Time Arrived: 2.50pm
Distance: 19kms
Cumulative Distance: 103.4kms
Percentage Completed: 34.5%
Ascents and Descents: 482m
Cumulative Ascents and Descents: 2351m
Weather: Sunny - max 16
Accommodation: Lord Nelson Hotel
Feelings: Neil - Good, Henk - Good, John - Good, Di - Happy
We enjoyed our stay at Woodbine B&B and the rooms were so comfortable that Henk and I slept in until 7.15am. There was a mad scramble to get our packs ready and also Skype Henk and John's mother for Mother's Day before our eight o'clock breakfast. Our host, Andrea, served a delicious breakfast in the sixteenth century part of the house.
We had a good chat about how Andrea has renovated the house and built up her business over the past sixteen years. We told her of coming across a medieval Hen's Party and she said she saw one the previous evening where all the women were dressed as old grandmothers complete with moles painted on their faces and snipped fake eyelashes for facial hair. They seem to really throw themselves into their Hen's parties in Pembroke! Andrea farewelled us as we put our boots on and we walked out for the first time not having to wear warm clothes.
We have now passed a third of the walk and it seems to be going quickly. Today's walk seemed easy but the walking statistics said we did quite a few ascents. We must be getting used to it. The walk took us around to the other side of Milford Haven harbour and we had good views of where we walked yesterday. When we descended down to Pembroke Dock at the six kilometre mark it was morning tea time but we didn't feel the need for it. We decided to walk on and have an early lunch at Neyland at the 9kms point.
We meandered through the Pembroke Dock streets and along the harbour and walked up a long steep road to get to the start of the one kilometre high bridge, the Cleddau Toll Bridge, to cross another section of the harbour.
We had great views and the wind was very blustery as we crossed.
Further on we had to cross a second smaller bridge before descending into a beautiful wood. This took us into Neyland and down to the marina for lunch. It was very pleasant sitting outside in the sun at the picnic tables.
After lunch we walked alongside the picturesque coastal village of Hazelbeach. There were a large bank of swans sunning themselves on dried seaweed whilst the tide was out.
The walk then became industrial again as we walked over and around LPG areas and near large wind turbines. These turbines sounded like jet engines and were rotating quite quickly with today's wind. A couple of walking bridges have been built to take walkers across this industrial section.
The only low point was tackling some road walking for about a kilometre on a minor twisting road with blind bends. There were a number of cars and we were pleased to be off it and back onto a wooded section. The tide was out mid afternoon and it was lovely seeing the little boats high and dry in the estuary near the town of Milford Haven.
The Nelson Hotel is in a good spot as it's on the esplanade overlooking Milford Haven harbour. The hotel was built in c1800 and was originally named The New Inn until Lord Nelson came in 1802 and delivered a speech from the hotel as Vice Admiral of the Fleet. We had an enjoyable evening meal in the bar area.
Tomorrow our day is governed by the tides as we need to cross two estuaries.
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