It’s eight months since I was last in Wales. The plan is to hike for eight days, completing the wonderful Pembrokeshire Coast Path and reaching the southern edge of Snowdonia. I travelled down yesterday and stayed at Broad Haven YHA. The last time I slept at a youth hostel you were expected to contribute to the chores!
I head out before the arrival of 60 turkey pluckers who book the entire hostel for six weeks every year in the run-up to Christmas. It’s lovely to be back on the rugged clifftops, a roller-coaster of descents and ascents through small valleys. I’m struck by the contrast with my recent Arctic Circle Trail hike — silence across vast open spaces, with the occasional movement of wildlife breaking a gradually changing horizon. This is all sound and motion from the crashing waves, walking through a constantly changing terrain of intricate shapes and patterns of rock. The senses never settle.
Ignoring a closed path sign, there’s a scramble down to beautiful Newgale Sands — two miles of beach at low tide, with a cave I squeeze through.
The clouds are heavy and the wind churns up the sea.
Kitesurfers enjoy the strong breeze.
Leaving the soft sand behind, I return to the clifftop and the full force of the wind.
A white curtain rolls across the grey sea. I break out my wet weather gear just in time as I’m battered by 10 minutes of driving wind, hailstones and stinging rain — the British weather telling me not to get cocky just because I hiked in Greenland … in the summer.
Passing through Solva, I’m cheered by a colourful mural by Cuban artist Raul Speek. Unbelievably, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority placed a pay and display machine in front of the mural, so I have to zoom in to cut it away.
I reach Caerfai campsite in good time. Given the strong winds forecast for the night, they kindly allow me to pitch between two sheltering static caravans before exploring pretty St Davids, the smallest city in the UK. Cresting a rise, the hidden cathedral reveals itself in the fading light — it takes my breath away. Can there be a more perfect setting? I’m not religious but there’s such a powerful aura about the place. I quietly step inside and feel humbled.
Rooks or crows swirl overhead, making for a suitably atmospheric circuit of the grounds before I grab a meal in a busy pub and head back to the campsite in the dark. The air is still so I may be lucky tonight.
Walk distance: 17 miles.
Total distance: 2,334 miles.
St David is a wonderful spot, and a fabulous stretch of coastline for kayaking and coasteering. I have a friend runs TYF, an outdoor pursuit centre there.
I can imagine. We used to kayak and coasteer on family holidays but no more leaping into narrow rocky gullies for me now! 🙂
Perfect