The Mawddach Estuary

The day dawns bright and sunny; the forecast warns that this will be the best weather  Thursday will offer, so soon after a delicious breakfast, we head out for the Mawddach estuary - the area stretching out beneath the Llynnau Cregennen featured in yesterday’s set. 

After stopping off near the salt marshes, we continue to the little village of Fairborne. Sheltering behind the sea defences, it has that slightly ramshackle feeling of unplanned impermanence common amongst small seaside settlements. The impermanence is reinforced by its classification as an area of ‘managed retreat’, considered as unsustainable by 2052 due to rising sea levels - a view strongly contested by local residents. 

In all honesty, I’m unenthusiastic as we drive along the road parallel to the rusted narrow track of the Fairborne Railway, the view hidden by the high sea defences. I suspect this is just an excuse for G to indulge his train obsession. But then we reach the literal end of the line and the stunning expanse of the Mawddach estuary opens up. The light is simply glorious, as is the sea air and the scenery. 

Golden sandbanks and silver water channels shimmer against the blueness of the background mountains, with lines of pebbles and algae adding to the landscape’s colours. Across the estuary lies the 770m expanse of the Barmouth  railway bridge, newly emerged from its four year renovation, the longest wooden viaduct in Britain. Two boats lie high and dry out of the water, one of them - ironically the Lady Jane - looking particularly disheveled and unseaworthy. Behind the marram grassed dunes lies a steeply shelving storm beach, beyond that the water of the river mouth, and then the pretty town of Barmouth. 

Later, we drive further down the coast, calling at Towyn and Aberdyfi by which time dark clouds have replaced the brilliant sunlight of the morning and we continue our journey inland accompanied by the threat of rain - which thankfully does not materialise.  

It’s a set again today - apologies……