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.