Setting out on 186-mile Pembrokeshire Coast Path Walk
Chair of The Friends of Pembrokeshire Coast, Clare Dow, has recently finished her mammoth walk of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, accompanied by her husband John and other members of The Friends.
To find out more about the Friends and view the videos, visit www.fpcnp.org.uk .
To find out more about the Friends and view the videos, visit www.fpcnp.org.uk .
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hello, I'm Clare Dow, Chair of the Friends of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Path,
00:18and today, Friday, September the 15th, 2023, we are going to walk the whole of the Pembrokeshire
00:27Coast Path. I'm now standing at the beginning of the coast path, I've got a plaque on the
00:35floor by my feet, it says it's going to be 186 metres, miles, or 300 kilometres long,
00:48and we're starting at St Dogmiles at the moorings, which is the official start of the Pembrokeshire
00:56Coast Path. In front of me there is a beautiful mosaic map showing exactly where we're going
01:03to go, and I have some of the Friends with me, and we're about to start any second now.
01:12Right, so let's begin. We're just setting off, we've got a road section to do for the
01:19first two or three miles, and then after that, we go up to Poppet Sands Youth Hostel,
01:28and then carry on until the road becomes a lane, and then we'll hit the coast. We're
01:34now down at bay level, and right in front of me, I hope you can see it, is a white egret.
01:41There are other birds flying in, I think that's a pigeon, there are other seagulls, seabirds,
01:48but the egret is fishing right in front of me. We're now coming off the road, and we're
01:56going to have a go at following a footpath along by the estuary. I don't think it's high
02:02tide at the moment. I'm told we can use this path, and that there are stepping stones,
02:09so we're going to find out whether we can get round this way. We're now coming up to
02:16the lifeboat station in Poppet Sands. I'm pointing this out to you because it's hoped
02:22that the Friends will get involved with an initiative with the RNLI in the next few months.
02:30Watch this space, is all I can say about that. I can see that there are lots of people at
02:37the bakery stroke coffee shop, including a lot of people in the orange t-shirts. If you
02:42remember, we interviewed somebody. They've been walking 100 miles in the last five days.
02:48I think they're having a well-deserved break at the moment. I don't know whether we're
02:52going to stop for coffee or not. What's the general view? Carry on? We're carrying on,
02:59we're not stopping for coffee, we've only just started, so we are going to carry on.
03:03Now we're up the hill, we're having a bit of a breather, looking down onto Poppet Sands.
03:09Beautiful day, and a beautiful view.
03:19I can see John picking blackberries.
03:24We're just about to arrive at Poppet Sands Youth Hostel. A bit more about youth hostels
03:32currently. We are very well aware that there are a fair few youth hostels that are now
03:40on the market for sale, and that the YHA are having financial difficulties, and unfortunately.
03:46I bet this was a lifeboat station. Oh, we've got some other ideas now. Possibly where we
03:53stop now, which is just coming up to the youth hostel, might have been a lifeboat station,
03:57because it's certainly an interesting shape. And possibly the youth hostel might have been
04:04where the lifeboat owner lived. Who knows? If you know otherwise, do let us know. You can see,
04:16it's for sale. I hope very much that it will be taken over or bought by someone who will run a
04:25private youth hostel from here. But equally, it could be bought by somebody that wants to use it
04:33as a private residence. They'd have to do quite a bit of renovation to change that. Let's hope
04:40that the youth hostel does stay in use, because it is the first one for the Pembrokeshire Coast
04:45path, where you start from. We've just climbed the hill. We're all a bit out of breath, but amazing
04:54views are coming in front of us. We're just heading now down the road to Kermise Head. We're
05:02just about on time with our walk. And it's a beautiful day still. A few clouds, but basically
05:12sunny. The road's now deteriorated to a track. Seems quite wet. Ahead of us, we seem to have a
05:20field of bell tents, which is interesting. Bell tents everywhere, everywhere you look. Gosh!
05:26Beautiful views of the coast coming out. Oh, and they've got yurts as well. We've just had a lunch
05:38stop, just as we're about to turn on Kermise Head. We're going through the gate, just here,
05:47and back on. You can see Strumbled Head now in the distance, which I think is Section 4. But
05:57we're now hitting the cliffs of Kermise Bay, and the headland around. We're meeting other walkers
06:07going the other way. Yes, I'm walking as a friend of the Pembrokeshire Coast. I'm about to become
06:16the chair. Oh! Friends. Oh wow! And we're commemorating that just by my sort of office,
06:22by actually walking the whole of the coast past, but in bits. Yeah, so that I've got people with
06:27me as well. Yes. You know, members. Yeah. Oh brilliant! We're up on the cliffs now. We've
06:37seen chaffs. We can see a seal down there in the water, and we're continuing along the head. You
06:49can see Strumbled Head in front of us, and a beautiful blue sea below. It's really a gorgeous
07:00day today. Not too hot, not too cold, and hardly any breeze. Perfect day for walking. All around
07:10are cliffs that must be 400 foot high. I have to make sure that we're careful on the path,
07:19but as I said, there's no wind today, so we should be okay.
07:22Quite a lot of butterflies on this stretch. I'll see if I can catch them for you. There's a white
07:40to my left. That was a tortoise shell. Steep section coming up. I'll try and keep the camera
08:25on. Lots of bracken this time of year. It's just starting to die back. I hope there's no ticks
08:33lurking. An amazing view down to the sea, which seems a long way off.
08:55Now, and look at this view coming down the hill. Amazing turquoise sea. Just had a light
09:17aircraft fly overhead. I've got to go carefully, because I'm going downhill with the camera in my
09:24hand, but the view is absolutely amazing. Stepping stones here, probably because it's
09:53wet in the winter, but it's perfectly dry now. No, it isn't. That bit was a bit wet.
09:58And I think they are chaffs on the cliff. We're quite a long way away from them,
10:07but it seems the right habitat. We're now coming down to Khyber Bay. There's a very nice bridge
10:22here. I'm told that the wooden bridge got washed away in a flood and we now have a beautiful slab
10:31bridge, beautiful stone bridge that hopefully won't get swept away again. I think it's here
10:37courtesy of the National Park. And I also believe that the bay is now National Trust property. So
10:45this is the end of our stage one first day walking. You can see a lime kiln to my right.
10:52End of a very nice day. We've had no rain at all. It's been lovely.