Anyone who likes to slip on their hiking boots and explore the wild British countryside will have been as frustrated as me last year when the Foot and Mouth epidemic put paid to any walking holidays. My planned March trip to walk the Pembrokeshire Coast Path in Wales eventually took place in July, but it was well worth the wait.
The Pembrokeshire Coast is Britain's only coastal National Park. Tackling the 186-mile path is probably the best way to explore the outstanding cliffs, white sand beaches and coves. The three weeks I had in this corner of Wales were unforgettable; beginning in the south, along the wooded cliffs to Tenby; one of the prettiest seaside resorts in Wales and a great place for seafood restaurants. The pints of prawns looked irresistible, even to a seafood virgin like me.
Things get noticeably wilder once you move north of the Milford Haven estuary where everything from the food to the scenery has a distinctly Welsh tang. In Cardigan I came across the Red Lion pub where, after a few pints, the locals spontaneously burst into patriotic Welsh verse but they still slap an Englishman like me on the back and will, for a few minutes at least, change from speaking Welsh to English.
If you can drag yourself away from the many pubs that seem to hide in every cove and inlet it is well worth keeping your eyes peeled for the wildlife. I will never forget walking around the St David's peninsula looking across to Ramsey Island as the sun was setting and watching a school of dolphins breaking the surface every few seconds. This is a truly wild coastline and the gannets, puffins, otters and whales are testimony to this. Pembrokeshire is famous for many things; the cliff-top wildflowers, the beaches, the surfing, the food and the friendliness of the people but for me, well, those dolphins even beat a slap on the back from a singing Welshman.
Jim Manthorpe is the author of The Pembrokeshire Coast Path, published by Trailblazer Guides.
He recommends OS Outdoor Leisure map 35 North Pembrokeshire and OS Outdoor Leisure map 36 South Pembrokeshire.
Author: Jim Manthorpe
Date: 1 March 2002
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