. It was sensational, with real raspberries, not jam. I just had to go back and get some bread. I bought the olive and rosemary focaccia which is some of the best I’ve ever tasted, and of course I bought two other types of croissant – blueberry, and chocolate and hazelnut. I can’t wait for breakfast and I’ll be eating broccoli all of next week.

I also popped into another major Aberteifi foodie shop on a bigger scale than Bara Menyn – Crwst (Crust). It’s something of an institution round here. You can sit down for brunch and coffee or get a takeaway. I bought a strong flat white and a sausage roll for dinner and I’ll have the other half for lunch on my way home tomorrow. It was excellent. A holiday isn’t a holiday without a sausage roll.

In researching a walk last night, I found an interesting place 30 minutes away – Foel Eryr (Eagle Hill, also known as Cerrig Lladron – Thief Stones). I was sold on the name and it sounded like quite an easy walk with big rewards. The panoramic views from the peak (1/2 a mile from the car) were incredible.

The weather was picking up though it was still quite hazy.

There were standing stones (another ancient burial ground) halfway up. Great! It really was the walk that kept on giving. The huge stones reminded me of West Nab, one of my regular walks back home.

In the distance I could see another hill the opposite direction from where I’d parked. I’d covered just over a mile and I felt I needed more walking. I thought I’d just go past the corner to see what the route was like. It was fine, straightforward if a bit boggy.

I could smell peaty smoke – I’d seen plumes billowing earlier in the week when I was visiting Pentre Ifan.

The gorse around me was charred black. It was quite sinister. A fell runner ambled past so I assumed it was safe.

I got to the trig point, again with amazing views.

This hill was called Foel Cwmcerwyn. The whole area felt unmistakably Welsh.

I ran a little bit on the way down. I felt alive, energised. I was buzzing. I ground to a halt a couple of times – a kite appeared silently out of nowhere and soared into invisibility just as quickly as it arrived. After 3pm it got really warm. I couldn’t believe my luck!

I went back to HQ for a shower, got dinner ready and went to Aberporth beach, the one with the giant dolphin statue. The cetaceans were ever elusive.

I wanted to finish the way I started my holiday – at Mwnt.

I was getting tired though so no sunset but instead of going down to the sand, I went up Mwnt Hill.

I realised halfway up it was steeper than it looked and quite treacherous underfoot.

I fretted about getting down but there was no way I was leaving without getting to the summit. I did and my knees went wobbly. There was a drop the other side. It wasn’t flat as I’d assumed.