Walking the North Pembrokeshire Coastal Path - St Dogmaels to Newport Sands (15 miles): Part 2

Sorry part 2 of this blog took so long - I've no idea where time has gone! Happy new year! Planning lots of new adventures for 2019. So we left off with us reaching Ceibwr Bay in Moylegrove, which is a really picturesque part of North Pembrokeshire and attracts a lot of tourists. It was hard to keep track of how many miles we'd done because OS maps doesn't show you distance you've gone while you are actively tracking. We assumed we were at least halfway through, so when we trekked up a small incline to arrive at a signpost which said Newport Sands was 7 miles away, we felt a little deflated but were still feeling pretty strong as the sun was shining and we hadn't hit too many hills so far.

We wandered past some more tourists taking photos and saw a few more seals and then we arrived at a sign we weren't expecting. It was a really hot day and I'd somehow managed to get through all 3L of my water bladder by this point (I was sharing it with the dogs, who were boiling) so that left us half of Tina's bladder and a few small bottles we had spare.

NO DRINKING WATER OR OTHER FACILITIES. Right on cue, I'd run out of water just in time for the most challenging section. Perfect!

We chuckled away and went through the gate, feeling nervously apprehensive for what might come next. I'd been texting Mark updates of where we were when I had signal, so he was waiting for us at Newport Sands. What ensued over the next two hours was a series of very steep inclines and declines but the scenery was incredible. The beagles were absolutely dying and it got to the point where when we stopped, they just sat down in the grass - bless them!

Me and Tina have a running in-joke from years ago that often one of us will say "to be sure, to be sure!" in an Irish accent. I can't even remember how it started, but it comes up frequently. As we were approaching another very steep hill, a large group of walkers were heading down it, so we stopped to let them come past, grateful for the rest. Every one who passed us was very pleasant and they all sounded English. One stayed at the top and was looking out seal-spotting with his binoculars and gestured us up. As we climbed up the steep path towards him, I ended up saying "TO BE SURE, TO BE SURE" to Tina and as we got to this man, he turned around and started chatting to us in a thick southern Irish accent. What are the chances?! I think his name was Seamus and he had a classic walker's hat on and thick curly hair. He was engrossed in looking for seals and we got drawn in by his enthusiasm (we had lost a little of the enthusiasm we'd had most of the walk by this point).

Tina asked him where they had walked from and whether it was Newport Sands and he cheerily said "I don't know - I just get off the bus and follow the rest of them!" We chuckled away about this for the next mile or so because he really just sounded like he had got off a bus and decided to follow a hardcore group of ramblers on the most challenging section of the North Pembrokeshire coastal path.

Wildflowers along the coast.

We saw sea kayakers weaving in and out of the coves and people wild swimming in the crystal clear blue waters.

We climbed for what felt like forever. My hips starting to hurt, my feet were sore, I think Tina was losing the will to live, but we carried on - at the forefront of our minds was the fact that we hadn't even gone 15 miles and we planned on hiking 50 odd by the next day!

Looking back along the headland we had already walked - it was a long way!

Poor little Gracie taking a brief rest at the top of a hill!

We ascended what we felt sure was the last hill we needed to climb, only to find another....and another...and another. The sun was beating down relentlessly although there was a keen sea breeze and we were ever mindful that we needed to be in Fishguard at the end of the day.

Newport Sands.

I rounded the next corner before Tina and it was then that I saw it. Glistening in the distance like an oasis in the desert, the long sandy beach of Newport Sands and signs of civilisation! "Tina, we made it! It's in sight!" We were ecstatic. We felt renewed with a new sense of excitement and determination to stride on but how naive we were to think that just because we could see it that it was any closer. I texted Mark to tell him we could see the beach and he said he'd have the kettle on for 20 minutes time....it took us a lot longer than that to arrive!

The coastal path wound down steeply leading up to the beach and by this point I voiced that I wasn't sure we could complete the full distance this weekend and that maybe we should just aim to do the 28 miles today and call it quits in view of the bad weather forecast for tomorrow and how sore we all were, including the dogs. Tina agreed and we plodded on in silence towards the beach.

The beach leading across to Newport Sands.

When we got to the bottom of the descent, we both looked up open-mouthed at a very steep hill where the coastal path continued around signposted to Newport Sands. I looked at Tina and she looked at me and she said, "I can't go up another hill, let's scramble down to the beach and over those slippery rocks!" I completely agreed with her conclusion and we scrambled down over a load of shingle and slimy sea rocks to emerge victorious on the vast golden sands the other side.

Tina striding onwards on the last stretch.

We spent a good 10 minutes walking the car park because we couldn't find where Mark had parked the van and after ringing him, eventually located him and the kettle was on (although Tina opted for a Budweiser instead), we kicked our boots off and sat down, sweating and exhausted and made the firm decision to not continue walking any further....hahaha!

We saw this incredible sign pointing to the café and headed in that direction to find some homemade ice cream...our legs were hurting so badly we actually had to use the RAMP to get to the kiosk because we couldn't get up the 3 steps.

Tina fell asleep within 5 minutes when we got back in the van!

We drove the half hour back to Celtic camping and pitched the awning and tent and popped open many bottles of bubbly and prosecco to celebrate. The weather was glorious and we spent the rest of the evening chilling and toasting marshmallows on the campfire and regaling Mark with tales of our hike. The beagles slept solidly for 24 hours and we awoke at 5am to howling winds. I got up as I needed a wee to find people's tents blowing away and other people trying desperately to repitch their awnings as they threatened to take off into the sea.

This is how quickly the weather turns around down in Pembrokeshire, we'd gone from glorious summer to galeforce winds and torrential rain in the space of hours but Vanhalla was warm and cosy and not going anywhere so I climbed back into bed and went to sleep. The next morning I got up and crouched down to open Tina's tent - she didn't answer after quite a few minutes so I frantically unzipped the doors, thinking the hike may have killed her off, only to find her half asleep and totally disorientated. I was quite melodramatic and told her small children had blown into the Irish sea and that tents had been destroyed and other people were leaving and she woke up in a real panic, believing me (it wasn't that far off the truth!). She then went back to sleep until the kettle had boiled and we made her several coffees!

Sheltering from the storm!

Full waterproofs required just to walk to the toilet block!

We had an extremely lazy day and watched scores of people packing up and leaving early on the Bank holiday weekend because their equipment couldn't cope with the Welsh weather and we just stayed cosy and warm, eating through our supplies and drinking tea and later, prosecco and wine. Mark even went out to fully restock our wine and prosecco supplies - he's such a good egg! The beagles remained exhausted and spent the whole day napping in the van:

But lo and behold, come later afternoon, the weather did a dramatic U-turn again and we were treated to another amazing sunset and glorious sunshine albeit a very cold wind!

It was a fantastic weekend and we need to go back and finish the rest of the walk this year! Our legs were sore the next day but not as bad as expected. Celtic Camping has to be one of my favourite campsites, it has such a wild rugged atmosphere and the bank holiday 2019 will be spent here on my hen do with my favourite girls! I'm super excited and happy I've talked so many of them into such an adventurous weekend. This hike will be continued...we definitely need to finish taking in the rest of the amazing scenery on this stretch of the Pembrokeshire coast!