Day 5–Sunday, April 16. Broad Haven to Freshwater West (10 miles)

Something strange happened today–I was the first one out of the tent of all 4 of us. I made a pilgrimage to the car park water closet before coming back to attempt boiling water for coffee and oatmeal. I say attempted because of the low temp purple fluid used in Great Britain isn’t worth messing with. After using twice the amount of fuel I would use if I were using HEET, I decided I’m through with alcohol stoves in general. Karen brought a jet boil with her and I’ve decided to switch. With all the weight savings I’ve made with tent, sleeping system, and water filter, I can afford the extra weight.

We chatted a bit with the car park/national trust admission attendant and he told us several formations to look for as well as the way down to a private beach between the ranges.

Once we got on the trail, we ran into Nick and Angie again. We tried finding them the previous evening, but they were in town at the pub. By the time they got back to the farm, they found our tents, but we were already in bed (hiker midnight=dark). We talked a while and gave them one of our cards and they told us about a pub in Angle we needed to stop in–The Old Point House, for fish and chips. They headed down to the beach to go kayaking and we headed on up the trail.

This section of coast is on the east military range which has been reopened to hiking. It seems, among other tools to clear the range of unexplored ordinance, the British military has no qualms with using sheep as mine sweeps. We found bits of wool everywhere, but none with blood. There were several military structures along the cliffs.

We went by several formations on the cliffs that we knew about. This section of coast is amazing to say the least. St Govan’s chapel was first. A hermit in the 12th century built a chapel down on a private, hidden beach. His only problem was the occasional pirate who tried to steal his bells. Legend has it he hid in a corner of the chapel and the stones covered him up. His body has left an impression in those stones.

Then we came across Huntsman’s Leap. This one is more of a tall tale than a legend, but here goes. A gentleman from the Stockpole estate was on a fox hunt. His horse leaped over a gap in the cliffs. The hunter came back to see what he had leapt over and died of a heart attack when he saw what he had jumped.

Next up was the stacks. The name speaks for itself.

Lastly was the Green Bridge of Wales. A natural arch formed from ocean erosion.

Maybe just as impressive is looking at where you have to stand to get a picture of the Green Bridge.

Once we left the range, we had a few miles of road walking which just generally chewed our feet up. By the time we got to Castle Martin, we had to stop to let our feet recover a bit. Once we left this little town, we headed through cow fields on the trail. This is where we met a very aggressive cow that was not at all happy with us in her field. I turned around to face the aggressor and told everyone to move as a group for safety. I turned to see if they were listening and everyone was already at the gate and I was by myself. Once we got to the other side, we saw the sign warning “Beware of Bull”.

This day was taking it’s toll on us and we missed the designated camping area before Freshwater West beach. Actually, I saw it, but I wasn’t interested in paying for a grassy field without facilities. We got down to the beach and met a nice young guy by the name of Andy that gave us some suggestions of where to camp to not cause any problems for us since camping isn’t allowed on the beach. With his help, we found a nice quiet spot right off the side of the road where no passing cars could see us. We were so tired that Karen agreed to lend us her jet boil for supper. We tried our homemade Ramen Noodle concoctions of protein soup, dehydrated veggies, and Ramen–it was a surprisingly good Easter dinner after a long day of sightseeing and hiking.