July 2017| 113
LEGEND POINTS OF INTEREST
Machynys Peninsular
before the next roundabout; follow the blue cycle signs
taking you around to the railway station. On the Station
Approach Road, turn left which will take you over the
iver Tywi using the cycle bridge.
Cross the A4242 and follow Blue Street into the
town. Turn right at the bend and head to the castle
(pedestrianised area). In the same square as the castle,
the legendary Merlin’s Oak can be seen in St Peters Hall.
To get back to the cycle path, re-trace your steps down
Blue Street to the cycle bridge across the river, staying
on the north side. Turn left at the cycle bridge heading
along The uay to the unction at the road bridge. Cross
the unction busy unction, B WA
of traffic into Old
Station oad, eventually turning right into The arade
(follow the blue cycle signs).
On reaching Old Priory Road, visit Carmarthen Priory and
detour north to the A484 (Priory Street), turning right at
the end of Old Priory Road to visit the legendary Roman
Amphitheatre.
Return to the cycle path and continue along it for about
1.1km, turning left into Abergwili Road.
Make a detour to Merlin’s Hill by turning right at
Abergwili Road, cycling through the High Street to the
roundabout. Exit second left, then turn right. Continue for
1.4km to Merlin’s Hill Farm. Retrace your steps back to
Abergwili Road to continue along NCN Route 47.
Continuing west on Abergwili Road, turn right at the
roundabout into Bronwydd Road then right at the next
A mysterious White Lady is said to be forever condemned
to roam the countryside hereabouts until her body is
discovered. Some say she’s the ghost of one of the
wreckers who used lanterns to lure ships onto the sands
so they could plunder the cargo; others that she’s a
murdered maid who worked at a local manor house
known to have secret tunnels used by the shipwreckers to
store and transport their ill-gotten gains.
Burry Port Harbour
Beware the Hatchet Men, or ‘gwyr y bwelli bach’, of Burry
ort. Waving lanterns and lighting fires, the prolific ship
wreckers lured unsuspecting ships to their doom, sunk
on the sandbars of Carmarthen Bay and in the shallow
waters of Cefn Sidan Beach. Some aboard the stricken
vessels survived drowning only to be set upon by the
villains. Not content to simply steal the ships’ valuable
cargo, the dastardly wreckers sliced off heads, hands and
fingers for easier access to the helpless victims ewellery,
too. Sometimes, their ghostly wails are carried in on the
sea breeze.
A visitor more deserving of commemoration perhaps
was ‘Aviatrix’ Amelia Earhart, when she arrived in Pwll,
near Burry Port, on June 18th, 1928, from Newfoundland
on board a Fokker F7 aeroplane with Wilmer ‘Bill’ Stultz
and ouis Slim ordon