I’ve just returned from an amazing 13 day backpacking trip along the length of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path living out of my little tent. Amazing rugged coastline, beautiful sunshine, crazy gale force winds, driving Welsh rain, and a relentless up and down switchback of a path, all whilst carrying a 40lb pack. Nearly 200 miles of walking and I have apparently climbed the equivalent of Everest. Now I have sore feet……..but I’m happy :)!
My home for two weeks 🙂
One list of ‘best’ walks puts The Pembrokeshire Coast Path at number 3 in the whole world and I can see why. It is a wonderful, rugged coastline, and backpacking it gives a fantastic freedom, a freedom to walk with no real set agenda apart from a fairly flexible general plan of where to walk each day. OK, its no easy walk, especially carrying everything on your back, but it is certainly a rewarding one, and part of that is simply the challenge to set out from St Dogmaels in the north and finish up nearly two weeks later in Amroth in the south without a break. There were some days when there was simply a need to grit my teeth and keep walking, those days when the famous Welsh weather closed in and it was hard to just keep my balance in the gusty and slippery conditions. On those days, I had a mantra that I repeated to myself over and over again as I walked – ‘One foot in front of the other gets you there’, and ultimately it did.
One foot in front of the other gets you there! The finish line.
The walk has been in the planning for some time as I researched the route, possible stopping points along the way, travel arrangements to/from the start and finish etc and all this preparation, although deliberately flexible, proved invaluable. This coastline is unspoilt which is part of the attraction but it was also part of the challenge as on some days there was nowhere on route to buy food. This meant that when on the trail I had to constantly think ahead to make sure that I did not run out of supplies. There were also other challenges to overcome such as keeping the mobile phone charged, chilly evenings and damp, cold nights – there was a need to keep warm before bed time – how to get anything dry after rain, and so on. But all the challenges pale into insignificance compared to the fantastic beauty and shear exhilaration of being on the coast path ‘away from it all’ for nearly two weeks.
A wonderful evening on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path.
The beautifully rugged scenery, the experiences along the way, the wonderful people that I came into contact with, and that final walk into Amroth make this a memorable walk indeed. It is one that at my age and with knees and ankles that have seen better days, I am grateful to have been able to complete.
At the end of each day I wrote up a blog of that day’s walk and over the course of the next few weeks I will post those on this site.
Thanks for stopping by.
Until next time,
Your friend
The Dorset Rambler.
If you would like to contact me, my details are on my website which is http://www.yarrowphotography.com – comments and feedback are welcomed.
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The Dorset Rambler 