WEST WALES with bryn walking - JUNE 2024

West wales: June 17th to 21st

Bryn Walking usually offers three walking breaks (Monday to Friday) annually and these vary in both upland and lowland themes across Wales. The April Residential was Slate Trails of Snowdonia based from Dol Peris in Llanberis and was fully attended.

monday

Participants met in Dale by about 1430 and we walked over to The Boathouse Cafe Dale  and sat outside with a drink enjoying the sunshine.

Helen had suggested car-sharing as a sustainable way of us all getting to Dale and to be able to share fuel costs amongst vehicle occupants. We therefore arrived with the minimum number of vehicles for the group.

We checked into the West Blockhouse for the group to settle into their rooms in this quite remarkable property. A more detailed description of the property can be seen below.

On the front lawn that evening, the normal Bryn Walking BBQ was held with Welsh Steak and fine wines supplied by Bryn Walking. This fine viewpoint gave us close-up views of marine traffic entering and leaving Milford Haven. Over the week we were there, several large crude oil tankers came in heavily laden from the Middle East whilst a variety of smaller tankers came in to load chemicals and refined petroleum products for UK and European destinations.

tuesday

Today's Skomer Island landing visit was cancelled due to strong northerly winds preventing the Dale Princess boarding passengers at Martin's Haven. Helen and I made changes to the week's intinerary and booked a Skomer Island Cruise for Thursday.

​The walk today would be from the West Blockhouse around the Dale Peninsula and was a 12.36km circuit taking in the following points of interest:

St Ann's Head - Mill Bay (where Henry Tudor landed on August 7th 1485 with 2000 French mercenaries) - Frenchman's Bay - Welshman's Bay - Dale Castle - The Boathouse Cafe Dale (for refreshments) - Castlebeach Bay - Watwick Point - Watwick Bay

Most of the route was on the Wales Coastal Path and the variety of wild flowers in bloom was extremely colourful throughout the day. 

Gates on the Wales Coastal Path were named in acordance with nearby topgraphical locations and these included:

Thorny Pit - The Vomit - Vomit Point

wednesday

The Marloes Mere to St Bride's Circular walk 15km was added due to the Skomer Island ferry cancellation. Helen had had to leave this morning due to a personal family committment so our group was down to myself and five (Jackie had decided to have the day at leisure in the West Blockhouse).

Starting from Marloes Mere NT Car Park we walked to the Marloes Beacon (76m) trig point on a gloriously sunny morning before descending to the Wales Coastal Path at Black Cliff which overlooked Musselwick Sands. 

Heading northwards to Tower Point and passing The Nab Head we then stopped above Huntsman's Leap to enjoy our picnic lunches in the sun.

Descending alongside St Brides Haven we stopped to look inside St Bridget's Church, a Grade II listed building. The church was founded by Brochwael, the son of Meurig of Gwent, in the 10th century. It adjoins the site of a deserted medieval village which was abandoned during the plague of 1665/1666.

The route inland back to Marloes was across fields and lanes to reach the pub which was sadly closed! From there we walked back along the lanes and a footpath to the Marloe Mere Car Park.

I'd arranged a Burger Night for the group and I thought this went down well and gave us an opportunity to finish off the wine from the Monday BBQ.

thursday

With our 1330 Skomer Island cruise due later, I planned a short walk in the morning around the headland immediately west of Martin's Haven and the ferry landing point.

There is a large NT Car Park there and the shop/ticket office for Skomer and other cruises. We picked up the tickets which Helen had booked on everyone's behalf and set off for the walk on another really sunny morning.

The headland was almost island shaped with just a narrow link onto the Marloes Peninsula. The group were given the opportunity to look through a telescope towards some distant puffins on Skomer Island. Above Mouses's Haven, Janet spotted a huge male grey seal which was a bonus and several choughs were in the area we walked through onto Wooltack Point.

We returned to the cars via the Lookout Station and found a picnic table to sit at for our lunch.

We were in the boarding queue in plenty of time and, after boarding the Dale Queen, chose seats on the port side for the best views to Skomer Island after we sailed. It was an enjoyable cruise and we saw hundred of Puffins in the sea between us and the Skomer Island shoreline. Over 40,000 Puffins make this National Nature Reserve one of Britain's most important seabird colonies. The Puffins establish their breeding areas from April onward and are on Skomer from May to July, leaving by the end of July.

Back on shore, we drove back to the Marloes Mere Car Park for a walk to Marloes Sands. On reaching the Wales Coastal Path to overlook the beach we found that the tide was in with no sign of a sandy beach. It was decided we'd walk back to the Runways Kiln Coastal Kitchen for refreshments before returning to the West Blockhouse.

A final dinner was planned at The Griffin and our table was ready as we arrived for 1930. We all chose from the seafood menu with my choices being:

Fish Soup - John Dory - Fruit Crumble with Custard

​I believe that we all enjoyed our choices of seafood, I know that I certainly did. 

friday

We were all packed and the West Blockhouse left in a tidy condition and so we were all on the road home by 0830. Thanks to Eileen and Natalie for taking the rubbish up to the bins the previous evening. Thanks to Janet for helping with transportation.

the west blockhouse accommodation

West Blockhouse stands alone, perched spectacularly on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. This fort once held accommodation for 34 men and one officer. A battery of six heavy guns once commanded the entrance to the harbour, with defensible barracks behind to give protection from attack on the landward side. Built with comfort in mind it has fine views along the Pembrokeshire coast and there is a sheltered south facing beach within a few hundred yards.