Pembrokeshire mini break: walking, painting, eating & drinking.
Tuesday morning, to Haverfordwest to meet up with M&M for Venezuelan brunch at the Haverhub. Our first foray into the town itself – our previous stops have always been supermarket-focused. Bigger than expected!
Full of Venezuelan arepas we drove south to Bosherton and parked in the cafe (aka Mrs Weston’s As Was) car park – it’s £2 for non patrons, handy to know that’s an option when the main car park is full, which it was.
We did the Bosherton Lily Ponds & Stackpole Quay Circuit: Lily Ponds – Broad Haven – Coast to Stackpole Head, Barafundle Bay & Stackpole Quay – over the Park fields to the Eight Arch Bridge – back around more of the Lily Ponds. Cool and cloudy but no rain.
Distance: 6 miles
Walking Time: 2h 10 mins
Elapsed Time: 2h 40 mins
Elevation Gain: 582 ft
Returning north toward H’West we were driving towards blue skies. Screwfix for deck painting kit and Lidl for supplies. G&Ts out on the decking under sunny skies – lovely.
Mexican wraps for dinner.
Wednesday was designated deck painting day! We had a mix of blue skies and clouds – no rain though and not too hot – perfect for painting Steffi’s new decking with wood preserver. We were done by 1.30pm, including a tea / coffee break in between completing the spindles and bannisters and starting on the decking floor.
Lunch inside then out to walk Southwood Estate (short version to avoid possible cow encounters) and for another stroll on Newgale Beach, this time at even lower tide and with more time exploring the rock pools. All under blue skies and sunshine. Gorgeous.
Distance: 5.3 miles
Walking Time: 1h 55 mins
Elapsed Time: 2h 15 mins
Elevation Gain: 1,005 ft
Back at base by 5pm.
Prosecco. Crisps. Olives. Carrot sticks and the last of the dips. Garlic bread. Pasta. Bed 🙂
Thursday started late but we were parked in St Davids and heading off to walk the coast path from Caerfai Bay to Whitesands by 10am. Coffee and carrot cake at Porthclais, lunch at the usual spot (the old copper mine works looking out over the tidal race to Ramsay Island), St Justinians, Whitesands and back into St Davids for ice cream. No porpoises but we did have oyster catchers and rock pigeons, and an adder at St Non’s Stone Stile.
Distance: 12.3 miles
Walking Time: 4h 15 mins
Elapsed Time 5h 40 mins
Elevation Gain: 1,155 ft
We were home by 4.30pm just as the wind picked up and the rain began.
Fish & chips / Breaded mushrooms & chips / Sausage, chips & beans from the Back Lane Chippy for tea. Early to bed (again).
Friday saw us return to St Davids, this time on the 09.30 T11 bus from Newgale Bridge. Grey clouds, cool, v windy for the walk south from Caerfai to Solva. We stopped for lunch at The Cambrian Inn… and watched the last of the cloud clear to leave blue skies and a very, very sunny afternoon for the remainder of the coast walk back to Newgale. We lucked out on the tides again and headed down to the beach at Pen-y-Cwm rather than doing the final climb up and over the headland.
Distance: 12.4 miles
Walking Time: 4h 30 mins
Elapsed Time 7h 40 mins
Elevation Gain: 1,823 ft
Ice cream / pints to celebrate the almost end of the walk, then back to the van.
Hot hot hot. Too hot to sit out on the deck. Hoovered, did the recycling, showered. Breeze outside meant it was nice and cool inside.
Tidied up leftovers for tea. Turns out yesterday’s chips revive brilliantly in an air fryer….
Lots of rabbits! And swallows whizzing around overhead.
Saturday morning = packing up, final clean, recycling & rubbish, then driving back to Forty Acres. I drove H, C & P into Hereford for lunch at Zizzi’s and to drop off H at the station, after we all got caught in the downpour getting pork pie and burgers from Neil Powell’s.
C & I spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing in the conservatory as the rain sporadically hammered down until it was time for the football for C (Under 21 European Championship Final) and reading for me – happily devouring Fanfare’s discussion of Ted Lasso season 3. I’m at the forgiveness and mercy end of the Nate redemption arc. And Jade as restaurant staff deliberately gives nothing away to the many many punters who she must have to engage with rather than having nothing to give away.
After tea in the conservatory we watched The Friday Crossword Masterclass from Cracking the Cryptic on YouTube. If you’re on the fence when it comes to crosswords, it’s worth a watch. Particularly as the one we watched was the day after a lot of drinking the night before for Simon Anthony…. we are all human!
On Sunday we waved Catherine off on her drive home then pottered until it was time to pick up Sue from Hereford station in the evening. It’s all go here! Heavy rain on and off all afternoon.
Admin on Monday morning mainly catching up on weeknotes and Flickring photos (although Flickr was down a lot so that took some time). Army camp busy. Very wet again. More computing in the afternoon, including making a start on a Blurb Book for my Nepal 2022 trek.
I saw the nuthatch on the bird feeder. AND A SQUIRREL HAS WORKED OUT HOW TO GET INSIDE THE SQUIRREL-PROOF BIRD FEEDER. Yes, that merits ALL CAPS. GRRRRRR.
TV: The Friday Crossword Masterclass from Cracking the Cryptic (YouTube), Bridge of Spies.
Podcasts: The Forum, Empire, The Essay, Shedunnit, The Memory Palace.
Photos: Herefordshire week 184 on Flickr.
Phil: w/e 2023-07-09.