Time Arrived: 3.20pm
Distance: 21kms
Cumulative Distance: 65.4kms
Percentage Completed: 21.8%
Ascents and Descents: 297m
Cumulative Ascents and Descents: 1552m
Weather: Sunny and hazy, max 14
Accommodation: Hibernia Inn and Little Neath Barn
Feelings: Neil - Happy, Henk - Curious, John - Eager, Di - Eager
We woke to another sunny, cool day and felt lucky to have such good weather. We appreciated it as the forecast for tomorrow is rain. Anne, our host, served breakfast in a lovely dining room with blue and white Spode crockery.
As we ate breakfast Anne made us our lunch of cheese and tuna sandwiches as there were no villages to walk through to purchase lunch for the entire walk.
The day broke neatly into two parts of before and after lunch. For the first three hours we walked away from the coastline through farm land with many sheep and cows, along country lanes and around Military of Defence land which is extensive. There were signs warning us to take care!
Henk was curious to see what the army had done to the path to skirt around the military land. The walking path is now called the Castlemartin Trail which uses a tank as its symbol!
It was mostly easy flat walking during the morning with only 30 metres of ascents and at ten thirty we took a break near a military control tower on a ridge. The army have a spectator area where the public can watch the army shooting at things. There was no military around today so it was a quiet walk.
After three hours we reached the coastline at the beautiful, large beach of Freshwater West which our guide book says is renowned for being one of Pembrokeshire's finest sweeps of sand. That's after you walk over the sea defence of rocks!
There were quite a number of surfers wearing wetsuits making the most of the waves. Unexpectedly there was a food van and we all enjoyed a hot coffee with Anne's sandwiches. It was good timing for a lunch break.
The afternoon's walk around the cliffs was strenuous and it gave us a decent workout. There were three tough sections one after the other which each time took us down a very steep cliff path to reach a little stream then straight up to the top of the cliff on the other side. If you look closely in this photo you might see John close to the top of the cliff and Henk a bit further down on the path. It gives some idea of the scale of heights we are climbing.
The coastline is very rugged and Neil and I saw a couple of seals bobbing their heads in the very calm sea.
The sea also had large masses of seaweed which is harvested for the principal ingredient of the Welsh speciality Laverbread. We need to try this when we see it as it's been described as Welsh caviar to seaweed pancake.
The spring flowers such as primrose, bluebells and clover are out in abundance along the paths and are very pretty.
There is not much to the small seaside town of Angle. Henk's and my room is above the pub overlooking the main thoroughfare and Neil and John were picked up by Mavis and taken to their accommodation about twelve minutes away. Henk and I had a nap as there was time to do so before dinner. We arranged to meet for dinner at the pub and Neil and John were brought in by their hosts and taken back later. We were all very hungry after our taxing afternoon and ordered the home-made steak and ale pie. It hit the spot!
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