Arrival and Pembrokeshire Coastal Path

A visit to see my parents who are the artists in residence at Oriel y Park in St Davids was a great excuse to come to this beautiful part of the world. Our place overlooked the sea and was just a short walk two minute walk to the Pembrokeshire Coast Path National trail which ran above dark cliffs and  overlooked a pretty secluded private beach.

What an incredible part of the world! On our first day we ventured down the grassy banks and along the flower lined paths. Thick gorse bushes have been grown specially to protect walkers from the sudden drops. Our perched position meant that we could see the silver glistening sea, St David’s Head in the distance and the famous Ramsay Island. As we walked our eyes followed the beautiful natural undulations of the earth. Little coves and cut off beaches, ship wrecks, eroded stones and pitch black caves. The sea was turquoise, the sand shone yellow in the summer sun.

 I particularly loved the coastal flowers and the plants which had grown and flourished on the cliff tops. During our time in St Davids we didn’t walk the whole of the path, but instead chose to do select little walks. Walking the whole trail takes between 10-15 days and the ascents and descents are apparently equivalent to 35,000 feet, the same as climbing Mt Everest! On our first day, we walked from where we were staying to Whitesands, a large beach popular with surfers and brave swimmers alike. The wind was strong and after dipping our toes in the water we went to the little cafe and had ice creams. After that we ventured back and after watching the sun go down I ate my first summer BBQ!

Two great things to do whilst in St Davids is to have a surfing lesson if you have never done so or else take a boat trip to Ramsay Island for a spot of bird, whale and sea watching!