This was one of the more distant (from our base in Porthmadog) walks in Alex Kendall's Cicerone guides, taking us over an hour to drive to Aberdyfi, where we parted with £5.50 for the privilege of parking in a convenient spot.
After coffees in 'The Fridge', we wandered along the sea-front (pictured above) then took a zigzag path up the hill heading north.
The views grew, and looking back to the coast south of Aberdyfi brought memories of childhood visits to Ynyslas - a big adventure for our Austin Somerset MJW 770 armed with its useful AA badge.
I remember bringing a Bee Orchid home, found whilst playing in the dunes; it lasted for weeks in a vase in my bedroom. In those days - mid 1950s - it was not a sin to pick flowers or collect birds' eggs.
We followed the route of the Wales Coast Path up a hill past startled pheasants, derelict caravans, Mexican Fleabane, and overgrown private pathways.
At the top of the path a friendly message on some black silage bales encouraged us to 'Enjoy Your Walk'.
As we continued over the crest, we could admire the view ahead to Cwm Maethlon and beyond. This used to be the main route in these parts, until the coast road was built.
We continued down, with the sounds of distant farm machinery and mewing buzzards, alongside a wood of sessile oak trees, and into Cwm Maethlon, passing hazel trees, apple trees, sloes, blackberries, and most of the flowers recorded earlier this week, plus the yellow blooms of ragwort and gorse, shepherds purse, black bryony, red campion, chickweed and lesser stitchwort.
Chaffinches chattered in the hedgerows.
A row of martins on a power line suddenly became agitated. A red kite appeared above. To our surprise, some of the martins proceeded to mob the kite.
We continued along the road for a short way, before taking the track to Gwyddgwion and finding a nice spot for lunch in a field.
Alex's dire warnings about the poor condition of the next path proved unfounded, and we made our way uneventfully down to the main A493 road and thence to the beach.
Earlier, we had spotted some Sheathed Woodtuft mushrooms, thought to be edible, but rather soggy looking. In the fields before the dunes were lots of Parasol mushrooms. They seemed very dry so we thought they were past their best for eating. I'm not so sure now - they may have made another delicious starter.
The walk concluded with a 3.5km walk along firm sand, punctuated by my frequent stoops to collect more shells for Isabella.
That amounted to a 14km circuit with 300 metres ascent, taking us about 4.5 hours.
Another excellent day out in fine weather. No other walkers seen, though two trial bikes did briefly sour the atmosphere.
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