Pembroke Coast June 2016

The Pembrokeshire Coast Path runs for 176 miles around the coast of Western Wales. We followed a part of the route, then up to Aberystwyth where we turned inland to England. http://www.visitpembrokeshire.com/explore-pembrokeshire/coast-path/

Our first day started at Pembroke where we found a campground up a hill, on the edge of town. After setting up camp we decided to visit a

nearby church whose spire was the only part visible. We discovered that it was an ex-church, but it was surrounded by an old cemetery. It was very bizarre and we left wondering who owned the church now, and why the cemetery was overgrown.

The next morning we found our way to Pembroke Dock and stocked up at the supermarket before heading off for Fishguard. We decided to follow the coast to Milford Haven and then the pretty town of Broad Haven. We dried the tent on some stainless seats and several people came up to us and chatted while we waited. The coastal road was very hilly dropping down 20 % slopes to small villages before climbing up 20 % slopes to the next hilltop.

At Newgate we climbed a 16% hill which went on for about 2 kms. By the time I got to the top I was so exhausted I was incapable of getting back on the bike. I rested up for 10 minutes and then we started

again. We passed a wind generator and I stopped to study its operation as its blades trailed the main body. It was a little noisy but not as bad as people say.

We arrived late at our host for the night, Tim. They sent out a search party ( the 2 kids) to look for us. Sally had a meal inside while I set up the tent which gave me plenty grief. The next morning we made a couple of repairs to the bikes and chatted to another cyclist who was renting the cottage next door.

We decided to seek out the youth hostel at Newport ( near Cardigan) and put down roots for a few days. We passed the wonderful town of Cardigan http://www.visitcardigan.com/ where Sally had a coffee while I updated our emails. After the effort of the previous day I was shattered so Sally went on ahead and had a nice lunch while waiting

for me at Newport.

We booked into the Newport Hostel for 3 nights. On the first night my room was full of snorers and I got little sleep. But for the next 2 days I slept about 18 hours a day. I needed it.
There was an Ex-pat kiwi staying in Sally's room, and also an Australian couple who were walking the Pembroke trail. We really enjoyed the chance to dry out all our gear and clothes and to plan ahead, rest and cook some fresh food. The local butcher had some good meat and even made his own pies of which we sampled.

After 3 days we quit the hostel and headed off to Synod Inn to camp at a very expensive site for the night. Then we cycled through the very pretty village of Aberaeron http://www.aberaeron.info/ where we stopped at a coffee shop for our only decent coffee so far in the UK. It was superb. I took the chance to congratulate the barista. We wandered around the port and took lots of photos including one of a pub with a NZ flag and a Wales flag. It took us a while to realise that it was due to the All Blacks were playing Wales again that night! We also found a camping shop and purchased a new cooker for camping.

The road to Aberystwyth https://www.aberystwyth.org.uk/ was plain sailing and when we got into the town we were surprised by the stunning architecture in the town. I finally found a 3 (cell phone) store and purchased a data SIM for my dongle and later on we were able to access the internet without needing WIFI. We stayed the night at a youth hostel in Borth where we got to dry the tent in the drying room overnight. The hostel was just across the road from the sea which was a wild, pebbled beach. The owner was a keen photographer and a sign said “The office may be closed for half and hour either side of sunset.” The next day he had an art exposition at the hostel so was busy preparing for it.

We headed up the Dyfi estuary as we prepared for our last full day in Wales. We were lucky as we had the wind on our backs for the whole day – the first time in the UK. After Machynlleth, where I got a new leather bumbag for 99 p, we headed up the A470 to Caersws and another campground. We got to use our cooker for the first time and it worked really well! Sally is wrapped to have hot coffee every morning now.

On our last day in Wales we followed the path from Newtown to Welshpool along the Montgomery canal, https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/canal-and-river-network/montgomery-canal the top part of which is disused and sometimes filled in. After the tow path became too rough we re-joined the road crossing over the Shropshire Union Canal on our way to our campground at Colemere.

As we were cycling in a downpour a guy had stopped his car and motioned for us to pull over. He said he had just come back from a cycle trip around South America and he offered us lots of packets of camping food and high energy stuff. It really lifted our spirits. He went on his way probably never to be met again, so who ever you are, the man from Manchester – Thank-you.

We stopped at Oswestry where we sheltered from the rain and rechecked our campground for the night. Then onto the A5 ( nice wide berm so safe) and on to Ellesmere. http://www.ellesmere.info/tourism/ We followed the tow path along the Shropshire Union Canal, http://www.shropshireunion.org.uk/ ,got lost, and eventually found our campground by accident.

We were wet and cold and were so glad that the campground had a

kitchen area (very rare in the U.K) At least we were able to use our little cooker and shelter somewhere instead of having cold food in the tent. We put up the tent in the cooking shelter! We walked it down to the paddock where we pegged it to the ground. The campground owners were lovely and were quite worried about us being out in the rain, they even offered for us to dry our shoes in their house, on the radiator, we declined, knowing how smelly our shoes were by then. It rained all night and in the morning we had to pack away a sopping wet tent.