A grey, wet, and windy morning to be crossing the exposed Cleddau Bridge, followed by the bridge over the Neyland Marina. Coastal walking is not all sunrises and sunsets. Head down into the wind, I dredge up a line by Billy Bragg on Walk Away Renee: “you have to learn to take the crunchy with the smooth”. Well put, as ever, by the “Bard of Barking”.
Huge wind turbines rise above fuel storage tanks and jetties. I’m accompanied by their rhythmic whooshing, until I reach the mid point between two turbines where the sound waves almost cancel each other out, dropping to a whisper, before the noise grows once more.
I must reach the boardwalk at Sandy Haven in the low tide window, to save a six mile detour inland. I make it with an hour to spare. Now I can relax, although the rain is unrelenting, so it’s not a day for lingering.
Now that the oil refinery is behind me, the coast is very pretty, all reds and greens, despite the blurring of the mist.
It’s mid-afternoon and I’ve still not passed a place to shelter. My socks and gloves are soaked through. There’s a small cluster of trees off the path. I’ll take whatever cover they can give me, breaking out the stove for a welcome hot coffee.
I can’t make the Gann crossing at low tide, so head inland on a two mile road detour. As expected, there is nothing open in Dale, so I push on to Dale Point, passing the bizarre collection of driftwood sculptures in Sean Kehoe’s workshop. I’m glad it’s not dark. I can just imagine the beam from my head torch landing on these!
I reach the sanctuary of Dale Fort, one of the centres run by the Field Studies Council (“FSC”) charity. Jamie and his team of staff are amazing, giving me shelter for the night. I get a dorm to myself, plenty of space to dry out my gear, and a hot shower that’s like heaven. It’s been a hard day; 21 miles and the rain never stopped.
There’s a communal kitchen, where I chat to another member of staff about tomorrow’s walk and my camping options. The adjacent lounge has lots of information on the walls about the various activities at the centre. The main focus is the provision of educational courses to school groups, including disadvantaged children, and university students. I look up the FSC web-site and am struck by two quotes.
The first is from the CEO, Mark Castle: “We help people learn about the environment so they can make informed choices about how best to protect it.”
The second is by David Attenborough: “No one will protect what they don’t care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced
.”
I’m beginning to feel that my walk should be more than just a personal journey. Food for thought as I drift off to the baleful mourning of the foghorn on St Ann’s Head.
Walk distance: 21 miles.
Total distance: 1,536 miles.
A tough day, but at least you made the low-tide crossing. We had so much bad weather this winter! Hope the next day was better for you.
I’m looking forward to spring! I have started using the Windy app and it is remarkably accurate as a predictor of the weather for the day ahead, especially when rain is due.
21 miles in the pouring rain, that’s a tough one Tony! I’ve been using the Rain Today app that Jon Combe told me about – it predicts the rain for up to 1 hour ahead showing weather radar maps, but I guess it’s a bit short for a 21 mile walk! I’ll take a look at Windy.
Hi Paul. When you are heading out again?