Stage 11 - August 10th - 10 miles, taking 5 hours (including a half hour wait for the tide to go out at Sandy Haven)
I'd been so looking forward to this walk after the urban flavour of the previous three stages that it was bound to be something of an anticlimax. That's not to say it wasn't a pleasant ramble, but that it didn't take my breath away in the way that some of the previous walks have done.
My battle with the weather forecasters continues to the point where I think that the only level on which you can trust a forecast is when it's talking about the past. From which it may be understood that I started (and continued for about 3 hours) in dispiriting drizzle, instead of promised sunshine. However, the dampness did have the effect of making the Milford Haven waterway eerily silent. And when the sun tried to force an entrance into the sky, a ghostly grey mist appeared, blocking out the view almost completely. Most photos I took in this period had to be deleted. It's good, though, that we don't have to worry about film getting damp nowadays.
From Milford Haven there was one more section of suburban walk to complete through Hakin but this was quick and the way dropped down into Gelliswick beneath yet another Victorian fort (Hubberston) and sheltering behind one of the huge oil-jetties. The village - most un-Milfordlike and rather picturesque - is home to Pembroke Haven Yacht Club, but there were no yachts or boats of any kind moored there. Lots in the club's boatyard though, including a couple of longboats (rowing boats), both with the sort of punning names which now are everywhere in the maritime world: 'Son of a Beach' and 'Oooo...PS'.
To cross the next beach at South Hook I had to walk right beneath the pipelines of one of the two of the Haven's huge liquefied natural gas terminals. There was a massive tanker moored at the jetty. Above us reared up yet another of the forbidding forlorn coastal forts - one of the so-called 'Palmerston's follies'.
At Sandy Haven the path crosses the creek by way of some 25 stepping stones and a low footbridge, which are only passable for about 2 hours either side of low tide - I'd been very careful to time my arrival there to coincide with this window of opportunity, as the alternative is a detour of about 3 miles by road. In the event I was early and so I waited for 1/2 hour for the water to expose enough of the stones for me to venture across. I watched a seagull catching crabs while I waited. The bird would find a crab sheltering under the low bridge and peck it out. Then followed a farcical few moments when the gull dropped the crab, it scampered away, was caught, dropped, ran again, was caught, was eaten. When I eventually reached the bridge all that remained were a few lonesome limbs.
On the cliffs again after the dip to sea level, my way often lay between two high hedges of gorse / bracken / thorn / bramble, which gave me the car wash experience again, and restricted my view of the Haven. I met four National Park rangers trashing parts of the path, which will make it better for my successors. Occasionally though I broke out of the jungle - the pic is a modern nautical navigational aid.
After passing the time of day with two codgers sat on a bench close to St Ishmael's, who needed to hear full details of my life to date, I followed the path down into Monk Haven. This small cove is so named because it was here that Cornish and Irish monks would land and proceed on foot to St David's. They gave thanks for their safe arrival at the church at St Ishmael's. The cove has a massive wall at its head with rings set into it for tying up boats. The most striking thing about the beach is the red colour of all the pebbles and rocks.
Up on the cliffs once more, Dale Bay came into sight with perhaps a hundred or more (mostly small) boats riding at anchor in what by now was a sunny day. I was heading for the bay to the north of this where the tide was way out and I could find my second set of stepping stones and footbridge to avoid yet another mammoth road detour. This time almost the last stone to cross was partly under water and looked slippery (see the view looking back on the 'naughty step'). So I braved wading past it, testing my much prized and generally waterproof walking boots beyond reason.
Total now walked: approx 74 miles / 186
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