Living in the Past by Alf Alderson

About a thousand years ago a popular book of the time, The Mabinogion, described Pembrokeshire with the phrase ‘gwlad hud a lledrith’. This probably means absolutely nothing to you until translated into English, when it becomes ‘The Land of Mystery and Enchantment’, which today is an adman’s dream and was resurrected a few years ago by the local tourist board to promote the area.

Which may all sound a little bit trite until you visit Pembrokeshire and discover that 10 centuries later you can still use that phrase and to a large extent get away - and that in turn says a lot for the unique and unchanging qualities of this corner of south-west Wales.

Jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, Pembrokeshire is at once both the expected and the unexpected. Yes, it rains a lot and winter gales here can lift people off their feet and throw sea spray over the top of 150’ high headlands. Yet in summer you can walk along sun-drenched footpaths ablaze with colourful wildflowers in what is one of the sunniest corners of the British Isles; you can kayak with seals and porpoises and surf in some of the clearest waters in Britain; you can climb some of the finest sea cliffs in Britain with the sun hot on your back all day; and you can literally hike or cycle through history, past everything from Iron Age standing stones to medieval castles and cathedrals.

Whilst the past is very much a part of any visit to Pembrokeshire, it’s undoubtedly the coastline that sticks in most people’s memories. The Pembrokeshire Coast Path, takes you along all 299 km (186 miles) of it and can be comfortably completed in two weeks - or there are plenty of excellent day walks to enjoy (see ‘Walks’) based on sections of the path.

Pembrokeshire was an important centre for Iron Age Celts and the north of the county has remained a stronghold of Welsh culture and tradition for over 3,000 years. It was from the windswept highlands of north Pembrokeshire’s Preseli Hills that the bluestones of Stonehenge, hundreds of miles to the east, originated, and today this are is as quiet as it ever was - just the occasional walker, horserider or mountain biker to be seen.

On the northern flanks of the Preselis is Pentre Ifan, the largest Neolothic dolmen on the British mainland, and just a couple of miles down the road from here you come across the reconstructed Iron Age settlement of Castell Henllys, built on the site of an Iron Age hill fort.

Below the Preselis are the steeply wooded slopes of the nearby Gwaun Valley. The banks of the River Gwaun are the haunt of otters and herons, and in the local pub, the Dyffryn Arms (but known by most as ‘Bessie’s’ after the characterful owner), Welsh is the language of choice. The 20th century is still struggling to make headway in the Gwaun Valley, let alone the 21st - for instance, residents of the valley still celebrate New Year on January 13, after the Julian calendar which was abandoned by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 in favour of the Gregorian calendar which the rest of us now use. (That said, the Gwaun locals aren’t averse to a knees-up on the evening of December 31 too).

Back towards the coast the focal point for many visitors is St. David’s, Britain’s smallest city (population 2,500) and the birthplace of Wales’ patron saint. In the Middle Ages a Papal decree said that so holy was St. David’s Cathedral that two pilgrimages here were the equivalent of one to Rome, but today’s pilgrims tend to arrive with kayaks and surfboards in their search for holy water.

The sea kayaking is among the best in Europe, with the focal point being the islands of Ramsey, Skomer, Skokholm and Grassholm (if you’re thinking the names sound more Scandinavian than Welsh, you’d be right - they were named by Viking marauders in the 10th century). Each island has internationally important populations of sea birds - for instance, Skomer and Skokholm have between them the world’s largest population of Manx shearwaters, with over 130,000 pairs.

The Gulf Stream can push coastal water temperatures up to 60 - 64 degrees in late summer, which is far higher than you might expect for the latitude - the same as northern Newfoundland. The waters around Skomer Island are designated a Marine Nature Reserve, with diving trails allowing divers to discover the wildlife here which includes rare northern coral species, whilst the savage winter seas of the area have resulted in a host of wrecks which also provide good diving.

One of the big attractions for many kayakers is The Bitches Rapids in Ramsey Sound, a series of standing waves formed by powerful sea currents flowing between a savage row of rocks that have sunk many a ship, including in 1911 the St. David’s lifeboat. The World Rodeo Championships have been held here in the past.

Pembrokeshire’s north and south coasts are neatly divided by the deepest port in Europe, Milford Haven, stopping off port for huge oil tankers thanks to a bizarre piece of legislation that allows developments considered to be ‘in the national interest’ to take place within Britain’s national parks. This has seen the installation of oil refineries on the Haven, and, in 1996, the ‘Sea Empress’ oil spill which took the best part of a year to clear off local beaches.

It says something for the scenery of the Milford Haven Waterway and the coastline that surrounds it that this development has a relatively low impact on the landscape - I recently walked a section of the Coast Path at the western end of the Waterway, and somehow the refineries seem to get lost amongst the superb natural surroundings.

The upper reaches of the Haven are popular with canoeists, whilst the tiny old village of Dale is a major windsurfing and sailing venue. Pete Bounds, something of a local legend who has been surfing here since the sixties, now runs West Wales Wind, Surf and Sailing in the village, knows the local bays and beaches better than most and is well worth consulting if you’re looking for the best place to sail or surf.

In the south of Pembrokeshire you’ll find some of the finest sea cliff climbing in Europe on the limestone faces of the Castlemartin area. The cliffs were first scaled as around 1929/30 at Giltar Point, but it wasn’t really until the late sixties that the area began to be opened up by Colin Mortlock (also responsible for ‘discovering’ North Pembrokeshire) Lyn Noble and Jim Perrin. The sea cliffs here can provide excellent climbing to suit all standards, and being south facing, in warm, sunny conditions it’s possible to climb in shorts and t-shirt for several months of the year.

In North Pembrokeshire, the gabbro and dolerite cliffs of St. Brides Bay, St. David’s Head and Strumble Head (where you can often spot porpoise, dolphins and seals from the crags) have an excellent range of routes - Suzie’s Plot on Rainbow Zawn in the north, for instance, is recognised as one of the finest extreme climbs in Wales. In some cases the locals are even inventing new sports for themselves - coasteering, for example. This has been developed over the past fifteen years by TyF Adventure Centre in St. David’s, which has mapped and graded a series of sea level coastal traverses around the local sea cliffs. A combination of climbing, scrambling and swimming, (see below) coasteering has proved one of the most popular activities at the centre, especially with families.

Going back to that ‘mystery and enchantmnent’ tag, probably the most ‘mysterious’ thing about modern-day Pembrokeshire is the fact that it’s still relatively unknown, and as for the ‘enchanting’ bit - well, if you take the dictionary definition of the word as ‘to charm and delight’ it easily lives up to that.

MOUNTAIN BIKING

Castlemartin Cruise
Grade: Easy - moderate
Food & drink: St. Govan’s Inn, Bosherston; Welcome Inn, Castlemartin; Speculation Inn nr. Hundleton
Start point: Freshwater West beach
Map: Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure 36 (1:25,000), Landranger 158 (1:50,000)
Distance: 40 kms
Route: From the car park at Freshwater West head south then east on the B4319 to Castlemartin village. Stay on the B4319 until the cross-roads south of Warren (GR 932971). Turn right here and follow the road through the firing range to the coast. If firing is in progress you may not be able to go onto the range - check with Tenby TIC (01834 842402) for firing times.
At the coast turn left onto the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, which here is actually a bridleway. Stay on the coast path as you pass alongside magnificent coastal scenery. You also get great views across Carmarthen Bay to the Gower Peninsula and maybe the Devonshire coast on a clear day.
Above St. Govan’s Chapel turn left and cycle inland to Bosherston (it’s well worth taking the short detour from Bosherston to the beach at Broad Haven South or to check out the lily ponds). Go through Bosherston, continuing inland to the classic rolling agricultural landscape of South Pembrokeshire.
At the junction at GR 963948 so straight ahead on a rough track for 0.75 kms then turn right and follow a track past Carew Farm to a t-junction.
At this junction turn left onto a road, straight ahead at the first cross roads over the B4319, left at the next t-junction, then immediately right. Stay on the road until just after Chapelhill Farm, where you turn left onto a bridleway. Stay on this as it skirts Orielton Field Centre then heads south down into a small valley.
In the valley bottom turn sharp right to head north past some small lakes and eventually to a cross-roads at the B4320. Go straight ahead at the cross roads, and continue on this road for approx. 6.5 kms until you come to a left turn sign-posted ‘Freshwater West’. Take this and follow the road through the dunes and back to the car park.

PRESELI HILLS

Grade: Moderate
Food & drink: Tafarn Sinc, Rosebush
Start Point: Rosebush village
Map: Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure 35 (1:25,000), Landranger 145 (1:50,000)
Distance: 30 kms
Route: Start in Rosebush village. Take the minor road north out of the village, eventually passing onto a dirt track past a disused slate quarry. At the N end of the quarry you come to a gate. Go through this and turn right, climbing up the forest road into Pantmaenog Forest.
At the first junction turn left, descend briefly past Pant-maenog on your right then climb again, bearing left at the next junction then left again at a second junction. Climb steeply for 200 yards until you come to a gate. Go through the gate and out of the forest and on to open moorland.
Turn right onto the bridleway. This first section can sometimes be rather boggy, but it soon becomes drier. Follow the bridleway (known as ‘The Golden Road’) as it runs alongside the edge of the recently felled forest and then across the ridge of the hills for approximately eight kms.
The bridleway is clearly visible on the ground in all but the worst weather, and undulates past various cairns and rocky outcrops, many of which have associations with Bronze Age, Iron Age and Celtic peoples (Carn Arthur, for example, is supposedly one of King Arthur’s many burial sites). Along the route you have superb views of all of Pembrokeshire and much of south west Wales. Some of the climbs are pretty heavy going, especially in wet conditions.
The bridleway eventually descends to a gate just west of Llainbanal Farm. Go through the gate and follow the lane south for 200 yards onto a tarmac road. Turn right here and follow this country lane for approx. 3 kms to the village of Mynachlog-ddu.
Go through the village, turn right at the second t-junction and then follow the road for approx. 8 kms as it skirts below the Preselis and the ridge you’ve just ridden across. Eventually you come to a t-junction with the B 4313 just south of Rosebush. Turn right here, then first right again into Rosebush for refreshments at the recently refurbished Tafarn Sinc (‘Zinc Tavern’, so named because the original pub was built from galvanised zinc sheets).

WALKS

CEMAES HEAD, NORTH PEMBROKESHIRE
Grade: Moderate
Food & drink: nearest is in St. Dogmaels, Cardigan or Newport - nothing on route.
Start Point: Ceibwr Bay (GR 110458)
Map: Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure 35 (1: 25,000), Landranger 145 (1:50,000)
Distance: 18 kms
Route: Start from the lay-by above Ceibwr Bay (limited parking space). Follow the road north-west for about 30m until you come to the coast path above some small caves. If you look to your north you can see the impressive folding in the cliffs of Cemaes Head. Turn right here and follow the path around to the bay. Look for seals out at sea - they’re quite common here.
Walk down to the mouth of the stream, and cross over a small slate bridge, then climb steeply up the opposite bank, cresting the ride beside some holiday cottages. Here the coast path bears left. Follow this and remain on the path for some 5 kms to Cemaes Head past the high point of the walk on the 175 m high cliffs just south of Cemaes Head. The views here are spectacular.
At Cemaes Head follow the coast path south towards Allt-y-goed, where you hit paved road. Stay on this as you descend down towards the youth hostel. Directly before the youth hostel turn right up an often overgrown path, then across fields to the edge of a farm.
Follow the farm lane down towards Cippyn, turning left at the end of the lane to join a tarmac road again. Follow this as it gradually climbs in a south-westerly direction between fields and hedgerows. You should stay on the road for two kms (not as boring as it sounds because there’s little traffic, and the scenery is very pleasant) until on your right you come to a farm lane which is also a RUPP.
Take this RUPP as it drops gently downhill towards Hendre Farm, staying on it as it bears left to Tre-Rhys Farm.
Here pass through the farm buildings and take the lane to your right which descends back down to join the coast path at the holiday cottages above Ceibwr Bay. From here retrace your route back to the start point.

THE DALE PENINSULA, PEMBROKESHIRE
Grade: Easy
Food & drink: The Lobster Pot, Marloes
Start Point: Marloes village
Map: Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure 36 (1:25,000), Landranger 157 (1:50,000)
Distance: 15 kms
Route: From Marloes village churchyard, turn right and follow the road to Marloes Sands.Take the first left and walk down the lane to Little Marloes Farm. At the farm entrance follow the footpath sign to the left, along the field edge, across a stile and the along the edge of the old airfield track as far as Red Cliff (the airfield dates back to the Second World War and was one of a number of defences built on the Pembrokeshire coast).
At Red Cliff turn right onto the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, which you now follow west to the end of the peninsula. First you pass above Marloes Sands, a popular beach with some interesting geological features. Beyond this you overlook Gateholm Island, which was once heavily populated and now has traces of over 130 Iron Age dwellings, until eventually you come to Renny Slip.
From here you climb up onto the Deer Park. From the cliffs here you get excellent views across Jack Sound to tiny Midland Isle and Skomer Island - the fierce tidal races and heavy swells here have sunk many ships. As you move on to the north side of the peninsula there are superb view across St. Brides Bay to the St. David’s Peninsula.
Following the Coast Path east along the north side of the peninsula you drop down to Martin’s Haven, then climb up again to walk along the relatively low cliffs to Musselwick Sands (‘Musselwick’ is a Viking name, meaning Mussel Bay).
Turn right off the Coast Path at Musselwick Mouth and follow the path to the road. Here turn left and follow the road back to Marloes village.

CLIMBS

RED WALL, PORTH CLAIS, ST. DAVID’S
Grade: Severe
Access: Park at Porth Clais harbour and walk south then east along the coast path for five minutes.
Food & drink: St. David’s
Grid reference for start: 743238
Map: Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure 35 (1:25,000), Landranger 157 (1:50,000)
Route: A very straightforward but classic route on the sea cliffs of the southern St. David’s Peninsula. The route isn’t visible from the coast path - you have to scramble down the right of the cliffs from the point where the path swings east, from where you’ll see two obvious slabs split by a fissure (or ‘zawn’). Red Wall is on the right slab. Access to the start of the route is by scrambling down ledges to the right (east) of Red Wall.
The route itself simply consists of a traverse left onto the slab then a straightforward climb just to the left of centre.
Weather watch: suitable year-round although in rough seas watch you don’t get swept off the lower levels of the route.
Gear: Full range of nuts, selection of hexes, slings and runners.

CHRISTMAS CHASM, WESTERN WALLS, CASTLEMARTIN
Grade: V Diff
Access: This excellent, exposed route is on the stratified limestone sea cliffs just north of Linney Head and Wind Bay (GR 881965). It involves a long but pleasant cliff top walk from the car park at Elegug Stacks, and there are seasonal and access restriction due to nesting sea birds and firing on the artillery range of which this is part (for details call Tenby TIC 01834 842402). Access to the bottom of the cliffs is by abseil - the route should be avoided in a big swell as you can easily be swept away.
Food & drink: Pub and café in Bosherston
Map: Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure 36 (1:25,000), Landranger 158 (1: 50,000)
Route: Up the big chimney to the right of a recessed wall between two corners - this is a distinct feature from the cliff top. Climb the chimney and bridge across right at the top, then up the wall on good jugs.
Gear: Full range of nuts, selection of hexes, slings and runners.

GETTING WET
There’s not much point visiting Pembrokeshire if you don’t get into the sea during your stay. The following are three of the most popular ways of getting wet:

SURFING
Pembrokeshire has some of the cleanest beaches in Britain, and whilst the surf isn’t quite as good as that of Cornwall neither does it have the hype or crowds of the Cornish surf scene. That said, the waters here are becoming busier every year, but if you’re prepared to travel you can usually find a quiet break on a good swell.
The best time to visit is late summer, when air and water temperatures are at their highest and waves can be reasonably consistent. Popular beaches include Manorbier in the south and Whitesands and Newgale in the north, although the waves here are often pretty crowded. However, if you’re a beginner the advantage of the latter two is that surf hire is available on the beach at both (see ‘Shops’ for details). For more experienced surfers Freshwater West has some of the most consistent and powerful surf in Wales. For more details of the best breaks in

SEA KAYAKING
The Pembrokeshire coast some really top kayaking for everyone from beginner to expert, and centres like Tyf Adventure in St. David’s and Preseli Venture in Mathry (see ‘Shops’) can provide gear, tuition and guiding. The islands of Ramsey, Skomer and Skokholm are readily accessible to experienced kayakers, including the notorious Bitches Rapids in Ramsey Sound. Out here you’ll certainly see grey seals and possibly porpoise, dolphins, maybe even whales and sharks (oo, er).
Less experienced kayakers can have a great time exploring the cliffs and bays of the mainland coast, or learning to surf - but don’t get in the way of the surfers or trouble is likely!

COASTEERING
This new sport, which involves traversing, climbing, scrambling and swimming around the cliffs of the Pembrokeshire coastline at sea level was pioneered by TyF Adventure in the eighties and nineties and is now one of their most popular activities, presumably on the grounds that virtually anyone can do it and have fun.
You’re supplied with a wetsuit, helmet and harness (you provide trainers that will get very wet) and follow guided routes of different standards (a bit like climbing routes) around the coast. It’s actually a lot more fun than it sounds, especially the falling off and jumping, since both involve landing in the sea. If there’s a bit of a swell running it all becomes that bit more interesting. This is, of course, something you could easily do yourself, but unless you know the cliffs and coastline well it’s not recommended to do so as it’s not a good idea to find yourself trapped at the base of a sheer cliff when the tide is coming in.