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.