Hooves and I made a visit to Llangrannog Beach for a post-supper leg-stretch one day in late March (map), and found a pretty village, with a stunning beach. (street view) Possibly the best description of the village comes from ‘The Story of Llangrannog’* by Mervyn Davies, who says: ‘The seaside village of Llangrannog lies on the coast of Ceredigion, in a narrow valley, which the river Hawen makes its rapid way into Cardigan Bay. Another small stream, Nant Eisteddfa, flows into the sea, but is mostly hidden and emerges as an outfall near the boat ramp. In the lower part, the valley is so steep as to form virtual ravine, the river Hawen falling at one point as a waterfall. The village is spread along the valley, the older settlement, including the church, being above the waterfall, hidden from the sea. The lower or beach village was built in later, safer years and for many years was a small flourishing commercial port.’ (street view)
We parked at the top of the village as we have learned that many of these lovely, little villages have limited parking close by the beach, however we duly found there was actually ample beach-side parking. Though had we parked at the beach-side we would have missed the waterfall, a lovely, albeit steep descent down to the beach past lots of pretty, painted, stone cottages dotted above the river on the hillside, and the views across the river to the hills across the valley. (street view)
As we reached the beach the sun was just going down, and the tide was out, so the light was bouncing off of the wet sand reflecting the clouds nicely. Because the tide was low we were able to explore the rocks at the mouth of the cove, the most distinctive one being Carreg Bica (Bica’s rock), a large sea-weathered stack of Ordovician rock. Legend says its the tooth of the giant Bica who spat it on the beach to get rid of toothache. We were also able to walk round to the next small cove, Cilborth. If you wish to you can climb up the steep stone steeps from Cilborth and walk back over to Llangrannog via the cliff top.
The village has a couple of pubs, so you stop for sustenance if you wish. In fact the evening we visited The Ship Inn had an outdoor pizza oven filling the air with some delicious aromas. The village also has a couple of coffee shops and a general store.
*Published by E.L. Jones & Sons of Cardigan.