Laugharne & the Taf Estuary

As Stratford-upon-Avon is to Shakespeare, so the colourful Carmarthenshire town of Laugharne is to Wales’s own literary icon, Dylan Thomas. So a visit to the enigmatic poet’s home and study, on the shores of the picturesque Taf Estuary, should be on every walker’s hit list – not just for the fascinating cultural relevance, but also for the excellent walking that the area around the small town offers.

This walk links the wonderful Carmarthen Bay Coastal Path, to the north and south of the town, with some wonderfully scenic walking in the hills above it, to make a great outing that can easily be linked in with lunch, in one of the town’s many tea shops, restaurants or pubs, as well as the essential visit to the Boathouse and the even more spectacularly positioned Writing Shed. Could there be a better place to gaze out over the ‘mussel pooled and the heron priested shore’.

Facing the estuary turn right, away from the castle, and follow the tarmac lane, that soon becomes a track, along the edge of the foreshore. A small waymark post directs you right, over a small boardwalk and up into woodland. Follow the obvious path, passing an interpretation board, where there are fine views, and then fork left to drop to a stile. Now follow the path, which runs between the shores and wood-covered sandstone cliffs. Turn left, through a gate, to loop around Salt House Farm and then continue over a cattle grid. A few paces further on, break right off the track to locate a stile in the hedge.

Cross this and follow the narrow path steeply up through the woods to a stile that leads into a field. Cross this, and one to the right, then turn left to keep the hedge on the left, to walk over the brow and down, over another stile, to the road. Turn right and then immediately left and then, in a big lay-by, turn right onto a waymarked footpath. Follow this along the bottom edge of the field and at the far end, in front of a stile, turn left to walk uphill with the hedge to your right, to another stile. Cross this and follow the track past a house, where you continue along the drive to the road.

Turn right and then at the next fork, turn left (or keep right to drop into the town for refreshment). Follow the lane, past a track to the left, to another (Holloway Lane) on a right hand bend. Take the lane and keep straight ahead along a wooded track and then across fields, to a stone stile that leads onto a lane. Turn right and then right again on the main road, and then turn left immediately after the church gate, to walk up a narrow, cobbled lane. Follow this past the church where Dylan Thomas and his wife, Caitlin, are buried and continue to a T-junction at the very top.

Turn right and fork immediately right onto a grassy track. Follow this downhill and into the grounds of a house, to a kissing gate straight ahead. Go through and continue in a straight line, along the bottom of a succession of fields, eventually dropping to a woodland track that runs parallel to the estuary. Stay with this now and keep ahead at a crossroads to eventually drop to a tarmac track above the Boathouse. Continue past the Boathouse and the Writing Shed, and then drop to the left to descend steps to a concrete path that runs back to the castle. Keep ahead to the car park. 

Words & Images: Tom Hutton