Thursday 17 July 2014

Newgale to Caerfai and St Davids

17/7/2014

I had been thinking of walking a tretch of the coastal path to take in Dale but because of weather and timings decided to change the route and walk from Newgale to Caerfai Bay on day 1 and then continue around the coast to beyond St Justinians and back to St Davids to catch a bus back to Newgale.

Route Day 1

Route Day 2

Our first day was very hot but at least there was some sea breeze to help.As I live in West Wales I am biased but the Pembrokeshire coast is stunning and today the sea was perfectly calm.





This stretch of the coast includes my favourite coastal town where I have had some excellent family holidays and you will have to agree that Solva is a jewell.







We continued on around the coast and ended our first day in Caerfai where we spent the night at Glan y Mor campsite. I can recommend this site, flat, quiet and with good facilities. We never did see the owners but left our fee in the honesty box.

The next day was not so good weather wise, with on and off rain and high winds.. We packed up and walked on past Porthclais and  around the corner where we spent  some time looking at the sea running between the mainland and Ramsey Island with the impressive Bitches causing huge waves.



As we walked towards St Justinians I was a little perplexed to see a huge crane adjacent to the lifeboat station. A ranger explained that a new lifeboat station was being built to house the recent addition of a brand new lifeboat and to help with the installation of an experimental generator which would use the tides to generate electricity.

He also told us an amusing story of a  recent visit by a chap from the body which lists various buildings. The current station took over from an old stone built station which is hidden from view under the cliffs.  Apparenty the official gentlemen only saw the current station and listed that!  They are now going through the process of de-listing and re-listing  the correct building. You couldn't make it up.

Still chuckling we continued our walk along the coast and cut back inland at Porthselau. The rain had now forced us into full wet weather gear and embarrassingly we accepted a lift from a bus whose driver took pity on us! This was a lucky break as when we were dropped off in St Davids the bus to Newgale pulled in, result.

We celebrated the walk with a coffee and cake in a cafe in Newgale.