Pembrokeshire Coastal Path Day 8

Broad Haven to Solva
Distance 12 miles
Ascent 650m
Weather warm and sunny
Buzzards 2
Horses in gorse(s) 6
Sunbathing caterpillars 1

We had a relaxing night in Broad Haven, after a very good dinner we sat watching the sunset on our veranda with hot chocolate and hoped that the bats would eat the midges before they ate us.

The tide was in as we left, heading up onto the cliffs along a wide gravelly path that wound upwards. The day was already warm but the paths were quite gentle, following the undulations of the grassy clifftop. There were a lot of places named Haroldston (Cottages, Bridge, Hall, Glen, West and Chins) after the Harold Stone which is marked on the map in italics but we didn't actually notice. At Haroldston Chins I took a picture of the coastline from a little camera bracket they've put up and sent it off to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, for their #changingcoasts project where it will be used as part of a time-lapse film.

We tried to identify a diver that was out on the water with some herring gulls, but it was a bit too far away to see clearly. Closer to, there were a lot of small blue butterflies.

Druidston is a lovely spot, where someone has built a cool eco home underground with a glass front looking out over St Bride's Bay. The route got a bit more up and down-y here around areas of erosion. The paths becoming gritty and shiny black, with evidence of mines and pits nearby.

I got to practise my Barbara Woodhouse skills on an unruly dog, with impressive results if I say so myself.

We bought lunch from a cafe at Newgale Sands and sat on the pebble bank above the beach watching the surfers. We walked along the beach, got some ice-creams and then went up the cliffs. The afternoon's walk was harder going, the paths much steeper, but there was a breeze.

At Dinas Fawr the rocky coastline is beautiful, the caterpillar web infestation covering everything less so, we took care opening the gate lest we get trapped.

The place names are definitely more Welsh around here than earlier on the walk, we walked into Solva over Dinas Fach, Ogof y Cae, Carreg Dilys and St Elvis Rock.