Photo: Aberreidy Beach
Trefin to St. David's 11.7 miles I had an early breakfast of cereal, fruit, and toast with coffee – they had a coffee machine and ground coffee! I headed out again on a sunny day with much less wind! Soon, I arrived at the harbor of Porthgain – a popular village apparently – very scenic. I didn’t go into town, but viewed remnants of the old brickworks which used to be a major industry here for a brief time. There was a nice cafe (closed) at the harbor, but also bathrooms – always a nice amenity for hikers.
Tough climb up stairs to regain the cliff edge. Traeth Llyfn is a sandy beach with access – but only by very steep steel steps. I had no desire to go down and then up those! Some of the small coves were blocked off with signs warning you to stay away because seal pups might be there – unfortunately, I never did see any seals. Aberreidy Bay was the next large beach that I could walk over...By noonish, I was approaching Carn Penberry, a hill really but one of the highest land features around. The path slabs along the side and I stopped at a high spot for lunch. I did not choose to go to the top, but stayed in a grassy protected area. Two hikers passed by as I headed west after lunch. I’d seen people every day, though mostly day hikers and dog walkers. Interestingly, I passed a sign with the SIAT emblem affixed – this indicates that the path is connected to the Appalachian Mountain chain (AT and IAT). It was a kick to see this.
Beautiful seas in the afternoon – the color of the water has been spectacular blue/green with white-capped waves. More people were around clambering over rocks as I got near to St. David’s Head. I was able to identify the neolithic burial sight off the trail to the right. From here, I headed down to Whitesands Beach with surfers, walkers, tourists, a take-out cafe, bathrooms and I was thinking a bus? No one was able to tell me about the bus and I didn’t see a schedule posted anywhere, so I ended up walking into town along the road. It was probably about 2.5 miles? A Coastal Coach did pass me when I was almost in town, so there was indeed a bus. But, in the end, I got to St. David’s sooner by foot!
Got back to the Granary by 2:45pm – pretty much as estimated. Leone and Charlotte had come and were there with Deb. They had made a dinner reservation at the local pub (only table left in town!) but not until 7pm. So, I had leftover pizza – they had eaten at the Grain the night before. Great snack!
Deb, Leone, and Charlotte had had a nice day on Thursday. They hiked out from the Granary west along the Coast Path and kept going until they reached Port Clais, where there is a great food/coffee kiosk. They had lunch there and walked back to town. I want to go there next time!
We strolled in town, spending quite a bit of time in the Goat Street Gallery – fabulous crafts/paintings/photographs etc. The owner was sitting making fabric art as we looked at the wares. I bought a small ceramic milk pitcher that I had seen on day one – it had beckoned me.
Dinner at Bishops pub was very good – I had a stir fry with lots of veggies and grilled chicken. Excellent food and wine once again. British pub food has hit very high standards and you can expect really good food and grog.