Walk 376 -- Abereiddi to Whitesands Beach

 Ages:  Colin was 75 years and 38 days.  Rosemary was 72 years and 180 days. 

Weather:  Sunny and warm where sheltered.  Windy in exposed places. 

Location:  Abereiddi to Whitesands Bay.Distance:  7½ miles. 

Total distance:  3873 miles. 

Terrain:  Entirely cliff paths.  Undulating, uneven and challenging.  Some very steep slopes. 

Tide:  Out. 

Rivers:  None. 

Ferries:  None. 

Piers:  None. 

Kissing gates:  Nos.900, 901, 902, 903, 904, 905, 906, 907 and 908 spread along the way. 

Pubs:  None. 

‘Cadw’ properties:  None. 

Ferris wheels:  None. 

Diversions:  None. 

How we got there and back:  We were holidaying in our caravan near Whitesands Bay.  This morning we drove to St David’s and parked for free in a back road.  From there we caught a bus to Abereiddi. 

At the end we caught a bus from Whitesands Bay.  I got off at the caravan site, and Colin got off in St David’s so he could drive the car back.

 

Today’s Walk was a real test of my new knees.  It was along a wild bit of the coast and quite tough going at times — even Colin admitted that it was.  There was a group of youngsters, aged about fourteen or so, putting on wet suits in the car park at Abereiddi.  Later we saw them jumping off cliffs into the Blue Lagoon.  They were under supervision on one of those ‘coasteering’ courses.  Rather them than me — I don’t think I would have done that even when I was their age.  Colin probably would have, but I don’t think he would do it now!  I didn’t even learn to swim until I was twelve because nobody taught me, nor took any interest in my wanting to be able to do so.  So I taught myself by kneeling down in shallow water and pushing myself forward.  I was amazed to find I was actually swimming!  But it was a couple of years later before I dared to swim on my back, and I never could do crawl. 

From the beach car park we walked up the road to the junction and turned down a lane.  After about a hundred yards we turned on to the cliff path.  We didn’t touch tarmac nor come across a building again until we got to Whitesands.  It was a wild and untamed bit of coast, but the scenery was fantastic and the wild flowers were lovely. 

We met lots of other hikers going in both directions all day.  The Pembrokeshire Coast Path is very popular, unlike Ceredigion which is just as scenic but few people.  All the other walkers were faster than us, and those going in the same direction as us passed by and disappeared ahead.  But I bet I was the only one with two recently replaced knees!  Very little of the path I would class as ‘easy’.  Often it was too narrow to walk comfortably, and there were lots of trip hazards, stones etc.  It was very undulating! 

But the scenery was amazing!  Lots of interesting geology, rock arches, caves, etc.  It seemed exciting as the sea foamed when waves splashed against rocks and the bottom of the cliffs.  There was a colourful variety of wild flowers all along the way.  We had good views back to Abereiddi, then we turned a corner and that scene was lost.

After an hour or so we came to a very deep cleft.  The way down was almost vertical and the path descended natural steps in the rocks.  I found this very difficult indeed.  I relied heavily on my poles, and on Colin just in front of me to give me confidence.  On the way up the other side we sat on a wall to eat our pies, we were sheltered from the strong wind while still in the cleft.  I find it easier going up steep slopes than I do going down. 

We marched on for a couple of hours, up and down slopes and looking at wonderful scenery.  We came to a large stone by the side of the path in a fairly sheltered position — we decided it was an ideal spot to sit and eat our sarnies.  (I can’t sit on the ground because it is impossible for me to get up.  I can’t kneel on my new knees, and my leg muscles are not strong enough to push me up.)  It’s a good thing we chose that spot to sit because as soon as we got to the next rise we were exposed to the wind for a good long way. 

We saw some seals splashing about in the water at the bottom of the cliffs!  Colin saw them first, then we both saw lots of them.  But they moved too fast to get any photos — Colin tried a video but all he got was empty sea!  He thought some of the birds we were seeing in the distance were gannets, and this was confirmed by a woman hiker who passed us.  She told us she had seen them diving. 

We descended to what was perhaps the lowest part of the cliffs on today’s Walk.  We went down another very steep slope, but I did it with more confidence now that I was really into the Walk.  Further on we found a nice sheltered place where we could sit on a rock and eat our apples.  We could hear singing in the distance which was rather strange.  Then a lone girl hiker came up singing to herself as she walked along.  She told us, “I sing to keep myself entertained!”  We replied that we liked to hear it, the melody was rather nice floating along on the wind. 

We rounded a corner and had a wonderful view of the way we had come.  We rounded another corner the other way and realised we were on the ‘home straight’ — or so we thought.  The ground opened up with paths going off in all directions.  There were no signs to tell us which was the official coast path.  We tried to keep to the nearest safe path to the shore but it was difficult to see exactly where we were. Huge mountains of rocks lined the cliff tops blocking our view.  Whitesands Bay began to appear to our left, but we were walking away from it.

We came to a big crossroads of paths with not a single sign giving us a clue as which was the path to take.  We were tempted to take a shortcut in the direction of Whitesands, but conscience make us climb a hill in the direction of the sea.  Further up, at last, we came to a sign telling us we were still on the coast path. 

This path didn’t go to the top of the rocky ‘mountains’, but cut across and started to go downhill.  It became more and more indistinct, and we thought we had lost it several times.  When we came to a swamp we’d both had enough!  Colin went further forward and said he could see a well-marked path further down the hill.  This path led off in the direction of Whitesands.  We used a steep and narrow cross-path to get down to it.  We hadn’t reached the tip of St David’s Head, but we had as near as dammit and we were both satisfied with that. 

It was still another mile of undulating path before we stepped down on to the car park at Whitesands Bay, but it was mostly downhill and the scenery was still wonderful!  We were too late to buy an ice cream, but not too late to catch a bus which turned up ten minutes later.  I got off at the caravan site, but Colin stayed on until he got to st David’s so he could pick up the car which we had left there this morning. 

 

That ended Walk no.376, we shall pick up Walk no.377 next time on Whitesands Beach.  It was twenty past five, so the Walk had taken us seven hours forty minutes.  We had our tea and chocolate biscuits when Colin got back to the caravan with the car.  We were both a bit sunburnt, but had really enjoyed the Walk.