Pembrokeshire Coast Path - Day 5: Whitesands Bay to Solva

Pembrokeshire Coast Path Day 5:  Whitesands Bay to Solva – 8/7/19 

13 miles, 2700 ft. gain

[If this reads like a diary entry full of personal details – it is! Some info may be helpful to someone planning a similar trip, there’s an abundance of photos because everything was so beautiful, and I believe food and drink and human connections are the secret sauce of traveling. As they say, “Take what you need and leave the rest.” Enjoy!] 

Danny is always an early riser, but morning came pretty darn fast for me. Our B&B host, Greg, served up a lovely early breakfast and chatted about our hike. I was puzzling out walking directions to our accommodations for tonight and he helped with Google Earth screenshots. As we walked out the door, Greg handed me my takeaway lunch: a ham/cheese/tomato sandwich, crisps, an apple and a chocolate bar. We felt very well cared for at Ty Helyg.

At 7:30 a.m. on the dot, Frank’s Cab arrived to return us to Whitesands Beach to start our day’s walk. Frank had shuttled us the previous afternoon and was quite interested in our P’shire thru-hike plan. Most people walk sections but few tackle “the whole thing at one go.”

I took photos of map boards at trail entrances in case something differed from our guidebook. 

The map boards showed greater detail and helped us out a couple of times.

A look back at the beach and Carn Llidi, aka Bump #2 from yesterday’s adventure. Stunning.

On every hike, whether close to home or in faraway lands, I latch onto a “flower of the day.” It’s not something I go looking for, and there may be many different flowers on the trail, but invariably I become infatuated with just one type. The color or size doesn’t seem to matter, and I can’t predict what it will be, but once I’ve fallen for the blooming-whatever-it-is, each one that I see is more amazing then the previous one, and I expend much energy trying to capture its essence.  Sometimes it’s familiar (I’ve learned quite a few this way). If not, I enjoy sleuthing identification. Today’s plant is Daucus carota aka wild carrot aka Queen Anne’s Lace. How many of you knew that Queen Anne’s lace was in the carrot family?  The sea carrot variety in Wales is confined to the coast and is a native biennial herb. Once you see them, they are everywhere.

Whew! There were other flowers.

Common toadflax

Montbretia

Tree mallow

Porthselau is a small, sheltered beach south of Whitesands Bay with a campground on top of the cliff, obviously a kayakers’ haven. The P’shire skirts along the top edge. I took the short staircase down to the beach for a closer look.

The next mile was a simple cliff walk rounding Point St. John and on to St. Justinian’s. Across the Ramsey Sound is Ramsey Island, purchased in the 1990’s by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). It is also the largest “pupping” site in southwest Wales: Atantic grey seals pups, that is, as many as 400 born each autumn. Check out this great article for history, preservation and access to Ramsey Island. It also gives information about shipwrecks and tells tales of St. David’s confessor, St. Justinian, who retreated from the village to the island.

My biggest disappointment of the day was not seeing the line of rocks jutting up from the surface across the narrowest point between the mainland and Ramsey Island.  The rocks are lovingly called "The Bitches." The fast tides make the Bitches very popular with kayakers - not so much with other vessels (see above for shipwrecks). Google for some fun videos.

St. Justinian’s is the tiny harbour used by Ramsey Island passenger boats, a short drive from the village of St. David.  St. David’s Lifeboat Station is also located there (where my newfound friend Robin’s rescue operation is based). Ramsey Island is on the horizon in the photo below. [If you’re staying in the area, consider adding one more day to visit the island.]

One of many features along the Welsh coast called “Natural Arch” demonstrating the erosive power of the fast-moving water in Ramsey Sound. Ramsey Island is on the horizon.

Looking back to St. Justinian's Harbour

As we walked on the cliffs, this fisherman put in a good day’s work checking his traps. 

For hours we traveled in tandem along the coastline.

Beauty in the details

The coastline turns eastward, leaving Ramsey Island behind, and the P’shire takes us along St. Bride’s Bay.  It will take more than two days to walk around the bay from here to Martin’s Haven.

Approaching Porthclais and a welcome coffee break

  

On the descent to the harbour we met Wayne, a northbound thru-hiker who said he was 

“taking the leisurely pace,” making us wonder if he would complete the trail

Porthclais is a long, skinny, sheltered harbour where the River Alun meets the sea, once serving as the main port for goods and people going to the village of St. David’s.  The old stone wall at the mouth of the harbour, believed to have been built by the Romans, is largely intact.

Sitting on the dock of the bay

At the coffee kiosk Danny and I ordered our favorites (a flat white and a cappuccino). Fresh sandwiches were on offer and I felt a twinge of regret at carrying my own lunch (which was also delicious). As we were sipping and chilling, a woman approached and asked us, “Are you the ladies from North Carolina?” She had met us on our first day, at the Iron Bridge at Newport!

This was my favorite part of Day 5!

The inner part of the long narrow harbour; it dries up completely at low tide.  

See the “bump” in the center horizon? Carn Llidi again.

More people and dogs appeared today along the path, many dogs off leash, their owners assuming they (and we) were friendly and harmless.

Camping on the cliffs

Why are these two up here wearing helmets and PFD’s? Have they lost their kayak? No, they explained that they are “coasteering,” a new word for me.  Similar to “mountaineering,” they are exploring the cliffs and caves along the shoreline, scrambling and swimming. Coasteering is a very popular extreme sport on the Welsh coast. I took the photo, turned away for a moment, and – like those sheep – they disappeared.

They're down there somewhere

A detour at St. Non’s Bay that worked in our favor, as we probably would have bypassed the historic structures.  St. Non was the mother of St. David and the site is where she gave birth during a great storm in AD 462. St. The current chapel was built in 1934. St. Non’s Retreat Center offers contemplative and yoga retreats. (Looks like my return visit to St. David’s Peninsula is extending to two full weeks…)

At a fenced pasture above Trelerw we stopped for an afternoon break (truth: I climbed over the gate into the pasture for a bathroom break) then continued our walk alongside the barbed wire fencing. Around the bend, we stopped short for - not sheep or cows – a horse. And more horses. Clearly they owned the place but they didn’t seem to mind our presence.

At Porth y Rhaw, people exploring in the shallows. At the head of this valley are nine holy wells 

from the medieval period (we didn’t investigate).

More cliff erosion

Our first view of the village of Solva is charming - high tide! The channel has a 90-degree elbow.

Near the elbow, our instructions to the B&B directed us off the P'shire and up to the main street. Why did these instructions seem so tricky? Was it my GPS-trained mind?  I realized that it is indeed my brain wiring as a visual person.  I do very well with maps but not with narrative, i.e. written directions. Fortunately, Danny was a better interpreter of words, and the Google screenshot from Greg this morning helped me too. 

 

Ty’r Brenin, our home for tonight

Our host is Susan, an woman who has been "in hospitality" for decades. Her home provides a comfortable twin bed room, bathroom across the hall, and a backyard clothesline for wet socks (please take off boots on the front porch). Tomorrow we have a shorter hike, so we arranged for a cooked breakfast and a later start.

Danny found a maibox to drop off postcards

Danny and I walked another mile (that means two miles round trip) through town to the inmost point of the harbour (Lower Solva). The few restaurants were quite busy, but we found The Harbour Inn for order-at-the-counter fare and a new cider for me – Mixed Berries by Stowford Press.

“Be joyful, and keep your faith and creed. Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about.  I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us.” ~Saint David of Wales