Today's one is a quick and simple landmark, requiring no walking path to follow and navigation tips to get you there safely, but it does require getting the tides on your side. It is no secret that we love Barmouth and have spent many years using it as a base of operation when exploring the greater Snowdonia area and beyond. Still, we actually had no idea this was even an option! That is mostly because Barmouth's golden beach stretches for miles up the coast, so if we were looking to go adventuring on the sands we would typically do it on a quieter stretch - but one sunny September day we found ourselves enjoying an ice cream on the stone steps near the Bath House and decided a walk on the beach was just the ticket. Most visitors to Barmouth Beach will be familiar with its sea wall, that concrete path that heads out from the town, around the dunes and across towards the river, but did you know that the furthest point out towards where the sea first connects to the Afon Mawddach is a little point? This set of stones and marker offers some incredible views back towards Barmouth town, across towards Fairbourne beach and out to sea, and I feel like this is one of those things that frequent fliers to the town should probably do at some point, as long as the tide allows...
Starting out from Barmouth town is naturally going to be the easiest way to begin this walk, Barmouth sits on the A496 on the mouth of the Mawddach's estuary between Harlech to the north and Dolgellau to the east. There are a ton of parking spaces in Barmouth town so stopping somewhere shouldn't be a problem on all days up to the peak of summer travel, with the main long-stay car park along the seafront being ideal for a day trip. Public transport is equally viable, with Barmouth's train station seeing a periodic service that goes all the way into England and north along the coast, as well as a few bus services coming through here too.
ABOVE | Taken from near Barmouth's Welsh Flag viewpoint, if you follow the estuary from the left, you can see Barmouth's sea wall on the far left (following the line of dunes), keep following the estuary out and the furthest blob out to sea on the Barmouth side is the point!
So typically on Love Our Adventures we give a breakdown of the walking route, how to tackle it and what kind of obstacles you may need to deal with along the way, but Barmouth's Point is simply a case of walking out along the sandy beach, onto the wet stuff and keep going towards the metal pole in the distance. Ideally done on a sunny day, with a towel over your shoulder and barefoot! There is a pocket of rockpools part way out, but these can easily be circumnavigated - what can't be avoided is the stones that make up the point itself, so having shoes you can put back on once you get there is pretty important. These stones are haphazard and covered in sharp barnacles. definitely not something you want on your bare skin and I'd even go as far as to recommend some decent shoes, flip-flops would really not cut it. The only other challenge as mentioned previously is the tide, Barmouth's sand will move and change over time, so there may be times when the point is easier to reach, but generally, you are going to want to wait for a lower tide before attempting this. You're heading about half a mile out from the beachfront road, on our day the tide was a very low one, about 0.6m, so we were able to do this walk about 1-2 hours before low tide with minimal paddling needed.
On days with low tides, you may even be able to get out beyond Barmouth's point, with a handful of sandbars poking out beyond, so if you fancy it then why not - otherwise, that is all it takes to check out this spot. I think this gives some fantastic views and is pretty accessible, even if you aren't able to scramble over the stones beneath the point, simply walking out this far along the beach is an experience in itself and you will get equally wonderful views, so hop to it! While most visitors to Barmouth won't ever really head out much beyond the soft sands or the sea walls, you can escape out to a quieter section of the coast and enjoy some beautiful things at the same time. As this can be a relatively quick walk then you may want to pair it with another great walk around Barmouth, in fact, I'd say walking to the point is the perfect end to a good day's walk as you can cool your feet off in the sea, so perhaps a walk up the back of Barmouth at Dinas Oleu or walk to the Welsh Flag, or explore beyond the town by crossing Barmouth's beautiful bridge - you can't go wrong!
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