Dylan Thomas Trail

The Dylan Thomas Trail is in the Ceredigion region of Wales. The trail runs through places of significance during the poet's lifetime.

Understand

The Dylan Thomas Trail goes through the countryside and along the coastline of west Wales from Llanon through to Lampeter and Aberaeron, ending in Newquay.

The trail is marked by blue plaques and information boards in Lampeter, Aberaeron and New Quay. There is also a detailed guide available, The Dylan Thomas Trail (D.N. Thomas, Y Lolfa, 2002), which helps visitors walk the route but also describes the poet’s time in the area.

Prepare

A companion book (D.N. Thomas, Dylan Thomas: A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow, Seren, 2000) is available for those walking the trail who want to know more about Dylan’s time in west Wales. It contains an account of the shooting incident at Majoda whilst Dylan lived there in 1945. A collection of published articles is also available, as well as a photographic history of New Quay" (R. Bryan, New Quay: A History in Pictures, Llanina Books, 2012), and an account of New Quay's maritime profile as seen through the 1939 War Register (New Quay, Llareggub and the 1939 War Register).

Go

The key sites which were of importance in the life of Dylan Thomas include: Llanon, Tal-sarn, Gelli, Aberaeron, Ciliau Aeron, Llanerchaeron, Llanina, Goosegog lane, Majoda and Traethgwyn beach.

Llanon to Llanina

The trail begins on the coast at the Central Hotel in Llanon, and continues through upland countryside to Plas Gelli, Tal-sarn, the mansion where Dylan and Caitlin lived for part of World War II. It then turns west to wander along the Aeron valley. The walk passes Tyglyn Aeron (now a hotel).

The trail continues past the National Trust’s Llanerchaeron estate and then along a disused railway line to Aberaeron, where Dylan had a number of friends. From here, the trail follows the cliffs to New Quay, passing close to Plas Llanina, where Dylan, “hoofed with seaweed, did a jig on the Llanina sands and barked at the far mackerel.” Under the waves lies a drowned cemetery which has been described as “the literal truth that inspired the imaginative and poetic truth” of "Under Milk Wood", his 1954 radio drama. Plas Llanina was once the home of Lord Howard de Walden, who encouraged Dylan to write in the apple house in the garden.

Majoda and New Quay

Majoda was the tiny bungalow where Dylan and family lived from September 1944 to July 1945. They were there during one of the coldest winters on record. But despite the weather, it was one of the most productive periods of Dylan’s life, “a second flowering, a period of fertility that recalls the earliest days.” His Majoda poems provided nearly half the poems for "Deaths and Entrances".

The trail then follows the beach, before it arrives at its finishing point in New Quay.

There are further day walks on extensions of the trail, including:

• Eli Jenkins' Pub Walk which follows the River Dewi to the coast at Cwmtydu
• the town trail around New Quay, taking in the house where his aunt and cousins lived, as well as Dylan’s favourite pub, the Black Lion, where Augustus John used to exhibit.

Onwards

The coastal stretch of the trail forms part of the Wales Coast Path and the Ceredigion Coast Path, and is included in a number of the Path's walking guides.

You can follow the coast path from New Quay to Llangrannog, where Dylan enjoyed meeting up in the Pentre Arms with World War I, flying ace, Ira Jones. The coast path then continues southwards, passing Yr Hendre farm, near St. Dogmaels, where the 16-year-old Dylan camped with a school friend in 1930. The holiday is described in the trail guide.

Go next

Swansea - the birthplace of Dylan Thomas