This was a hiking day with very little scenery–it was all about miles. Nonetheless, it was still pleasant hiking. We started out walking along Angle Bay under the shadow of a refinery. It is because of this industry that several guidebooks say to catch a bus and skip this section of the trail, but I disagree.
We had a very pleasant and sunny day. The wildflowers were in bloom, and a lot of the time we had a wooded trail along the coast. The Pembroke Coastal Path is just that–a coastal path. Whenever possible, the trail follows the shore every inch of the way. There are plenty of old structures that are centuries old as well as various abounded military structures littering the shores of the bay.
Or beautiful stone houses which made us wonder what kind of drugs the owners had to sell to be able to afford such places.
As we rounded the refinery, we had to go under the jetty where the petroleum is unloaded. By law, the refineries have to contribute so much money to local education and nature preservation. The trail is well maintained around the refinery.
After the jetty, but still on the same peninsula, we ran into another German hiking the trail southbound. He told us about a church very near ahead that had some picnic tables where we could rest a bit. When we got there, we decided to cook some lunch since we were out of light snacks. After we ate, Karen and I went to explore the church and grounds around it. As rare as it seems, I started talking to a couple that was working on the church and nature boardwalk that the refinery helps underwrite. I’m sorry that I don’t remember their names, but I think they were close to Tensey and Ben (and I apologize if they are reading this–shoot me a note or leave a message and I’ll correct it). We got to talking about the scarcity of jobs in the area and pretty soon, politics. As most locals here, they are very aware and concerned about American politics.
Eventually, everyone showed up with their packs on indicating it was time for us to go. Politics is usually a subject I avoid, so this was no big deal for me to leave :). We were back on the trail through some woods around a power plant when we found a huge field of wild garlic. It’s always good to know some local edible plants just in case.
We also met and talked to a few other people that were out walking this section, but overall, this was not a very crowded day for us.
When we got into Pembroke, we headed straight to the castle as this was the easiest landmark to identify. Paul and Sandy and told us to check into the Old Kings Arms Hotel to spend the night. Not only was the hotel old (over 500 years in some parts), but the dining room is supposed to be haunted.
We crawled into our rooms, dropped our packs, and stumbled back down to the dining room for supper. We were so beat from our longest day so far that we just showered and went to bed ASAP after our beer and food.
