Day 16 Solva to Newgale

Day 16

Sunday 6^th September

Solva to Newgale

Walk distance 7km

Cycle 0km

Height 220m est

2.5 hours

Bus back to Solva

Total coastal distance walked 7km

Total coastal distance cycled 0

Running coastal total distance 225.75km

Running height climbed 7096m

To walk to Newgale meant I had to start early if I was to catch the bus back mid morning.  Whilst the early start was an effort the walk was rewarded by seeing no one except a dog walker by Solva and a group of people at the very end point.  I started out from Upper Solva at 8a.m. The first bay was magnificent with a stream flowing through a reed bed and into a pebble beach.   The cliffs along this section are sedimentary rock.  Dinas Fach and Dinas Fawr are too long ridges of harder rock that protrude into the bay. The coastal path skips these and I didn’t have to time to walk onto them.  

Soon after starting the call of a peregrine alerted me and then I saw one sat on a smaller cliff ridge.  After sometime I realised a second was perched further along.   Content with seeing them, I walked up the path to a point where I was so close to one, and yet it didn’t fly off. With my binoculars I could see the detail of their markings, including how the wind was moving their breast feathers.    

Further on I took some pictures of cows and choughs. A group of 11 choughs.  As a rare bird they seem to be thriving here.  Nearing the end I halted suddenly when I saw a slowworm on the path.  Basking, I was able to take several photos before it moved off into the heather.  

   

Hemlock agrimony

Orpine

Goldenrod

This was a good time of year to walk as all the path is colourful wit heathers and other plants. Finally I dropped down to Whitesands and walked along the beach to the lifeguard hut to find out where to catch the bus.  I noticed the traffic noise, but it was only when I was on the road I realised there was an old car rally.  During the twenty minutes or so I was waiting on the bus at least 1000 cars passed me.

The bus dropped me off in Upper Solva and I picked up my car then returned to Newgale, parking by a café where I took coffee. I spoke to lifeguards about swimming.  With the sun out it seemed possible.  The air temperature and sea temperature were both 14 degrees, much colder than the 21 to 23 degrees I prefer in the Droitwich lido – and even then I rarely go in if the air temperature is below 18.   No one else was in the water.  I rolled up my trousers and took my shoes off and paced up and down in ankle numbing water.  Then I went back to the pebble shore, changed and went in quickly! It was so cold. I swam briefly but when my head was under the water it took my breath away. I was out pretty quick! At least, for the first time this year I had been in the sea.

After the swim and change I headed home, this time taking the more leisurely attractive route via Brecon.  Within thirty miles of Pembrokeshire the temperature was up to 21 degrees and it was blue sky all the time. Where had this weather been all weekend? Also I had achieved the 225 km mark and climbed over 7000meter in just 16 days! Leaving Cardigan bay felt like I really I am making progress in my journey around Britain. I have even moved off the north Pembrokeshire map and am now onto the south Pembrokeshire map.  More important than the distance is the new places I have seen, amazing scenery, the wildlife and really nice people I have met. I have also learned a lot about the history of this part of Wales. 

Day 15 St.Justinian to Solva

Saturday 5th September

St. Justinian to Solva

Walk distance 16.8km

Cycle 0km

Height 553m est

6 hours

8km cycle to St Davids and back

Total coastal distance walked 16.8km

Total coastal distance cycled 0

Running coastal total distance 218.75km

Running height climbed  6876m

Once again I cycled to St David's.  This time Gianni’s ice cream parlour was only just open and their coffee was not ready.   The barista wasn’t happy to give me a poor coffee so I had to leave to wait for my bus.  As I got onto the bus he ran over and presented me with a free coffee to take with me.  I thoroughly recommend Gianni’s! The bus took me to St Justinians’ to where the new lifeboat station was being built.  Even on a Saturday builders were at work using a massive crane to move blocks.  Soon after starting I met a long haired man with binoculars who told me a little of what to expect and where to look for dolphins.  With a strong north wind, as well as a current, the water in the sound between the mainland and Ramsey was flowing so fast, with an enormous swell.  On the far side canoeists looked like they were being tossed around the Bitches. 

This is a series of very jagged rocks by Ramsey island.   Ramsey island is owned by the RSPB.  If it was the spring I would love to visit to see the nesting birds. On the headland a ruined Quakers house was evident. Apparently Quakers forced off their own land settled here, on the margins of Wales, before they left eventually for America.  Shortly after passing the ruins I had wonderful views of a seal close up.  The chap I had met said to follow the diving gannets to find dolphins. This I did ,and sure enough had a brief glimpse of one! Rounding the corner of the headland it was much more sheltered. 

Now I could see St Brides bay as well as other islands further south.  The walk was easy to start with.  At Porthclais, the natural harbour to St. David’s I suddenly came across many people.  There were many dozens of canoeists, walkers and climbers in groups. The next section all the way to Solva was up and down and also busy. This was the first part of the walk where I felt I had lost the feeling of remoteness since Aberwystwth. 

Luckily I found a nice sheltered bay and the sun finally came out.

 Today I experimented Nordic walking with my poles. I had once been on a training session to learn this technique and it took a while to remember how to do it.  The problem was finding a rhythm to match my foot pacing.   Once I remembered It was as simple as counting or marching one two, one two it was easy.  I didn’t quite resolve how to use the poles on the narrowest paths where they got caught in the heather.  I think they helped and I will use them again.  Dropping down along path to Solva I was struck by the revolting smell of decaying dog poo.  In the sheltered bay, with the full sun it smelled terrible.  It seemed strange that such a pretty village was spoilt and that presumably locals and visitors allowed dogs to crap on the paths leading and to and from the place. 

By the time I reached Solva I was tired and decided that I would stop at this point.  I had a very rank coffee on a terrace of a boat club.  Realising a bus was about to leave I gladly abandoned my coffee and raced to catch the bus. 

Unexpectedly I was back in St. David’s early so decided to walk around.  I walked around the outside of the cathedral and Bishops palace and wandered past the few shops. Without money I didn’t venture inside.   Many years ago I had visited the site.  St. David’s is the birthplace of St. David’s, a sixth century Christian missionary who influenced many people.  Over 100 churches and monasteries are dedicated to him and pilgrims travelled to Pembrokeshire to his home and to places he frequented such as Whitesands bay.   A chapel in St. Non’s bay, which I walked past, by Porthclais, marks his birth place.  Today tourists flock to the cathedral city, and it is very much a honey pot.   On the return I cycled back down to Whitesands bay to enjoy an ice cream on the beach.   Back at the hostel eating was easy as I reheated my chilli from the evening before.  

Making the most of the daylight I decided to walk up the rocky hill, Carn Llidi Brychan, behind the hostel to see the sun set. I am glad I did as the light on the heather clad hill was amazing. The views back across the St. David’s peninsula and across Ramsey island were great. Finally I settled down in the hostel to chat again. 

Day 14 Porthgain to St.Justinian

Friday 4th September

Porthgain to St. Justinians

Walk distance 18.5km

Cycle 0km

Height 590m est

7 hours

8km cycle to St David’s and back

Total coastal distance walked 18.5km

Total coastal distance cycled 0

Running coastal total distance 201.95km

Running height climbed 6323m

I was able to leave work at 4p.m. and decided to drive on the motorway to reach Pembrokeshire.   I made good progress until I joined heavy traffic around Cardiff.  The Pembroke peninsula seems very far from Worcester, but eventually I reached St.David’s.  Too tired to cook, I stopped at a small supermarket and bought a microwavable curry, my idea of a dirty meal.  Once  a week I eat a processed meal.   The hostel looked fantastic in the evening sun and I was lucky to just share the dormitory with one person.  A self catering hostel, it takes time to find all the cooking equipment.  Once cooking though I added some of the glut of vegetables, taken from my garden to make it more healthy.   In the dark I prepared my bike and settled down to an interesting evening chatting to other hostellers.  My knees had been hurting the week before the walk and so I had decided to try using walking poles. These hadn’t been used for several years.  I first had them after I injured my tendons but didn’t really use them much.  After breakfast and lunch preparations, I cycled to St David’s, along with hiking boots, poles and flasks loaded into my paniers, and a rucsac with waterproofs, lunch, camera and binoculars.  With plenty of time I parked my bike by the information centre and tried to work out where the bus stop was.  As it wasn’t clear I walked the short distance to the Town hall, where the bus stop was more obvious. The Italian ice cream coffee shop was open and I had plenty of time for a drink while I waited for a bus to take me to Porthgain.  St. David’s is a ‘city’ but its challenging to even call it a village, as there are few shops you would recognise. However, it is lively, and even at 9 in the morning was bustling.  Not just with the elderly, but lots of young men too.  Small enough for people to know one another there was lots of greetings being shouted across the street.  Many people said hello to me and one stopped to ask me where I was walking.   The bus arrived on time, and on the other side of St David’s two German women joined stepped in.  They were also walking the coast and were going to be doing the same section as me. Porthgain looked much better in fine weather.  However I decided to crack on with the walk.  On the first high cliff I immediately saw a peregrine flying along-side.  Abereiddy was the first and only village to pass. Here there are more derelict ruins than lived in houses. The old building belonged to former quarrymen. Slate was exported from the small harbour. The walk to St.Davids head was dominated to the south by a series of rocky, heather clad hills.   The cliffs were fairly high, but the path level, except where the cliffs cut into each hill side.  The last hill hid the youth hostel. The weather was magnificent really, although there was a cold north wind blowing all the time.  I found myself enjoying a myriad of insects on many flowers.   On this walk I was seeing new plants too, including golden rod, an upright yellow flower, once used for healing wounds.  I also saw fleabane and hemp agrimony, other once useful herbs.  

After the first hill, Carn Pembury, I stopped for lunch at a sheltered bay and it was only there I met the first walkers. They told me to look out for baby seals.  The two German ladies caught up with me and joined me for lunch.  We talked about the walk and what we had , and afterwards continued, repeatedly passing one another as we took photos.  We found the seal cubs, although my pictures did not come out very well.  The young seals are very white.   Until they move both the adult and little ones are very well camouflaged on the rocky, pebbly beeches.  We started to walk together and talked about all manner of subjects from development aid to geology.   Finally we reached the headland of St.David’s.  

An important moment for me, leaving Cardigan bay behind.   The rocky headland is carpeted in ling and bell heather and at this time of year is so colourful.  Scabious plants dot the way with blue.  I tried so many times to photograph them but the blue colour never seems to show.   We descended to the large beach at Whitesands where we had a drink in a café.  As it was still early we walked on an extra couple of kilometres to St Justinian’s.  Here a new life boat station was being built, clearly impressive, this is an important part of the coast to serve for both the tourists using the sea and the shipping. 

We now started to walk up the lane towards St.David’s, not expecting a bus.  However a late bus passed us and picked us up so I was able to easily get to my bike and ride back to the hostel. The German ladies and I said our farewells.  I cooked a fine chilli using lots of garden vegetables again.  The most talkative resident was a lorry driver who spent much of his spare time walking the Alps and once a year, for over a decade, walked the same route of the Pembrokeshire coast for two weeks.