Caching in Southwest Wales

A pre-Covid weekend Geocaching in Carmarthenshire

I work with computers, coding and debugging, in an office Monday to Friday. With a sedentary job I do appreciate getting outdoors. At the beginning of January I spotted that Great Western Railway were having a seat sale and I could get a first class ticket from Berkshire to beyond Swansea for £20. I booked the ticket, booked a bed and breakfast and waited for the weekend to arrive which was a couple of months away. By the time my break had arrived, things were starting to change. Unfortunately the first COVID-19 death had occurred near to my home town and there was a feeling of worry in the air. My work had already began sending people to work from home but, as yet, no mention of social distancing.

I arrived in Swansea and quickly found the museums and some great EarthCaches. I also managed a couple of locations on the nearby Adventure lab. Soon it was time for my next train, a local Transport for Wales DMU that hugged the coast as it headed westwards.

Not far from my bed and breakfast (in which I was the only person staying) there was a peninsular of sand dunes and forests with a number of caches within. A bit of a walk maybe, but the sun was out and it felt quite warm. Thus, donning shorts and a hat I set off for around six hours of trekking, exploring bunkers and look outs and skipping some heavily flooded paths. As I got closer to the coast, the clouds appeared and the cold winds picked up. Thankfully I had a set of longs in my rucksack (always being prepared for the occasion) but facing a two hour walk back to the B&B it was about time to turn around.

The forest area is near Pembrey in Carmarthenshire. If you're in the area (once lockdown is over) it's worth a visit as there are some fantastic caches in that area including one GC7WAH8 which I'd rate as being in the top five biggest that I've ever found. This one GC5JD9X is worth a visit if you've got the nerve.