Andy’s Hikes

 Here is a link to a YouTube Video Diary that I recorded along the way. It’s 56 minutes long, so you may have to watch in stages or set aside an hour!  https://youtu.be/4IgBOMIqIBU

 After I updated yesterday’s blog, I walked a further couple of miles, until I could walk no more! I found what I thought was a lovely isolated spot to camp. I waited until 7pm then pitched the tent. No sooner had I done so, than it started raining. As I was climbing inside the tent, a lady walked past with her dogs ( she had the look of a local, rather than a tourist). I then heard the barking of other dogs and raised voices. It turned out that my isolated spot was less than a quarter of a mile away from a farmhouse! Luckily, I had hidden the tent behind some bales and couldn’t be seen until you were right on top of me. However, it meant that I had to keep movement and noise down to a minimum in case farmer Jones should ask me to leave, because I just didn’t have the energy to carry on!  I had a fitful night’s sleep because we had lots of heavy showers overnight, hammering on the tent fly sheet. There was also an occasional drip of water coming through and hitting me on the h...

 I awoke to a very misty day, with periods of light rain, one of which I packed up my kit in! I set off with the intention of going as far as Whitesands Bay.  Unfortunately, due to the mist, there weren’t many views to be seen. In fact, I couldn’t even see Ramsay Island which is only just off the mainland!  Instead, here are a few photos of the flora, fauna and wildlife I managed to spot today. I could just about see the lifeboat station at St Justinians.  I reached Whitesands Bay at 2:30pm. However, the campsite I was planning on staying in was a bit naff. They had crammed as many camper vans and tents into a narrow strip of land as they could. There was hardly 2ft between tents/vans. For that, they wanted to charge me £2 more than the luxury I had at Caerfai Bay. I have therefore decided to carry on walking for a bit further and find a nice quiet spot later to wild camp. I filled up my water bottles at Whitesands and am now writing this blog in the mist above St Da...

 I always planned to have a day off from the coast path today. The weather took a turn for the worse during the night. The wind picked up ( nothing too bad) causing my tent to flap about a lot, which kept me awake half the night! Today has been overcast with occasional light showers. Nothing as bad as was forecast so far, but a definite come down from the previous brilliant weather.  I have spent the day doing personal admin, such as washing clothes and shopping for essentials. That’s because I am camped on the outskirts of the big city of St David’s!  It has been quite a culture shock having to avoid the street gangs, muggers and pollution of such a vast urban jungle! Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating slightly, but the place was absolutely full of tourists today!  The chap in the red coat was Michael Portillo who was presumably making another of his documentaries, as he was with a gaggle of tv people!  I took a look around the cathedral of St David  which has an ...

I had a terrible night’s sleep. I don’t know if it was the constant sound of waves crashing against the shore, the old chap suffering dementia in the next door tent, who kept calling out, the cramp in my left leg or the sound of the traffic whizzing by, but I struggled to stay asleep!  Needless to say, I was up at the crack of dawn.  I packed up and timed it so that I was ready to leave just as the snack cabin opened up. One bacon butty later, I set off.  The guide book had warned me that the first couple of miles of this stage was tough. It wasn’t wrong. There was a series of climbs and descents, leaving me gasping for air!  By the time I had climbed the last ascent, I was feeling two choughed with myself😜 The other side of this gate, I met my first adder of the trip. It was only a juvenile but it gave me quite a shock. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to get a photo, but I was a lot more wary after that!  Yet again some of the scenery was spectacular fro...

 I had a pretty good night’s sleep last night. As it was dark by 8:30 and the dew set in, I sat in the tent reading for a while, but by 9:45 I was asleep! I got up at 07:00 fully refreshed and no real aches or pains!  After I updated the blog last night,  my host decided to clean the toilet facilities,! I think he thought he was cleaning out the cowshed, because he just opened the door to each cubicle and blasted them with a jet wash! There was no chemicals or wiping down involved. Oh no, just a quick hose down and leave the thing to dry!  I forgot to mention the farmer before. He was the Welsh equivalent of Gerald! I thought originally it was because he was Welsh speaking, but I later heard the family chatting away in English! ‘Gerald’ gave me directions for a shortcut to Dale village. The trouble was, I couldn’t understand a bloody word he said and subsequently got hopelessly lost!  Anyway, after packing up this morning, I walked from the campsite back to Marl...

 I had a fairly good night’s sleep. The campsite is somewhat rustic, but very peaceful!  I’m having an ‘easy’ day today, so didn’t get up until 08:30. I’m staying another night in the same place, so no need to pack up or carry a full load. I took my time  and wandered down to Dale watersports cafe and had a nice cooked breakfast. After that, l headed off to walk around the Dale peninsula in an anti clockwise direction.  The geology on this part of the coastline is pretty spectacular at times. I walked to the coastguard lookout station at St Anne’s Head. This guards the entrance to ‘Milford Haven’ inlet, an important stretch of water way due to the oil refinery’s and Pembroke Docks.  As per usual, there were some spectacular views.  and some lovely coves. I had lunch on a nice beach.  I got back into Dale at about 3pm. The sun was shining and it felt quite summery. I decided to stay healthy and have a balanced diet as a reward! 

 I went out like a light last night. I got back to the campsite from the pub at 21:30 and as it was pitch dark, there was nothing to do than get in your sleeping bag. I planned to read a bit but was soon out for the count. I woke up in the dark but feeling as if I had been asleep for a long time. I started tossing and turning and struggled to go back to sleep. After a while I checked my phone to see what time it was and was shocked to see that it was only 02:30!  I then began to play the ‘ Do I need a wee’ game. You know the one, where one side of your brain says “yes” and the other side says “no, go back to sleep”? Well this game went to extra time. The trouble was, this campsite was very quiet. That meant that sound travels, so you couldn’t just have a quick pee in a hedge, because anyone who was awake could hear what you were doing!  Eventually the yes side of my brain won through and I had the walk of shame. Who knew that zips could be so noisy. Firstly there was the ...

 I had a terrible night’s sleep. I just couldn’t drop off. There was hardly any noise of any description, but what little there was, roused me from my slumber. It didn’t help that the campsite was on a slope, so I kept slipping off my sleeping mat! Typically, I was too hot to start off with, then just before dawn, started to feel cold!  I got up at 7:00 and made a quick cup of tea then had a shower before there was a queue! I then wandered down the hill to Broadhaven, where there was a shop. I had to hang around for a few minutes, because it didn’t open until 08:00.  This was Broadhaven beach. Some brave souls were going for an early morning dip, but I gave it a miss! I got some sarnies etc for lunch from the shop, but they didn’t have any nice cereal for breakfast. I went back to the campsite and packed up, with the intention of having breakfast in the cafe in Little Haven. Despite not leaving until 10:00, the cafe still wasn’t open, so I had to have a flapjack bar inste...

 I am having a few days away, walking the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path.  Before I set off this morning, I weighed my back pack. Oh sh*t! It was 42lbs and the water bladder & bottle hadn’t even been filled!  I travelled down by train.  Firstly I got on a crowded carriage from Warminster to Bristol Parkway. It was one of those trains that stop at every station and seemed to take an age to reach BP.  Everyone was well behaved and practicing social distancing with the vast majority wearing face masks.  We people are quite funny really. The amount of times I saw passengers getting up from their seats, miles before the train pulled into the station they were alighting from! What were they hoping to achieve? There was one particularly obese young lady, who waddled up the aisle and then went ar*e over t*t when the train started braking for the station! Weebles wobble and they do fall down!  I had a ‘posh’ electric inter city train from Bristol to Swansea, wi...