Black Rock Sands Beach, Tidal Caves & Criccieth Castle, North West Wales Coast Walk #greenspaces

This day walk started at Black Rock Sands beach, on the North West coast of Wales. We were staying in holiday accommodation close to the beach but we noticed plenty of parking within the area, even on the sand itself, because, very unusually, cars are allowed on the beach! Black Rock, named after the dark headland that juts out into the sea, is famed for incredible fine, golden sands, dunes, low-tide caves and sea life. The tide here is fast though and has left many people stranded. We walked up to the headland and were greeted by the most awesome tidal caves, the mix of colours and shapes that make up the low-tide treats is mind blowing. We spent far too long wandering in and out of the eroded rock. Eventually, we went around the headland and onto the much more stony beach that leads to the beautiful sea-side village of Criccieth. The skyline domineered by Criccieth Castle, dubbed 'The Jail On The Hill'. This area is frequented by Seals, Dolphins and even Basking Sharks. It also has a fantastic rock pool area, which we poked about in....for ages! We had a bit of lunch here before heading off to explore the village and castle. Lots of paid and free parking in Criccieth by the way, it is really worth a visit, an interesting and pretty place. If you are not a member of Cadw (Heritage), you will have to pay a charge to enter the castle, check their website for prices. A great castle to experience, built by the First Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great) in 1280 as a statement of his immense power. It was used as a fort, prison and as a place to impress and entertain important people. We spent so long looking around we missed the tide so could not take the beach back, instead we took the road which happily, was still super beautiful. We had a cracking day, an amazing start to our break away in North Wales ❤ Thank you for being here, all the best, Ceri & Kat!   / teainvalhalla     / teainvalhalla