The Christmas preparations are more or less finished (OK my partner has done most of it
) but now I've got time to post a trip report of a particularly good section of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path that we walked, back in September. You can see a detailed OS map of the track and the walk description
hereMOYLGROVE to ST. DOGMAELS (14/09/17)We have so far completed about two thirds of the Pembroke Coast Path, making use of the excellent (mainly summertime) coastal buses. I think this is one of the most challenging but charming stages we’ve done to date, offering plenty of climbs and descents on high cliff paths. We were staying in Newport (interesting little town near Fishguard) and took the #405 bus from the Castle Hotel to the start of this section at Moylgrove, a pretty village about a mile inland from the coast. There are public toilets next to the bus stop but not much else of interest to walkers.
The weather had been rather wet over recent days so, to avoid a riverside path we took the road uphill from the bus stop, turning right just beyond a chapel onto a minor road. This leads down the Nant Ceibwr valley, past isolated houses and a farm before turning sharply downhill to a pebbly beach where a river emerges from the tree lined valley bottom. The remains of a lime kiln still decorate the edge of the beach. Just upriver from here we crossed a footbridge, to follow a narrow path uphill, passing through the rounded mound remains of Pen Castell Iron Age promontory fortifications.
Ceibwr Bay
The path rises higher above Ceibwr Bay, with great views back towards Strumble Head, identifiable by its slow rhythmically flashing lighthouse. You may be able to see a large white ship, moored below the Goodwick peninsula, this is the twice daily Stena Lines car ferry to Rosslare, three hours away across the Irish Sea. The Coast Path follows the edge of sheer cliffs or steep bracken-covered slopes, above a white ribbed sea. When we walked this stretch a northerly gale was raising giant breakers which sent spray high into the air, sometimes reaching the cliff tops and leaving a salt mist hanging in the wind. In places particularly violent breakers whipped up the sea into that curious sea-foam (spume) before the gale gusts took spume balls soaring up over the cliff tops.
Gorse and bracken cover on the cliff-tops gave way to wild flowers still in bloom wherever the vegetation beside the path provided a little shelter. Although it was mid-September campions, (red and sea varieties), some honeysuckle, sheepbit and toadflax all provided colour, as well as many blue and yellow flowers too small for me to bother knowing their names. The cliff faces reveal dramatically distorted strata, not just rounded and inverted but broken into knife-edge points. Laid down around 500 million years ago the sedimentary rocks of the Ordovician epoch were much later drastically contorted and folded, over a period of millions of years, by powerful tectonic plate movements. The resulting tortured strata are plain to see. To add geological insult to injury, wave erosion has dug out deep sea caves, natural arches and rock stacks at sea level.
At Pen yr Afr headland, probably the highest point on this stretch, at around 175m, we watched a raptor managing to hover quite stationary in spite of the gusting gale. A clutch of actual white horses were grazing on the path but there seemed to be no sheep or cows on the cliff tops. The PCP route follows around the edge of a small inlet at Pwllygranant then begins to descend past a ruined lookout post before entering a nature reserve. Across the wide estuary mouth of the Teifi River good views appear, stretching from tiny Cardigan Island to the West along to Gwbert, a small but prominent holiday settlement. Turning inland the Coast Path passes through a farm yard and campsite (with yurts) then going left uphill on a track to join a metalled road. On the estuary below, Poppit Sands comes into view. Then our road switchbacks down to the lifeboat station on the beach, adjacent to a good café and public toilets.
Remaining at low level the coast path stays parallel to the road past the Webley Hotel, rising to join it again before a descent to The Moorings at St. Dogmaels where the official start marker is situated. Further on in this direction you reach the centre of the town. We passed several bus stops for the #405 before settling on the stop at the junction between St. Dogmaels Rd. and David St. (it had a nice bus shelter with a bench) before returning to Newport.
Total time 5 hours, total distance 14km total ascent 680m.