Criccieth Beach, North Wales by Simon Jones

Criccieth is on the south side of the Llyn peninsula so benefits from a beautiful late afternoon sun and is an ideal time to walk one or both of it's two beaches and in mid September the tide is at it's lowest around 15:00 revealing miles of open sand. We headed for the east beach so parked up on the esplanarde, if this is full there is also a carpark at the far end. The beach directly infront of the esplanarde is Blue Flag awarded so not open to dogs, so walk eastwards down a concrete ramp infront of Dylan's Resturant and the pitch & putt coarse, the first hundred yards or so is shingle and pebbles so take apropriate footware but after that it's barefoot all the way on gorgeous golden sand. Behind you are the snowdonian mountains providing a shelter from the westerly winds and infront of you the water is shallow and warm, benefiting from the gulf stream passing close by which brings in seals, porpoises and dolphins along the surf if your lucky. With the tide at it's lowest you can walk all the way to the neighbouring beach of Black Sands,  passing rock cliffs with caves and rockpools to explore, just remember when the tide comes back in it will cut off the beach side access from one to the other. There are numarous beaches in Wales but for me this is one of the finest for it's view's of Cardigan Bay, the snowdonian mountains and miles of walking at low tide.