Two new walking trails set to launch in Wales this year

The Teifi Valley Trail and The Fishguard and Goodwick Heritage Trail open in the next few months

The Fishguard and Goodwick Heritage Trail will take hikers on a walking tour of the towns (The Teifi Valley Trail Association )

For those itching to get their walking boots on, Wales is packed with trails to explore, making it a go-to for intrepid hikers and day-trippers alike. With three National Parks to enjoy – including Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) and the Pembrokeshire Coast Path which snakes around the entire coast of Wales – it’s a stunning destination to rack up the miles. And soon, two new trails will be joining the country’s offerings.

Set to launch in April, the Teifi Valley Trail will take walkers on a 83 mile-long ramble that begins at the River Teifi’s source in the Cambrian Mountains, before heading through the bog lands of the Cors Caron National Nature Reserve and ending at Poppit Sands beach.

When it comes to tackling the walk, it can be done in one go (which will take around eight days), or you can do it sections – helpfully, it’s been separated into three parts. To help with planning your walk, each of these sections also been split into the number of days it takes to complete.

The first section of the trail takes three days and is 31 miles. Beginning in the Cambrian Mountains, it leads walkers to the village of Pontrhydfendigaid, which is close to the ruins of a 12th-century monastery Strata Florida, before ending up in the town of Lampeter.

The second section takes two days to complete and is 22 miles long. It passes through market towns as well as the River Teifi’s floodplain – so prepare for potential route changes caused by flooding. Finally, the last stretch, which takes three days to complete, will pass by Newcastle Emlyn Castle, Teifi River Gorge and plenty more, before ending up at Poppit Sands beach.

The Teifi Valley Trail website describes the route as “truly rural, embracing a pastoral agricultural economy, together with nature reserves, woodlands, floodplains and marshes, and finally the estuarine panoramas towards the coast”.

It adds: “This is also a profoundly historic part of Wales, and the countryside through which the trail passes still bears witness equally to the ancient and to the relatively recent industrial past.”

Walkers can look forward to a host of natural scenery and heritage sites such as waterfalls and castles, as well as ruins of mines and factories. You can see the route in full on the Teifi Valley Trail website.

Looking over Fishguard Bay in Pembrokeshire, Wales (iStock)

If you’re looking for more trails to explore, the Fishguard and Goodwick Heritage Trail launches this month, on 18 February. The trail covers 46 important and historic sites in Pembrokeshire towns, including an ancient fish trap, a plaque for an 18th century pirate attack and the setting of Orson Welles’ 1955 film Moby Dick.

To find out more about the places covered on the trail, you can read the The Fishguard and Goodwick Heritage Trail leaflet.

Read more: Five of the UK’s most beautiful spring walks