Walk 380 -- Solva to Nolton Haven

 Ages:  Colin was 75 years and 93 days.  Rosemary was 72 years and 235 days. 

Weather:  Mostly sunny with a stiff breeze. 

Location:  Solva to Nolton Haven. 

Distance:  8 miles. 

Total distance:  3893½ miles. 

Terrain:  Challenging!  Mostly undulating cliff paths with numerous deep clefts accessed by lots of steps.  A good stretch of beautiful sandy beach, and a little road. 

Tide:  Out when it mattered! 

Rivers:  None. 

Ferries:  None. 

Piers:  None. 

Kissing gates:  Nos.917, 918, 919, 920, 921, 922, 923 and 924 near the start of the Walk, no.925 nearer the end. 

Pubs:  None. 

‘Cadw’ properties:  None. 

Ferris wheels:  None. 

Diversions:  None. 

How we got there and back:  We were caravanning near Whitesands Beach.  This morning we drove to Nolton Haven where we parked in the free car park.  We caught a bus to Solva. 

At the end we came to the car park in Nolton Haven.  We drove straight back to the caravan where we had tea and cream cakes. 

 

We started today’s Walk near the lime kilns where the coast path rises up on the south side of the Solva inlet.  We came to a stone telling us that this little headland was donated to the National Trust in 1937 by the former landowner in memory of his father and grandfather.

When we got to the top we realised that almost immediately there was a deep cleft which we had to descend all the way to sea level again.  I found this very difficult with my new knees, especially the right one which is only a few months old.  All those steps!  But I managed it.

 There was a wooden footbridge to cross the stream at the bottom and a shingle beach, but I was pleased to find that the actual path was on grass behind it.  Then we had to climb all the way up to the top of the cliff again.  I didn’t find this nearly so difficult as coming down even though it was tiring.  There were a lot of people walking the coast path today in both directions — Pembrokeshire coast path is very well known and popular with walkers from all over the world. 

We had spectacular views of the cliffs and rocks all the way along.  A lot has happened over geological time to these twisted rocks.  It was OK walking in the wind but it was too cold to sit in it.  So when we came across a bank sheltered by gorse bushes we made use of it and sat there to eat our pasties (not on the gorse bushes, silly, on the grass bank in front of them!)

Colin saw a bird of prey on the cliffs, he thought it might be a peregrine.  It was too far away to photograph. The path was more ‘undulating’ than it appeared on the map — at least it seemed so to me.  We kept coming to deep clefts, and each one I found more difficult to get down to the bottom.  Some of the steps were huge — I tried to avoid them by stepping down the side but this was not always possible.

We sat on a low bank to eat our bananas.  Colin had to pull me up when it was time to go because I cannot kneel on my new knees and I haven’t yet the strength in my legs to pull myself up unaided.  But I am getting stronger and it is getting easier. 

From where we were sitting we could see the tide was out on Newgale Beach.  We discussed the possibility of accessing the beach from one of the deep clefts and missing out the last couple of hills.  (This gave me hope)  We chatted with a family who were passing — they said they were hoping to do the same.  But they went on much faster than us, so we never knew how they got on.

The first cleft we came to didn’t go down to beach level, so we had to climb out of it again.  The second one had a path of sorts, not the official coast path, which led right down.

It was a bit dodgy at the bottom — the stream fell down in a lovely little waterfall — but I sat down (not in the stream!) and Colin helped me negotiate the last step which was about eighteen inches high.  At last we were on a flat beach of firm sand! 

It was wonderful to look up at the last couple of hills on the coast path and smugly realise we didn’t have to climb them.

We marvelled at the twisted rocks we were passing at the bottom of the cliffs we didn’t have to climb.

I looked them up later — it turned out they are Cambrian, very old.  A lot has happened to them over the past hundreds of millions of years. 

Soon we were out beyond Newgale with its stones along the top of the beach.  We had been so lucky with the tide — we had not planned particularly to walk at low tide today — because we would have been up there on the stones or on the road had the tide been in.  As it was, we walked nearly two miles on flat sand — fabulous!  It was quite breezy, but that made it all the more pleasant for it wasn’t at all cold.  The tide was well out and lots of people were enjoying this fantastic beach.  Many were kite flying, and we were passed by a sand yacht at one point — it was going very fast.  Loose sand was blowing in waves along the beach, but it was only at ankle level so it was not a nuisance. 

We made for a flag which was at the place where the road goes uphill.  The beach continued a little further than that but we didn’t know if there would be a way up the cliff at the far end, so we thought we’d better make for the road exit.  There we walked up a narrow boardwalk to the lifeguard shed and sat on a low wall to eat our chocolate. 

From there it was two miles to Nolton Haven where our car was parked, but what a two miles!  It took us a whole hour longer than it should have done because the path was like a roller-coaster — up and down, up and down with huge steps to negotiate.  My knees were screaming!  First we had to walk about a hundred yards up the road, then we turned off on a path which immediately went down again — with lots of steps — almost to sea level.  That was when we discovered we could have easily come off the flat beach at that point!  Then it was up and down, up and down far more than was indicated on the map. 

About half way to Nolton Haven we were sent down loads of steps to an area which was once mined.  It took me ages to get down.  Only a single chimney and bits of coal dust scattered on the steps remained to tell us coal was once mined here.  The geology map informed us that this part of the coast is formed of rocks from the Carboniferous period labelled “Productive Coal Measures”. 

The beach came to an end about there, and from far back we had wondered whether we could access the path we were walking on from the beach at this point.  But we hadn’t dared risk it because we didn’t want to have to retrace our steps when we found we couldn’t.  We could see a sort-of path going down.  Colin followed it, but came back to say the end was far too steep for me to have managed.  That was a little comfort, but not much. 

On we went, up and down, up and down — I really don’t know how my knees managed, especially the right one.  But the surgeon had told me my knees were so secure I couldn’t damage them no matter what I did, but that didn’t stop them from aching horribly!

We had to go down a particularly long flight of steps to a vertical rock which was stuck up as if it was a standing stone.  But I’m pretty sure it was natural.  It was difficult to photograph it because the sun was directly above it, but I had a go.

There was a family sitting there resting.  A bit later they passed us on the path, and I noticed that one of the teenage girls was struggling along in high-heeled shoes!! 

We saw some more large toadstools, beautiful!  We had been seeing them all along this path. 

At last we came within sight of Nolton Haven, a lovely little beach tucked away in the cliffs.  Quite a few families were enjoying themselves there even though it was, by now, early evening when most families had departed.  We were relieved to get to the bottom of the steps knowing that our car was only a few yards away in the free car park. 

That ended Walk no.380, we shall pick up Walk no.381 next time on Nolton Haven beach.  It was twenty-five to seven, so the Walk had taken us six hours and fifty minutes.  We drove straight back to the caravan where we had tea and cream cakes.