Walking the Welsh Coast in Pembrokeshire is the perfect adventure, with amazing views, fascinating glimpses of history and an insight into Welsh culture and language.
In Wales, walkers are spoiled by a complete perimeter coastal path and we love the stretch that’s in Pembrokeshire.
And, believe it or not, the Pembrokeshire Coast Path is part of the International Appalachian Trail, that grandfather of mammoth hikes, linking all the regions once connected by the Caledonian-Appalachian Mountain range!
This is a walk through history as much as scenery. Neolithic tombs on St Davids Head, mighty castles and tiny Celtic chapels, with wildlife everywhere – astounding birdlife, probably seals, perhaps a dolphin.
In St Davids, the UK’s smallest city, we visit the national cathedral of Wales.
Legend has it that David was born to St Non, a niece of King Arthur, during a fierce storm on the south coast of the peninsula which now bears his name. As she gave birth, an unearthly light illuminated the scene, all became calm and still, and a spring of crystal-clear water burst forth on the spot.
We’ll see that spring high on the clifftop above St Non’s Bay where a simple stone arch covers St Non’s Well. It is still a place of pilgrimage.
At the aptly named Blue Lagoon they used to quarry prized Welsh slate. After the mining stopped, a channel was blasted through to the sea, flooding the pit and creating a brilliantly blue-green pool surrounded by a bowl of sheer stone walls.
After days of varied, but always breathtaking scenery on the coast, we turn inland, high in the Preseli Hills, from where Stonehenge’s mysterious bluestones came. Here the “Golden Road” links ancient monuments and burial places, cairns and rocky tors.
Not too far away is Nevern Church, with its famous 10th-century cross and 600-year-old bleeding yew. Some say it bleeds for the wrongful hanging of a young man many years ago…
A little further on, we’ll find mysterious Pentre Ifan, one of the finest megalithic sites in Britain, dating from 3500 BC.
Treffgarne is notable for its beautiful deep wooded gorge through which the Western Cleddau tumbles – and this was the birthplace of Welsh rebel and hero Owain Glyndŵr, the last native Welsh person to hold the title Prince of Wales.
Keep a look-out for rare birds such as choughs, skylarks and the stonechat. Bats and many bird species hunt along the lines of twisting hedgerows, rich with wildflowers, while Atlantic grey seals give birth on the shores and dolphins and porpoises play in the waves.
As if these local characters aren’t enough, a vast array of creatures return every year to Pembrokeshire’s shores. These include basking sharks, orcas, blue sharks, sunfish, various jellyfish, and turtles. Will we be lucky and catch a glimpse?
St. David’s in Wales has a population of only 1,800. City status was originally granted to St. David’s in 1994 on the anniversary of the Queen’s ascension to the throne. She awarded this status to St. David’s because of its cathedral and Christian heritage.
The Pembrokeshire Coast Path National Trail opened in 1970. It was Wales’ first national trail. In 2012, the Pembrokeshire Coast Path became part of the Wales Coast Path, the first coastal walk in the world stretching an entire country’s coastline.
Pembrokeshire has more than 50 beaches. Pembrokeshire won 39 Wales Coast Awards in 2019 for its clean, high-quality beaches. 11 Pembrokeshire Beaches earned the Blue Flag – an international sign of high-water quality, services, safety, environmental awareness and protection. Wales has more Blue Flag beaches than anywhere else in Britain.
It most certainly does! It’s a yellow and blue flag based on the flag of St. David.
Yes! The logo for the Wales Coast Path uses the blue and yellow of the St. David’s flag and has a design that incorporates the Welsh dragon and a shell.
The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park is one of the smallest in the UK at 232.5 square miles. Its widest point is approximately 10 miles wide and it is 100 metres wide at its narrowest point. The national park covers 39% of Pembrokeshire county and a third of Wales.
Foel Cwmcerwyn is the highest peak in Pembrokeshire at a total elevation of 1759ft. The views from the top are spectacular, looking over the rest of the Preseli hills and wild moorlands. The Preseli hills is home to a plethora of wildlife including numerous rare species.
The Pembrokeshire Coast Path is 186 miles long. It begins in Amroth in the south and St. Dogmaels in the north. It forms part of the 870-mile Wales Coastal Path – the only continuous waymarked trail around the entire coast of a country.
The Wales Coastal Path is sometimes referred to as ‘Welsh Everest’. Its ascents and descents are thought to total a sum of 35,000 feet!
The county flower of Pembrokeshire is the thrift – clostog fair in Welsh, which means Mary’s pillow because it has leaves that look like a cushion. It’s a pink flower found along the coast in cliffs or saltmarshes.
