Aberystwyth Town, Ceredigion
The town of Aberystwyth stands at the mouth of the River Rheidol, and was an important fortress town in the middle ages with the remains of its castle overlooking the sea just to the north of the harbour. Now it's the main market town for a widespread rural area so there are plenty of shops, but it retains many of its older buildings.
This story covers parts of two days when the weather was dry but cloudy, but even so the photos should give a reasonably good impression of the town.
We had a walk around the streets on the way to Constitution Hill on the north edge of the town, passing terraces with the doors and window-frames picked out in different colours, and shops set out neatly along a network of streets. Catriona showed me where the tourist office was, although it was closed on a Sunday (it still took me a while to find it again the following day among the many streets), and then we walked onto Marine Terrace to make our way up to Constitution Hill.
By the time we came back down again it was dusk, and the lights were on in the restaurants and pubs. We had thought that the big Morrison's supermarket on the east side of town would be open in the evening, but it turned out it closed at 4 pm on a Sunday so we had to settle for a Chinese carry-out. We had quite a banquet for £20 with plenty of crispy fried duck left for lunch the next day!
Next morning I started out via the cliff path to the south (to be covered in a separate story), coming back into town at Rhydyfelin and finding a riverside path below the bridge near the Morrison's supermarket. It seems to run east as far as the Leisure Centre on the Boulevard St Brieuc (half a mile west of the bridge). From there the attractive Plascrug Avenue continues up to Alexandra Road near the Train and Bus Stations. The section I ran along west of the bridge had the river to the right, and a high fence to the left running along the edge of rugby pitches. It curved left and then reached a green metal bridge over the river. This continues eastwards as a path and cycleway out into the countryside, but I went instead across the narrow railway line (steam railway) and further along the north bank until there was a passage under the main railway line. This took me through to a little street, Parc yr Onnen, and up to the main Llanbadarn Road. Crossing over here and turning to the right, I soon reached a path up to Llanbadarn hill (to be covered in more detail in another story).
There are lots of paths on the fringes of the town around here and stretching around towards Constitution Hill. I didn't get the time to explore them on this visit - maybe another time. I passed the start of one of these, at the junction of Primrose Hill and Waun Fawr, after crossing Llanbadarn Fawr. I carried on along the road through Waun Fawr until I reached a narrow road entrance on the left - Cwmpadarn Lane - and explored it.
This is a delightful little road linking a series of houses on the west side of a wooded den which gives views over the countryside before dropping down to the bottom of Primrose Hill near Llanbadarn church. I didn't go all the way down, instead taking steps and a path up past a high wooden fence, across a quiet road (Cefn Llan), then down a long wide roadway which runs beside the grounds of the university. It wasn't until I reached the bottom that I found an entrance into these wooded grounds and started climbing back up again, past car parks, as far as the Aberystwyth Arts Centre (we visited there later in the afternoon and it has good exhibitions as well as excellent tea and cakes!).
The University and Arts Centre are at the top of the hill on Penglais Road (A487) which runs straight down for a mile into the centre of town. It's busy with traffic and students walking up the pavement, but there are more paths through woods on the other side of the road providing a slightly longer alternative route into town. I kept to the road this time and once at the market cross in the centre I looked for the tourist office. After asking a few people I eventually got there (just along from Boots, on Terrace Road), and the information assistant was very helpful in showing me a range of walking booklets despite my dishevilled state. There was a free map available with most of the footpaths marked on it - so it's worth calling in there at the start of your stay.
Finally I followed the shore road south to the Castle past an imposing edifice - almost like a cathedral - which I think from the map must be the original University of Wales building. Just beyond were the ruins of the castle, on a rocky knoll. There are several fairly chunky bits of it left, spread around a large area, and at one time it must have been a substantial fortress. However, according to the information board, it was only in good condition for a short period around the start of the 14th century. It became the stronghold of Owain Glyndwr from 1404-1408 during his independence struggle with the English but was recaptured by Henry Prince of Wales in what was the first use of cannon in Britain. Aberystwyth was also "stubbornly defended against the Roundheads during the Civil War", so that must explain where most of the walls went! No doubt many of the stones found their way into town buildings.
I should also mention the marina which was fairly quiet when I ran past on this November day but it must be a lively and colourful place in the summer.
This website seems to have some useful further information on the town.
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