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Monday 8thJune
Saundersfoot to Kidwelly
The weather forecast looked promising for the day. We made our way along the coast firstly along a flat cycle path and then up over the hill and down firstly into Amroth and then up again and down into Pendine. There was a Norman castle at Amroth but not much sign of it now - an 18th century house was built on the site in mock castle style. 
At Pendine we found a good tea stop ("Richards" I think) and partook of the very tasty home made Barra Bread. First real castle of the day was at Laugharne, a village best known for its associations with Dylan Thomas who had a boathouse on the cliffs overlooking the River Taff from the west. The castle probably dates from the 12th century although the remains that can be seen were probably built by the de Brian family in the 13th century.
We then turned north and made our way to St Clears. Only the mound remains now but in 1195 William de Braose II (gt. grandfather of John de Braose) took the castle from the Welsh. Later in 1215 it was taken by Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great) and then later again recovered by William Marshal's son William Marshal the younger. I am not sure if there is a connection between the town name of St Clear and the family name of de Clare.
On again to the castle remains at Pencader - marked on the map as Trefenty. We arrived at a farmyard with a derelict barn at one side and another group of visitors who were obviously very interested in the old farmhouse. Nothing to be seen of the castle! The farmer's wife soon pointed us in the direction of a mound in the next field overlooking the River Taff estuary (but this time from the east). This is probably the castle of Mabudryd erected by Gilbert de Clare in 1145.
The next section involved several steep hills on the way to Llansteffan. So when we arrived to find it positioned on top of a hill we opted to use the telephoto lens rather than get close up! Ownership of the castle changed hands several times in the 12th and 13 centuries and Llywelyn the Great captured it in 1215. Leg muscles were now beginning to feel the effect of hills and cycling and we still had quite a way to go. Tony W's gearchange was beginnning to act up but we pressed on to Carmarthen in the hope that we could find a cycle shop.
There is not much left of the castle at Carmarthen. It also suffered around 1215 from the attack of Llywelyn the Great, but an extensive building program was carried out by William Marshal the younger who recaptured the castle in 1223. Having obtained directions for a cycle shop in the centre of town which we thought we understood - but obviously didn't - we ended up at Morrison's for a life saving drink and cake and just across the way visited Halfords to buy chain cleaner and oil. The sticking chain seemed to ease slightly after this. Only another 10 miles to the B&B - we were very tempted to catch the train but we would still have had a steep 2 mile climb and the cake seemed to have worked wonders!
The mileage at the end of the day was 49 miles.
Castles visited - 6 (includes Amroth)