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.

Aberporth to Poppit Sands

Sunday 24th August 2014

After spending the night at an independent hostel near Aberporth I returned across farmland to the coastal path on the edge of Aberporth Airport (and military establishment). The point where I rejoined the Ceredigion Coast Path was at the head of the unspoilt valley of Cwm Gwrddon, which was densely wooded and a delight to walk through, but short-lived as the path soon climbed out of the valley and followed it down to the coast. Sadly, this was the best part of the walk which gradually deteriorated during the course of the day; however the coastal path was still good at this point with a great track positioned at the top of cliffs above the coastal slopes and below the fringe of farmland. The excellent path meandered around the coastline with many changes in elevation, twists and turns and with dense wild flowers lining the path. It was an interesting walk with bramble, knotweed, willowherb and gorse among many others providing close-up views while the cliffs up and down the coast also sought to attract my attention while walking along a delightful terrace path part way down the coastal slope under hazy sunshine. 

The overflowing vegetation was a real bonus on this early part of the walk even when it was Himalayan balsam that choked the streams. Balsam may be invasive but the flowers are so pretty and smell even better that I didn’t really mind. The wild feel to the walk diminished later in the morning when farmland came right up to the edge of the path so the dense vegetation that I had so loved earlier in the day  became less noticeable. The cliffs to my right remained a draw, particularly where the rocky promontory of Pen-Peles drew me away from the path for a closer look. Just beyond this point a small prominent hill came into view and tempted me to climb it. Foel y Mwnt is not very high (a puny 76 metres above sea level), but since it lies right next to the sea the conical hill appears more striking than it deserves.

When I finally reached the foot of the hill I couldn’t resist the temptation to leave the coastal path and climb the short slope to the narrow summit where I had a stunning view along the coast both back along the coast towards Aberporth and onward along the coast past Cardigan Island to Cemmais Head. From the top I made my way down to the tiny, picturesque, sandy cove of Mwnt where the coastal path continued and climbed back up to the top of the cliffs before ending at a rather solid looking barrier. A clear path could be seen to continue beyond the barrier but according to the official website for the Ceredigion Coast Path this route was still in development (even though the rest of the coastal path opened in 2009) and so I needed to take a dreary diversion. This is a shame as the map seems to show that the missing coastline is quite spectacular, and includes a natural arch.

After lunch at the barrier, while looking out across the sea, I turned inland up the hill to the village of Y Ferwig and then along a road to Gwbert. This was really tedious and didn’t improve after I rejoined the Ceredigion Coast Path at Gwbert as I was still on tarmac walking along the pavement beside a road marked on my map as Coronation Drive. This day had started as being a fantastic walk through such great, wild terrain that I was enthusing about it to myself thinking that this was almost as good as mountain walking. It was such a joy to walk along that path, but the coastal path, when it turned into the Teifi estuary, deteriorated into tedium in extenso. My destination, Poppit Sands, was actually just across the estuary, but I would have to follow the river all the way to the town of Cardigan before I could cross the river and walk all the way back to Poppit Sands.

At one point during my trudge I got fed up and came down onto the sands near Pen yr Ergyd, but since it was so tiring to walk on sand this did not help me so I climbed back up to the road and followed that until I reached the point where the road turns inland and the coastal path heads through fields towards Cardigan. When I eventually reached the town of Cardigan I had come to the end of the Ceredigion Coast Path, but the Pembrokeshire Coast Path hadn’t started yet. In the absence of a county coastal path to follow I followed the Wales Coast Path through fields above the southern banks of the river into the pretty village of St Dogmaels and the official start of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. I felt like there should be a huge sign and bright lights designating the start of the path, but instead there is a nondescript structure at the side of the road that was not obviously the start of anything.

Worse was the fact that the first couple of miles on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path is on a narrow road that follows the estuary back out towards the sea. My only consolation was found immediately after crossing a stream that marks the edge of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, and that is Poppit Sands. When the tide is out this is a vast expanse of sand that was a pleasure to walk along despite the effort required in walking on sand. This was a pleasing end to what had been a very mixed day. It started with a charming walk along the coast, but I got no enjoyment out of the walk after lunch as I felt that I was simply covering the miles, while the hazy sunshine that had accompanied me at the start soon faded to complement the dreary second half. I was already finding that costal paths are variable in their quality so that when at their best they can compare with mountain walking, but at their worst they are no better than walking down any street in Britain.