Actually, taking this slight detour into the village means that I have missed a bit of the path, so I can't quite claim to have walked it all the way, but I hope that's forgiveable.
The first place of any size (and here, "Size" has to be understood in Pembrokeshire coast path terms) was Porthgain. That's another nice harbour village which Pembrokeshire has a good number of. On starting the ascent away from the village, I felt a bit like Wordsworth, but my deliberately feeble effort, "Sir Penfro, thou dost grow daffs in gereen and yellow so" will never reach the same heights as those spotted in the Lake District when wandering lonely as a cloud. Anyway, here they are!
Rounding the next headland, St Davids head comes into view. This rocky crag is very nearly the westernmost point of Wales - I'm certainly further west now than I was when walking the Lleyn Peninsula.
The path on St Davids Head is a law unto itself. It's clearly marked thanks to an abundance of arrow markings pointing you in the right direction. That's useful, and I suppose it does keep you from difficult or even dangerous areas, but does it have to zig-zag in and out and up and down quite so much?
From there. it's not far to Whitesands Bay. My guidebook reliably tells me that there is a seasonal cafe here. As this is hardly the height of the summer tourist season I was expecting it to look like many other seasonal cafes I have passed along the coast of Wales - sometimes even in the height of summer - but I'm delighted to say I was wrong! The sign "Open" really did gladden the heart, and rarely has a chocolate and caramel square tasted so good!
But now, I had a question to ask myself. Journeys end for today, the nearby city, is just over a mile away. That will be the case no matter how much I follow the coast round between here and Porth Clais. When someone leaving the cafe joked to the proprietor that he was going into the big city, it was very easy to just look at the map and think "Yes, I'll follow suit"
Well, if you havn't already guessed, the city in question is Britain's smallest city, St Davids. I decided it was too early to cut in, so I continued round the coast to the lifeboat station at St Justinians and entered the city from there.
A visit to the Cathedral was not optional. Indeed, spiritually speaking, it was one of the highlights, possibly even the highlight of the entire Wales coast walk. For not only was I in St Davids Cathedral in the city of St Davids, but the day when this took place was St Davids Day. Today, the walk had a feel of pilgrimage about it, that I wasn't just walking the coast for the sake of it, but was walking for a purpose, a goal of reaching a particular place that has been visited by pilgrims for many centuries. After finding the B&B, returning to the Cathedral for choral eucharist did feel as if I was being given food for the journey, even though this particular stage of the journey ends here and tomorrow the long train journey home takes place.
Oh well, a Happy St Davids Day to you all, Gwyl Dewi Hapus i bawb!
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