So we had had a really marvellous day yesterday walking at Castlemartin West (if you've missed it, see the end of the
Coastal Path blog), and a fantastic seafood dinner at the hotel last night. Wales should make more of its seafood dishes for sure! Today we had decided we would like to see more of the Angle peninsula...We parked the car in Angle village and set off to West Angle Bay...
It was another sunny, blue sky day as we looked across the Cleddau estuary to the Dale peninsula with St Anne's lighthouse at its tip...Whilst there on the tip of West Angle bay's clifftop, is an ancient barrow...hadn't seen that when we had walked around there in the wind in 2013!
We enjoyed a coffee at the Wavecrest cafe seen below first of all - that had been a complete ruin when we were last there. We had eaten our lunch there once we had rounded the peninsula and could shelter from the wind -
- and it was where first aid had had to be applied to Chris's cut head on our earlier excursion...
As we left West Angle Bay behind, we had time to take a small diversion to see where the harbour had been made here, just a passage blown through the rocks to make a sheltered little harbour which nowadays makes a secret little beach.
We rounded the headland passing Thorn Island - still no hotel has been started here, what a shame! And then we got views across the Haven, to Stack Rocks fort with the refinery behind it. Not sure what the news is about the refinery - it was under threat of closure which would be a massive blow to emplyment in Milford Haven so hope it has a good ending.
And beyond the fort is the village of Dale on its peninsula - another revisit methinks...
We passed the gas ships offloading, tug boats, speedboats, harbourmasters boats - and a ferry arriving down the estuary. There is so much to watch on a walk down here. We walked around Chapel Bay with its fort (not open to visitors today) and passed the new lifeboat station. As we approached the Old Point House pub, we looked across to Rhoscrowther and its Valero refinery - with happy memories.
It was a very welcome return to the Old Point House where we enjoyed a light lunch in the cool interior - it was warm out there in the sun now.
Suitably refreshed, we wandered down passing the little boats at anchor in the old harbour with the tide well out - last time we were here, the boats were fastened tightly down against the really high winds..hard to imagine now..
So we headed along the bay back to the car..passing the 14th century Tower House, an unusual building for Wales, more reminiscent of the defensive peel towers of Scotland and Ireland.
We were heading back to Stackpole now - all this travelling is so much easier with a car to take short cuts! But first we wanted to have a brief look at Freshwater West. The walk here on our Coastal Path campaign was so unforgettable! The storm was threatened and came - it was crazy. I can never forget the noise of the wind and the waves as we we walking around here in 2013! Today it was just idyllic! We would have stopped and had a little beach walk but it was too busy. There was just nowhere sensible to park so a quick photo was all we could manage ....here looking towards Milford Haven and beyond to the Dale peninsula and Skomer island....
....and here looking across to Castlemartin West, Linney Head where we had walked yesterday.
We had a little look around the huge walled garden at Stackpole Estate which was very pleasant. The garden now is looked after by gardening students and you can buy produce there. There is a lot to see about the history of the gardens as they would have been producing food for the old estate. We then made our way - in the car!- to Bosherston. Again, it was very busy but we managed to find a parking space. We wandered down through woods and wended our way around the magnificent lily ponds. They are just amazing. How did they think of creating these ponds so close to the sea!
Lots of creatures to spot again - including brilliant blue dragonflies..
We failed to find a hillfort around here somewhere but just continued over the grassy bridge and through the dunes down to Broad Haven with Church Stack in its middle!
Looking back at the beach you can see the dunes stretch so far...
And we followed the coast path once more with Stackpole Head and Caldey Island and of course Church Stack to watch as we went...
As we passed close to St Govan's Head, there was a rescue underway for a girl climber (there are lots of climbers on this stretch) with lots of emergency vehicles and personnel in attendance..we continued on our way, aiming to get to Stack Rocks and back to the Green Bridge..passing here Huntsman's Leap...a good story!
We reached almost as far as Bullslaughter Bay but were stopped by a field of cattle which I didn't fancy passing through today. It was getting late and into evening now too so we turned round - first getting a view of the Green Bridge and Stack rocks though indistinctly - and also of The Wash, where we had seen so many fossils yesterday..
As we walked back towards St Govan's, we could clearly see Lundy Island...how many miles away?
And then there was the search and rescue helicopter resting just above the cove where St Govan's chapel is hiding- waiting for a drop in the wind and so on to make it safe to pick up the injured girl..I was actually photographing a bird here...a spotted flycatcher...but got the chopper too!
As we passed the rescue site, the helicopter took off so we watched as the winch was dropped and then brought up with the injured on a stretcher before being whisked across the sea to Swansea and safety! We found out later that the girl had fallen whilst climbing and broken her leg and injured her back. It was amazing and quite humbling to see those brave people in action.
We retraced our steps along the coastal path to Broad Haven following a family group carrying their 2 boats - we thought it would have been much easier to sail them back around...We crossed the beach now with lots of people taking their leave too and got back to the lily ponds and back to the car for our homeward journey!
It had been a wonderful little holiday - and revisits were so successful.....where next??
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