Day 35
Ferryside to Kidwelly: 5 miles (easy day!)
Dedication of the day: To the Black Cat of Kidwelly
Reason: In at least 5 centuries the cat has only used up 3 lives, which is pretty good.
Ferryside - the best way to view Llansteffan Castle
So, when I started this hike I remember reading in my Cicerone guidebook about the hike through Carmarthenshire. Because of the three branches of water in this area, you had to keep going far inland, then cross a river, then follow back along the river, then repeat for the next river. And I remember the author expressing frustration and wishing that the ferry at Ferryside still existed so he could 'cut out a day'.
I remember thinking that that was silly, that an inland hike was perfectly nice and you also got to see Carmarthen and all the history there. Now, I'm somewhere in between. Three days after I first arrived in Llansteffan, I'm starting the day exactly a half mile away from Llansteffan across the river at Ferryside. Although I liked going to Carmarthen, I'm getting all my directions confused because I keep seeing the same landmarks but from a different direction.
But one benefit, of course, is being able to see the gloriously set Llansteffan castle from all kinds of angles - like today, when again cows blocked my path and I diverted through a wooded river valley and popped up in a field overlooking the estuary/river Tywi - there was Llansteffan castle, sitting on its hill just across the way (only .5 mile across the way to be exact.)
And the whole time I walked the very short walk from Ferryside to Kidwelly, I had a great view of the general area I'd walked just a few days ago. Which was kind of nice.
From Ferryside to Llansaint
The key takeaways of my hike pre-Kidwelly was that Ferryside was advertising something called a 'garden crawl' which seemed to involve nice gardens with terrifying manequins set up everywhere. I saw Arthur pulling a sword from a stone, a ship captain, and also a man dressed as a woman representing the 'Rebecca Riots' (named after a Bible passage) that took place in this area - where in the 19th century farmers dressed up as women to protest being forced to pay tolls to use badly kept up roads. There was a serious economic depression following the Napoleonic Wars, and the farmers were eventually joined by miners and metal workers, and eventually the Riots included physically attacking tollgates. Many were arrested and sent to Australia, but eventually the laws were also changed to include their demands.
Anyway, these manequins, some nice fields with views back to the estuary, an adorable private 'secret garden' access through a hole in a hedge row, and a church with a crumbling crenellated tower in Llansaint were the main highlights of the first part of the walk.
Kidwelly, black cats and castles
As you head towards Kidwelly, the first thing you'll notice is a skyline that includes a very high, thin tower. Most Welsh churches I've seen have been particularly 'blocky', which while it has it's own interesting esthetic (and given the weather, usually speaks towards being functional), this one almost looked elegant. Apparently it's claim to fame is that architect Sir Gilbert Scott once called it one of the most remarkable churches in south Wales.
The second thing you notice about Kidwelly is that everything seems to be decorated with cats. Mostly black cats. The lamposts have little cat stencils on them, the signs all have black cats at the top, many of the flags have black cats on them. As the recent owner of a poor little black cat who just passed away in Wales, I was interested.
As it turns out, the black cat is the symbol of Kidwelly, but no one is sure why. There are a lot of legends - the cat was found alive in the rubble after Owain Glyndwr attacked; the cat was the first live animal found after the town was devastated by plague; the cat was seen up on the church roof when the flood waters receded in 1607; or that the town's name is a corruption of the towns name, which at one point was spelled Catwelli. In any case there are cats everywhere.
That includes the castle, which is inevitably the third thing you'll notice about Kidwelly (it might be the second if you're a dog person). The castle, though roofless, is pretty intact and considered one of the finest un-reconstructed medieval castles in Wales. The castle passed from Deheubarthian rulers, to Marcher lords, back to the Welsh, and on and on and on. Though Owain Glyndwr tried to seize it, he only managed to entirely destroy the town in a massive fire - he didn't capture the castle.
Although not technically on the Wales Coast Path, it's a pleasant enough walk through a small marshland to get there, or else through town through the old castle gates. It was a nice end to a short walk - and I feel like after passing across the River Tywi, maybe now I'll actually feel like I'm getting somewhere. . .
