The army don't practise firing their guns at weekends so it was possible to enter Castlemartin Range East yesterday. The track across the range is made for military vehicles, but the lovely graded stones on it don't make for comfortable walking. So time after time I found myself distracted from the recommended path and walking along well trodden small paths closer to the cliff edges. If I hadn't done so I never would have seen the many fissures, blowholes, holes and arches which form an amazing sight on this part of the coastline as I wandered around every little headland en route. The army have waymarked the path every 100 yards with a danger sign (see pic - this one a bit wobbly and spattered with pellet holes), so that I could see where the route was supposed to be going and touch base with it every so often. However, I obeyed orders as far as not touching military litter, and gave something metallic and unidentified in the grass a wide berth.
I suppose that even out here big brother needs to keep an eye on us all.
The route went past the Huntsman's Leap (130ft deep), where a huntsman escaping his creditors jumped across (as you do). He later returned to the spot to see what his horse had leapt and dropped dead of fright.
Out to sea Lundy Island, off the North Devon coast, miraged back and forth into view and away to my right a flare at one of the oil refineries reminded me of how close I was to Milford Haven.
If the last walk featured blowholes, this was the day of the arch - although there were plenty of blowholes too. The arches are chronologically next in line after the blowholes. The sea forms the latter by wearing away a cavern in a limestone cliff and being blown upwards until a hole is worn away. (We're not talking days, years here - probably millennia). Arches are formed similarly. Here are some I saw:
The last one is the big daddy of them all: the Green Bridge of Wales.
The final bit of sea-sculptures before stone is turned to sand are the 'stacks' - the stumps which are left once arches have fallen in. The most famous ones are the Elegug Rocks (Stack Rocks). Elegug comes from Heligog - guillemot in Welsh - and in the spring the rocks are covered with these nesting seabirds.
It was a pity that I had to leave all this magnificent geology. The West part of Castlemartin rangeis closed most of the time as the Army can't guarantee the public's safety, so at this point I turned inland and trudged along a rather boring road in the drizzle.
The noise of tanks made me lift my head: there were lots of them in desert camouflage and men scrambling over them. I reached for my camera and then thought better of it: if people have their cameras impounded for photographing the Houses of Parliament, what might happen to me?
On my way to Freshwater West beach I passed through the village of Warren, admired the restored church spire and found an AA sign.
Last year two lots of film crews descended on Freshwater West bay (latest Harry Potter film & Robin Hood). But now it is back to normality with kite flyers and surfers. In the distance I could see Sheep Island, almost at the southern tip of the entrance to the Milford Haven waterway. That's where I am headed for my next walk. Further away still is Skokholm Island, which I sailed around on the Waverley Paddlesteamer about a month ago.
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