St David’s to Broad Haven

Thursday 28th August 2014

For the third day running on my holiday along the Pembrokeshire Coast Path I had a long walk of twenty four miles. When you are walking that sort of distance you have no time to stop and explore and even to simply enjoy the surroundings because you know that you have to keep going in order to maintain a steady pace of at least three miles an hour. Good weather helps a lot in the enjoyment of a walk, which I had not had on my previous couple of days and as I left the St David’s Youth Hostel the weather was no better with rain and thick clouds. Nevertheless, I set off early in the morning and made my way back to the coast at Whitesand Bay, however it soon stopped raining and after I left Whitesands the sun came out affording me with fabulous weather for the rest of the day. What had looked like being terrible weather turned out to the best weather of the holiday.

After passing St Justinian's the coastal path headed around the rugged Treginnis Peninsula, a National Trust property, which has delightfully unspoilt terrain sloping gently down to the sea and afforded me with tremendous views across the strong currents of the Ramsey Sound to Ramsey Island, a bird reserve. I was astonished by how strong the current was in the Sound as it was stronger than what is normally found in rivers, and yet this was the sea. I really enjoyed the walk at this point of the day with the moorland flowers, easy walking, warm sunshine and hardly a breath of wind. I sailed around the coast making good progress due to the lack of steep gradients and so all too soon I left the Treginnis Peninsula behind and after passing Porthlysgi the terrain became more undulating with more of the dramatic cliffs that I had been seeing all week.

The bright sunshine seemed to be making the views so much better than I had seen previously in the week even though the coast was very similar to what I had already seen, and this just added to my delight as I made my way along the coast. The popularity of this coastline was apparent from the large numbers of people that I passed on the path along this section, no doubt all drawn out by the good weather, but also due to the quality of the coastline at this point and the proximity to abundant accommodation in St David’s. However, nothing on this section of the coast really stood out for me so that I could not remember much about it just a couple of hours later, much less months later, as it was more of the same sort of thing that I had been experiencing all week, only this time it was under blue skies and bright sunshine. The quality of the coastline drew me on with the promise of more until eventually the path turned inland and descended steeply to the harbour at Solva.

I had my lunch in this idyllic place before climbing to the top of a narrow wooded ridge, Gribin, that separates Solva Harbour from the unspoilt cove of Gwadn, the contrast between the two being very marked. With the wind picking up once again the terrain became steeper starting with a steep descent from the Gridin. The weather had been helping on this walk, but now a strong wind was blowing in my face and the only time I had respite was when climbing steeply out of the many coves that I encountered until eventually I reached the last hill where I had a spectacular view of the vast Newgale Sands spread out before me. The sands stretch for several miles and by far my best option would have been to have gone down onto the beach and to have strolled along the surf beside the sea. The many miles that I still had to cover and because the tide was a long way out were the main reasons why I didn’t, but also because the beach was crowded with people.

Instead I stayed on the road, which is the designated Coast Path route, all the way down to the southern end of Newgale Sands where the trail climbs once more onto the top of the cliffs for the final section to Broad Haven. The wind was now even stronger and the terrain became even hillier with many descents and re-ascents into coves that were now calling themselves havens starting with Nolton Haven before continuing with Madoc’s Haven and Druidston Haven before finally ending with my destination: Broad Haven. Despite the challenging terrain and a strong headwind I seemed to make very good progress and reached Broad Haven surprisingly early. I don’t know how I managed that, or maybe the good weather had been spurring me on to a greater pace. Certainly it seemed that with this being the third day in a row that I had walked about twenty-four miles I was becoming used to the challenge.

I suppose with hindsight I shouldn’t have rushed so much on this walk and probably would have had plenty of time to have gone down to the sea at Newgale Sands and walked beside the surf. At the time I didn’t realise just how much time I had made up so wasn’t able to take advantage of it. When I got to Broad Haven I tried to correct this by going down onto the beach and walked along the sands for a distance before finally going to the youth hostel. The highlight of this walk was definitely the wild flowers, and most notably on Treginnis Peninsula that benefitted by a lack of human intrusion into the terrain. Newgale and Broad Haven were packed with people so were less to my liking. It is curious how refreshed I felt at the end of this walk compared with how exhausted I was at the end of the similar length walks two days previously to Pwll Deri. It seemed like I was not only beginning to really enjoy walking twenty-four miles a day, but my body was becoming used to it. Despite the strong winds in the afternoon I had great weather and a great walk over high cliffs, past picturesque coves and stunning beaches.

Pwll Deri to St David’s Head

Wednesday 27th August 2014

After a tiring twenty-four mile walk on the day before, I set off early on this walk from the busy Pwll Deri Youth Hostel for another twenty-plus miles. These long days were dictated by the distance between youth hostels, but there was no reason why I couldn’t have stopped at a spot half way between the youth hostels as several people at the hostel told me that they had done. Undaunted, I was deliberately doing a walk of a similar length to the one the previous day that had worn me out. The start of the walk was great as it was a continuation of the craggy ground that I had enjoyed at the end of the day before where heather, gorse and many other wild flowers were interspersed with crags that had me dancing from rock to rock in delight. All too soon, at Penbwchdu, the Pembrokeshire Coast Path turns south to descend off the glorious ridge and onto more gentler terrain. Such mountaintop-like terrain is rare on a coastal path and was all too fleeting on this walk.

I didn’t find the walking too difficult on this walk compared with the previous day with less of the steep ascents and descents in and out of coves and most of the walking being along the top of high cliffs. By this point in the holiday I had seen so many of these dramatic cliffs that I was beginning to get rather bored with them. The main problem with this coastal trail is the unchanging scenery of never-ending cliffs for mile and after mile that all blur together. It has been difficult to remember something particular about each walks that I hadn’t seen all week. The twin bays of Aber Bâch and Aber Mawr with their pebbly beaches were distinctive enough to be memorable, but trying to identify where a particular photograph was taken is rather difficult because it could have been taken at any point along the walk. In the end the time stamp on the picture is the only thing that is different about it.

Eventually I reached the outskirts of the village of Trefin, which used to have a youth hostel, closed by the YHA at the end of 2006, and now an independent hostel called the Old School Hostel. This is where most people would have halted for the day but I had not covered much more than ten miles by this point and was less than half way through my day, so I climbed up the road away from the village and along the coast to the industrial past at Porthgain. This used to be a busy port serving various quarries and a brick works in the area that have left their mark on the land. Either side of the mouth of the harbour are two stone columns, the western one is whitewashed while the eastern one is not. After visiting the eastern tower, near a ruined quarry building, I found a bit of wall to shelter behind from the strong winds and had my lunch. During the morning the wind had been gradually picking up and continued to grow throughout the afternoon.

After lunch I felt like I had been making such good progress on the walk that I could afford the luxury of exploring the old quarries for a few minutes. There are some huge scars east of Porthgain where slate used to be excavated from the ground and these old quarries were awesome sights to behold, but as always when walking twenty-plus miles I couldn’t linger long, so I set off once more along the coastal path passing the spectacular beach at Traeth Llyfan. Before reaching Abereiddi Bay I came across the Blue Lagoon, a former quarry now flooded by the sea and a popular deep water diving pool. I diverted away from the coastal path in order to take a look at the Blue Lagoon (actually green), but was not tempted to join the people who were diving into its depths. Instead I headed towards Abereiddy in order to continue heading along the coast towards St David’s Head.

The weather deteriorated further after passing Abereiddy with strong winds and a little rain ensuring that I wouldn’t be tempted to stop and admire the views except in the charming cove of Aberpwll. Elsewhere I kept my head down and ploughed on climbing to a point near the distinctive peak of Penberry before descending back down the hill. I was tempted to climb to the top of Penberry, but the many miles and passing time, as well as the poor weather prompted me to stay on the path. The terrain was now much wilder with heather and gorse abounding, which compensated for the poor visibility and bad weather. The nearby hills of Carn Llidi and Carn Lleithr drew the eye and influenced the terrain underfoot adding to the delight of the walk as I battled against strong winds on my approach to St David’s Head.

Despite the poor weather I felt compelled to keep going all the way along the peninsula as far as I could go to the very end of St David’s Head negotiating the fabulous mountain-like terrain while keeping my head down from the vicious winds. Once I’d reached the end of St David’s Head I turned around and now with the wind behind me headed back along the southern side of the peninsula with seemingly even stronger winds than I’d had on my way out to the point. Eventually I rejoined the coastal path and followed it down to Whitesand Bay as the rain started again. There I turned inland and walked along the road for a mile to the St David's Youth Hostel. This walk was not as tiring as the day before, mainly because the terrain was not so strenuous with long sections along the tops of the cliffs. Nevertheless there were still some fabulous bits to the walk particularly when I was walking through rich, wildflower meadows such as on the approach to St David’s Head that made for a satisfying walk.

Newport to Pwll Deri

Tuesday 26th August 2014

Despite forecasts of more rain after the poor weather that I’d suffered on my previous day's walk, I was fortunate to have surprisingly good weather for most of this walk. Just before setting off I realised that my mileage on this walk was going to be considerably larger than on my previous couple of days. For some reason I had thought that I was going to be walking fourteen miles again, but it was actually a tiring twenty-four miles. The leisurely walking that I have been enjoying since the start of this holiday was now over as in order to cover that distance I would have to keep up a consistently brisk pace throughout the day. When you are walking no more than about sixteen miles a day you can afford to take your time and average only about two miles an hour, which means you are able to stop whenever you like to look at the view, take some pictures or even divert briefly to some place that looks interesting; in short you can relax. When the walk is more than twenty miles then you can’t do any of those things and instead you have got to keep your average speed approaching three miles an hour.

This is very difficult when climbing a mountain, or when walking along a constantly undulating coastline such as on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. This was the prospect that faced me as I set off from the small town of Newport along the coastal path near the mouth of the Afon Nyfer when the tide was completely in. There is a short section of the trail on the outskirts of Newport that is only passable at low tide so I had to take an alternative, high tide route. Despite this I had an interesting walk beside the estuary with the water right up to the seawall until eventually I left the town behind and climbed back up to the clifftop above Cat Rock where I had views across the estuary. There are some tall cliffs along this section that are really spectacular, though the foliage was very dense, encroaching on the path and restricted the width to almost nothing. The considerably newer Ceredigion Coast Path doesn’t have this problem while the Pembrokeshire Coast Path (opened in 1970) is clearly in need of not only a trim but also some maintenance.

Despite the eroded footpath I was able to keep my pace up as I walked past several bays and eventually reached the road that descends steeply into the delightful village of Cwm-yr-Eglwys, the valley of the church, which has a ruined churchyard at the mouth of a valley where the sea once actually destroyed the church buildings. I quickly passed through this tourist magnet and began climbing steeply onto Dinas Island, a promontory with gentle slopes down to the valley that connects it to the mainland and fabulous cliffs on its northern edge. The path climbed steeply through dense bracken to a stunning viewpoint where I had great views along the coast both east back towards Ceredigion and west across Fishguard Harbour. The sun was shining at this point and made the summit of the island, Pen Dinas, a wonderful place to be and worth the tiring climb to get there. The views of the awesome, rugged coast beyond Dinas Island to Fishguard were spellbinding as I followed the gentle descent to Pwll Gwaelod.

Another steep climb took me back up to the clifftop for an exhausting walk to Fishguard along that stunning coastline. At this point however I had other concerns on my mind as my right ankle was beginning to hurt, possibly because of the worn out sole on my boots, but I since I had to keep my pace up I tried to keep going. While at the top of the cliffs the walking was easy, but there were frequent descents into coves and steep ascents out of them that really tried my stamina. The views along the stunning coastline spurred me to keep going as did the sight of a ferry from Ireland coming into Fishguard Harbour. Eventually I reached the delightfully unspoilt, tiny fishing port of the lower town of Fishguard. In the sunshine and with the smell of seaweed pervading everywhere I had my lunch before setting off once more along the coastal path.

A tarmacked path, signposted the Marine Walk, took me around the modern town of Fishguard above the seacliffs that overlook the harbour while my right foot once again gave me problems. I stopped several times to readjust the laces on my boots in an effort to ease my suffering, but nothing seemed to help and I started to have visions of being forced to abandoning my walking on this holiday. I have been very lucky so far with injuries, but I was beginning to think that this might be terminal, at least for this week. I did start wondering if at some point in the future something serious might actually happen to me even if it only left me on crutches for a couple of weeks. Fortunately that wasn’t now as the pain eventually eased and I was able to keep going with loosened laces, even if my pace had slowed since my initial burst of speed out of Newport. After walking along the Marine Walk I approached the ferry terminal mindful of the fact that I would not be passing another shop for several days, so I stocked up with food before passing the ferry terminal and steeply climbing the hillside above the harbour.

Eventually I resumed my walk along the coastal path just as a ferry started to leave Fishguard Harbour to return to Ireland. The walk in the afternoon was through relatively remote, gently undulating land with nothing to severely task me except for the many miles and also with less to raise my interest as the cliffs were now more rounded than previously on this holiday. As the miles dragged I wearily rounded Pen Caer and passed by the lighthouse and wildlife shelter at Strumble Head without a moment’s hesitation. The weather was poorer in the afternoon and the scenery was not as spectacular, but the terrain underfoot was much improved with more rock and even tiny bits of scrambling delight. Despite my fatigue I was enjoying the walk as I slowly made my way to the spectacularly situated youth hostel at Pwll Deri that lies below the prominent hill of Garn Fawr. This was a very long and tiring walk that really tried my stamina, but I really enjoyed it as I passed through some great terrain and gorgeous vegetation.

Poppit Sands to Newport

Monday 25th August 2014

The day before this walk I started the Pembrokeshire Coast Path at St Dogmaels on a road past the mouth of the River Teifi and up to the youth hostel that looks out over Poppit Sands. I had completed less than two miles of the trail, so the following day would be my first proper day on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, but unfortunately it was misty, raining, windy and generally very poor. The start of the day was a continuation of the previous day's dull slog up the road until I reached the Allt-y-coed campsite where the trail finally left civilisation behind to plunge into the mists along the coastline. Throughout the walk between here and Newport Sands I only once came across a road, at Ceibwr Bay, whereas the rest of the walk, particularly during the second half of the day was on a remote and lonely section of the coastal path. The poor weather prevented me from being able to enjoy the walk as I simply kept my head down and ploughed on through the wind and rain.

Soon after leaving the road the trail heads around Cemmais Head, but I couldn’t see much in the mist. The best views were at my feet where purple bloomed heather was dotted around the ground and down the steep slopes to the sea with yellow flowered gorse adding to the scene. Near a disused Coastguard lookout station were some impressive cliffs that I’m sure would have looked awesome in better weather, but with the drizzle and mist my views of these dramatic cliffs were poor. Beyond that point the trail descended on an increasingly steep path to Pwll-y-Granant with more tremendous coastal scenery. The steep cliffs and amazing scenery was now coming so thick and fast that it all started to blur and when I looked back, even just a couple of hours later, it was hard for me to remember any specific details about the walk. The photos that I took at the time show a craggy coastline, but poor weather that detracts from the great views.

The coastline on the first half of the day was particularly spectacular as my photos attest, but I don’t remember anything noteworthy about the walk until I approached Ceibwr Bay. A steep, muddy, hence slippery, descent led me past groves of the alien nasty, balsam, that was taking over the landscape. Nevertheless Ceibwr Bay was a lovely spot so I stopped to explore and crossed the pebbly beach to the retreating sea where I had an enjoyable time immersing myself in the scenery despite the fact that it was still raining. I didn’t stop for an early lunch there, because of the rain, so I continued along the trail up to the headland south of the bay where the heavily gouged coastline north of the bay could be clearly seen with the churning sea adding to the dramatic scene.

This is a great part of the Pembrokeshire Coast and soon after leaving the mouth of the bay I was rewarded with the only sunshine of the day as I passed the dramatic sea stacks of Careg Wylan. With the sunshine out I stopped for lunch at the stunning surroundings of Pwll y Wrach. After all the terrible weather that I’d endured earlier in the day I felt lucky to be in such amazing scenery in gorgeous sunshine, but it wasn’t to last. Soon after leaving Pwll y Wrach the weather closed in again and as the weather deteriorated gradually so did the landscape. Bracken was now the dominant plant, rather than heather, and these bracken-covered slopes fell steeply all the way down to the sea with none of the deeply eroded cliffs that had so delighted me earlier in the day.

The absence of any photos taken during this period is a testament to the poor landscape and weather. This is the remotest section of the coastal path and with high winds to contend with I just kept my head down and kept going. The scenery finally improved with the re-emergence of cliffs at Trwyn y Bwa, but as I turned around the headland of Pen y bâl the weather was particularly fierce with strong winds and rain making the going particularly unpleasant. By the time I descended onto Newport Sands the weather had eased which made the final section of the walk beside the Afon Nyfer rather pleasant.

After the repetitive coastline of earlier in the day it was a welcome change for me to turn inland and walk beside the river until I reached Iron Bridge where I could cross the river and enter the town of Newport. There is lovely parkland between Newport and the river and this provided me with a lovely end to the walk, but more rain before I reached the youth hostel rounded off what had been a pretty miserable day. This walk showed that coastal walking can be a bit tedious when the scenery is unchanging, even when that scenery is good. Despite the poor weather on this walk, there were some really dramatic cliffs and secluded bays that were better than anything else that I would later encounter on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path.