Thursday 25 April 2013

Day 1: Amroth to Manobier

Weather: Drizzly and windy and cold
Distance covered today: 22.9km (14.2 mi)
Last night's B&B: Mellieeha Guest House
% Complete: Cumulative distance: 7.9%: 22.9km
GPS satellite track of today's route: Day 1 (click!)

Things could have gone a lot worse.  On the bright side, I didn’t injure myself; I didn’t slip off a vertical cliff and kill myself, or, for that matter, have the cliff itself collapse in a landslide under me with the same result. I also more or less stuck to the path, though at one stage, the path had been very recently rerouted as a result of a landslide, and the signs were not that helpful.

I decided to err on the side of discretion and found myself veering way off the intended direction, in the direction of safety!  My little satnav had a hissy fit and informed me that if I kept walking in that direction, I wouldn’t get to the B&B by nightfall, if ever!  I found an A-road that led me back to the straight and narrow and my satnav and I were reconciled.  (Madness is creeping in already: I’m talking to my technology!)

The day actually started last night. The official start of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path is at the far end of Amroth, and my B&B is at the near end. My hostess insisted that I walk to the far end of the town to the pub where it all starts for supper and then walk back afterwards. Then I wouldn’t have to do it all this morning. I tried to suggest not bothering, but she, like my good friend Chris, wouldn’t hear of it. If the thing is to be done, it has to be done properly. Chris has this weird theory that when one walks these trails, one has to imagine playing out a very long ball of string, and after it is all over, one must pull the string taut and it should then flatten out any deviations so that all that remains is the real route. This would obviously reveal any flaws such as if one took for instance, a short cut.

Well, anyway, arguing seemed pointless (as it always is with Chris), so I set out for the pub, took the picture, watched the football with a bunch of lads a third of my age and wandered back to the B&B in the dark. So I may have walked the start of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, but it will remain forever blacked out in my memory!

Things weren’t that much better this morning. A very dark, grey cloud descended on Amroth, cutting visibility to a few yards.  And the biting South Westerley blew the drizzle directly onto my specs so I couldn’t even read the map, which was anyway covered in water. Also I put the wrong trousers on. The ones I used aren’t that waterproof, so my nether regions were soaked to the skin, while my top half was perfectly dry; like walking around in the shallow end of a swimming pool, only with ice in it!  So much for my perfectly planned expedition!

Even as I was feeling sorry for myself as the gradient out of Amroth travelled vertically upwards, I slowly realised that I was on the mother of all paths! It curved gracefully to the cliff-head (and would have offered stunning views if the Welsh weather ever allowed it), and then I saw something that just blew me away completely. I came to a tunnel through a vertical headland, constructed for the walkers of the coastal path, and for them alone (well cyclists as well, but we walkers are a bit snooty about them!).  I had hardly recovered my sangfroid when a second and then a third tunnel emerged from the gloom.

I spent some time trying to imagine the meeting in which some worthy councillor had proposed that this be done. There would doubtlessly have been objections, and no doubt he would have argued that the European Union would pay for it. The only problem with this theory was that the tunnels looked a lot older than the EU (and, as I belatedly realised) than the coastal path itself.

It was only when I arrived in Saundersfoot that the obvious answer occurred to me. The entire history of the place is based on coal, as is the rest of the Southern Coast of Wales. The coal was exported by sea to Cardiff and to the Continent from the harbour in Saundersfoot.  The revelation came to me when I found a display board in the town explaining that the resurfaced main road had two parallel lines which commemorate the original railway line from the Stepaside Colliery to Saundersfoot. Of course! (Tonight I’ve just checked this out in my guidebook and there it all is! So much for my perfectly prepared trip! Perhaps I should read the guidebook before rather than after the event!)

The last part of the walk was simply magnificent. The clouds lifted, leaving a moody but spectacularly clear atmosphere and some superb vistas.  I had reason to remember my hostess last night telling me that in a survey by the National Geographic, the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path has been included in a list of the top ten walks in the world, second only to a wonderful walk in Newfoundland in Canada (NB, Phyllis!).  Another list also rates Pembrokeshire above walks which include the ascent of Kilimanjaro and the walk to Machu Picchu, both of which my daughters have done.

Unfortunately, in researching this information, I also found someone arguing that it was also more difficult than climbing Mount Everest!

Oh dear!

The start of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path

The view from my bedroom window this morning

Monkstone Point over the gorse

Hawthorn blossom with drops of water

A lamb for Phyllis: a little grubby and a bit pudgy. I'll have to do better!

The magnificent undulating path!

The EU constructing a carpark. More of this later!

One of my walkers' tunnels!!

That's the problem in Europe. We think it's true!

Back to the mud! At home at last!

Moss on Tree

Is this an instruction or a warning?

Oh dear! The path is sunk!

Tenby ahoy!

Back to an A-road. At least this one had daffs and a lovely, broad, green verge

Now that's what I like. Precision!

The lovely, coloured houses of Tenby; much better than I expected

Summer on the beach in Wales

 
Officer, permission to ask a question? This is a practice range, yes? They wouldn't need to practice if they could already shoot straight!  I hugged the fence all the way along!

Sheer cliffs with beaches below

Approaching Lydstep

Holidays 2013. More on this later!

The ascent out of Lydstep

Gorse and Water

The clouds have lifted; the vista is superb!

Caldey Island. Still a monastery after 1,500 years!

Skrinkle Haven Beach


15 comments:

  1. What survivor instinct! Congratulations on Day One, Kevin.
    This trip promises great adventures for you, and fine entertainment for the rest of us. I think Chris should be impressed with the extra distance taken by your ball of string today...the guidebook says 186miles but you know very well you will be walking close to 200lb!

    Nice plump lamb...thank you! I just hope you will see many; I understand it was a bad winter for them and Sean McMahon (who walks and photographs in the Lake District) remarked in a recent blog that he has seen a lot of dead sheep this Spring.

    Ah...those Top Ten lists! Yes, even the National Geographic has more than one, perhaps depending on whether we are talking about "hikes" or "paths" or "walks"??? I don't know. But the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path is one a few of them, and typically somewhere near the top. You picked a good one!

    Hoping tomorrow's a dry pants day,
    Phyllis

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    1. 200lbs, Phyllis? This Freudian error has me thinking! I looked at my profile in the mirror and decided you had a point! Still, 200 miles will at least sort that out a bit!

      Believe it or not, I'm replying early to your message because the sun woke me up! Definitely a good omen for today. No need for the wet pants!

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    2. I'm chuffed at being the first to reply! Sorry Richard, but I certainly do have the geographical advantage. We certainly do NOT have your temperatures here; frost on our daffs this morning!
      Keven, thanks for blaming Freud for my fumble, but come to think of it that ball of string just might weigh 200lb if you have a few more detours like Day One! I'm relieved you have sun to begin for Day Two; did you have a full moon last night?

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  2. Ha! And I expected to be the first to comment! Alright, I am somewhat mollified that at least the blog is waiting for me in the morning when I wake. And just to set all this wonderful paths stuff in context, the sun is shining right into our bedroom, the door are open, and it is already 20 deg! I am envious about the beer tho, currently on a no alc diet!
    This is a sneak preview for me, Y is still asleep, and we ll put it up on the Beamer to check your photo quality later on.
    Anyway, good walking today, and hope the sun shines on you too!

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    1. John, you are going to have to be on your toes to beat Phyllis! She has the advantage of the time difference to Toronto, but I'm impressed that you got in ahead of Richard, the early riser of Zimbabwe (in the same time zone!). Moreover, see above about the sun waking me! I may not be in Crete, but today looks like a good day!

      As for the no-alc diet, not going to happen.....

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  3. Congratulations Kevin....
    like walking in the shallow end of a swimming pool filled with ice ! ha ha - what an image.
    certainly lots of ups and downs on the route.. 23km - and I wonder how many vertical meters? This is not posed as a techno challenge -- you are meant to be working, not grappling with techno issues. However you could select all the peaks and troughs of the route and get the computer to calculate the difference between each peak and trough (remove the sign) and add all together -- half of the resultant figure should be uphills and half downhills ...
    The second most wonderful walk in the world-- and in the land of the Welsh!
    Tunnels through the mountains for walkers ... let us know when you meet a hobbit!

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    1. Richard, Hah! I'm all over the vertical distance thing! I haven't been reporting the data, except at the end of these walks, but, as you should have expected, someone who talks to his technology will definitely have the answer to that! Yesterday, I ascended 3493ft and descended 3742ft. Since I am at approximately the same altitude as I was when I started, there is some error in these estimates! Still, you get the picture! I'll leave you to convert to metres! Incidentally, if you click on the "graphical record" widget at the top right of this web-page, it will take you to the Everytrail site which records my walks. Click on the "info" button in the little graphical window and it will give you the walking summary for the day, including ascents and descents. You can also choose metric or imperial. It uses Flash, so you'll have to do this on a PC.

      Yesterday's actual route also shows the extent of my detour, fully 3 km!

      Oh and by the way, I do know a hobbit, a particularly Grumpy one at that, and he is planning to join me for the last day of my walk! (See yesterday's comments!)

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    2. I might have known that you would have this elevation stuff under control.. -- you can't walk up and down all these hills without getting a very good appreciation of the difference between walking up and walking level.... by your figures you should therefore be 249 ft under water assuming you started at sea level... in an octopuses garden?
      I always check the graphical record anyway -- I am not a gullible northerner - we need proof of things down here. I have now clicked the info button and they have you 253 ft under water.. comrade - happy snorkeling.

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  4. I meant to say: "you are meant to be walking, not working (grappling with techno issues)" - but it came out wrong... may you be blessed with fine weather all the way.

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    1. Another Freudian slip! I definitely will be working! My limbs are feeling decidedly lazy this morning!

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  5. I had to laugh. That picture of summer on a beach in Wales took me back to my childhood and actually brought up goosebumps!! It's more or less ok swimming in the sea on a day like this because the water feels relaively warm - to the air outside - but boy, oh boy, when you return to shore.... Vx

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    1. What a difference a day makes! Have a look at some of today's pictures, taken in the sunshine. Still, I didn't see anyone swimming anywhere, and air was certainly bitter!

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  6. Kevin,
    Well done on getting your first, and rather taxing, day under your belt - if indeed you need one to hold up those special trousers around your apparently generous girth ...
    Looks like suitably mild weather to introduce you to the charms of Cymru, and lull you into a sense of real security.
    But where are all the crowds who have flocked to join you in this globally top rated walking environment? I reckon I spotted 3 - even the digger was deserted. Perhaps indeed, they have left the land to the sheep and hobbits? And I noticed on the map a reminder of home and your past adventures in another Ridgeway,- surely a good omen for the challenges and delights ahead,
    Have a great time tomorrow,
    BW
    GH and HN

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  7. Still in the pub? We are here, in front of our Beamer, waiting expectantly! We've been thru all the Day 1 photos - the coastal shots really conjure up a magical landscape, the sea is such a vivid turquoise, and the mist creates a mysterious atmosphere. Beware of the Welsh trolls!
    Keep walking

    J&Y

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    1. Well, it's just been published! I bet you're fast asleep!

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