"Take me out" said Dolly to Bryn,
"Whatever you wish" he said with a grin.
So they packed their picnic and set off with a smile,
To magical sands where seas sparkle for miles.......
A few days ago, our little dragons Dolly and Bryn set off on a little adventure to discover one of the most beautiful beaches in the area... well, we think so anyway - and so did Dolly and Bryn by the look of their big cheeky grins.
Poppit Sands, on the southern side of the Teifi estuary, is a beautiful wide sandy beach that is popular all year round. It's a quirky name for a wonderful beach with enormous expanses of sand dunes, big stretches of golden sands, shallow waters for splashing about in as well as some rock-pools for exploring.
The views are simply stunning - on a clear day you can see across the estuary to Gwbert, and out to Cardigan Island - a small, uninhabited island just off the northern coastline of Cardigan, famed for it's population of grey seals. Famously, there was once a healthy colony of puffins and manx shearwater on Cardigan Island but in 1934, a ship called The Hereford ran aground on the island and inadvertently released it's population of ship rats. The rats chomped on the puffin and manx eggs for their breakfast, lunch and dinner and soon the bird population was wiped out. Sadly, they have never returned.
The Legend of the Poppit Fish-Trap
Archaeologists studying aerial pictures found evidence of an enormous "v" shaped fish trap at the mouth of the river Teifi close to Poppit Sands. At almost 300 metres long and a meter wide, it is now totally underwater but experts believe it was used to catch fish behind it's walls as the tide flowed out from the estuary - and could be over 1,000 years old. It is thought to be one of the biggest fish traps of it's kind, certainly in the UK, which proves that the Teifi Estuary was once a lush, fertile and rich landscape.
It seems that Dolly and Bryn (and Isla) had a fantastic time at Poppit Sands - and can't wait to go back soon..... especially if there's ice cream involved :)
How to get there....
Poppit Sands is approximately a 30 minute drive from Dolbryn. Just follow the A484 towards Cardigan. At the roundabout turn right for Fishguard and at the next roundabout turn right again for St Dogmael's. Go down the hill and at the bottom, immediately before a pub on the corner, turn left. Follow the road into St Dogmael's and continue, turning sharp right after the village centre. The narrow road will lead you straight to Poppit (after about 2 miles).
The car park is a P&D, and if you've got dogs it's worth noting that there are dog restrictions on one side of the beach between May and September.