Dale to Musselwick Sands

Stage 12 - aptly 12 miles, taking roughly 6hrs on August 12th.

At long last the path led away from the Milford Haven waterway and out round St Ann's Head to the 'proper' cliffs facing the Atlantic.

Before I left the River Cleddau, though, there was much to take in. Above Dale I found strange tipi-like frames in a field - I assume for drying bracken - ?perhaps to burn - not sure. Maybe for something quite different.

The path dipped down into Castlebeach Bay and awaiting me was a driftwood throne, fit for a king. But it was at the next but one bay along, Mill Bay, that the real king had arrived in 1485 and changed the course of history. Harri Tudur (Henry VII) landed here and started his march to Bosworth Fields where he defeated Richard II and founded the Tudor dynasty. A plaque has been erected in the potato field above the bay to record the event.

Not far from here the path passes the West Blockhouse, which still appears to be manned (and flagged), but most likely with holidaymakers. This is the final fort in the chain which runs both sides of the Cleddau.

There are two lighthouses at St Ann's Head, one of which makes a superb holiday cottage. What really took my fancy though was a walled garden to the southeast of the settlement - completely derelict and full of brambles, but what a challenge!

Before I turned my head northwards I took a look at Cobbler's Hole - it wasn't the hole which grabbed my attention.

So then it was on to West Dale, where you can see right across to the other side the peninsula around which I had just walked. There I could see the village of Dale and all its boats bobbing about at anchor, which I had left more than two hours before. I could understand why the builders of Dale Castle built it where it lies, between the two bays, but can't help feeling it must be jolly draughty.

It must have been most exciting landing and taking off from the old Dale airstrip, which lies right on the cliff top, but is now just a collection of weedy concrete strips. Much more scenic is Marloes Sands, a huge expanse of sand and jagged rocks which lies beneath the airfield. I thought I was going to get away without descending from the cliff top to sea level (about 150 feet), but not a bit of it - down we went, and back up the other side.

Not long after this I began to think about life at the edge and to recall Tim Smit's words in his book about the Eden Project :if you don't live at the edge, you're taking up too much space. In a nutshell, the path was precipitous, and I would have liked a bit more space. The cliffs had moreover changed from being sandstone to a black rock, which looked smooth enough in places to slide down.

Adjacent to Martin's Haven a mile or so further on is a promontory called Deer Park - not that deer have ever grazed here apparently. However there are several National Trust ponies keeping the grass so you could play billiards on it. The names for the different bays, coves, headlands and so on all along the coast path are wonderfully descriptive - in a short stretch I passed Raggle Rocks, Watery Bay, Little Castle Bay, Rainy Rock, Pitting Gales Point and, more sinisterly, Deadman's Bay. Facing the treacherous Jack Sound between the mainland and Skomer Island is Mouse Haven, with the first natural arch I have seen for quite a few miles.

On the way down to the jetty at Martin's Haven (departure point to Skomer) is a 'ringed' Celtic cross, which has been set into the stone wall. Discovered relatively recently it is evidence of the use of this area by early Christian Celts.

My destination was Musselwick Sands some two miles further on, where I peered down on a few holidaymakers, who were all in the shelter of the north end of the beach as the wind had risen to be quite strong.


Total walked: 86 miles - 100 to go!