This was it, the final weekend to close the gap of the Wales Coast Path from Chepstow to Cardigan. But first I think I should get the hotel story out of the way.

We had all booked to stay at the Picton House Hotel at Llanddowror which had good reviews in Booking.com. Earlier I had tried to contact the hotel to see what the meal arrangements would be as we had only booked B&B and it was all very vague. We arrived after the first walk at about 5pm and at first we couldn’t find anyone. Then this lady appeared looking very flustered. She knew we were arriving but hadn’t made any arrangements for who was to go in what room. She also said she was expecting another couple to arrive who were staying four nights. Whilst she was trying to get everyone into their respective rooms, I had a look at her book at saw that it had the names of two of our usual party who weren’t coming this weekend. I asked her about this and she said she had taken the booking by phone. I assured her they weren’t coming and this made an extra room available.

I then broached the subject of dinner and she said she would cook whatever we liked and gave us three options. It continued like this throughout the weekend. On Saturday when we got back, Wales were playing in the Rugby World Cup and she even provided free food at half time for us and all the other visitors in the bar.

In the end we had a great weekend in the hotel, the food was excellent, and so much of it. When we came to check out she only charged £15 each for dinner. This was by no means a perfect hotel but one we will never forget – for the right reasons.

Now back to the main reason for this blog – the walks.

Llansteffan to St Clears: 9.3 miles (14.9km) +325m -317m (16 October 2015)

From the car park in Llansteffan we had a steep climb up to the castle and then the path followed the coastline around the headland to Pilgrim’s Rest where we had lunch. We then walked over farmland back to St Clears.

St Clears to Pendine: 10.5 miles (16.9km) +342m -354m (17 October 2015)

From St Clears we had about 2 miles of road walking but then the path turned left to pick up the River Taf. This took us into Laugharne where we walked past Dylan Thomas’s Writing Shed.

We then had lunch by the castle.

We left Laugharne and walked round St John’s Hill which took us down to the marshes. The final stretch into Pendine wasn’t along the long beach but along a long road.

Pendine to Amroth: 5.2 miles (8.3km) +399m -400m (18 October 2015)

We were all excited today as we would be completing the walk this year by getting to Amroth.

However this wasn’t going to be an easy walk. It took us up and down a lot of steep inclines as we overlooked Marros Sands.

When we had passed Telpyn Point we could see that the path went over yet another hill and then down into Amroth, but there was a better route. There was a path down to the beach and we all had a pleasant walk along the sands where we saw jellyfish, lots of them.

We then walked up the shingle beach to the end of our day’s walk and also the start of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path which we had started 4 years earlier.

Our last act of the year was to have lunch at the New Inn pub just over the road from where we ended the walk. It had been quite a year and more to come next year!

Total walked over the weekend: 25.0 miles

Total around Wales: 585.5 miles