There was a section of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path beyond Freshwater West that we wanted to walk but part of it is a military firing range that is often closed to access. However it is always open at weekends and the Coastal Cruiser bus service stops there then. We worked out a plan – drive Henrietta to the Stack Rock car park on the ranges and then walk to Bosherton and catch the bus back to Stack Rocks. This is the beauty of the coastal bus service, making one-way walks very easy and we met many walkers who were using the buses for this purpose.
Our LPG gas tank was low so we went into Pembroke to attempt to fill up at a petrol station but were told that the nearest garage with LPG is in Haverfordwest. We decided to risk leaving it to tomorrow and headed back to Stack Rocks.
The drive off the main road down to the Stack Rocks car park was very interesting with large numbers of tanks and other tracked vehicles parked to the side. We parked in the large car park and walked down to the the 'Green Bridge of Wales', a particularly spectacular specimen of a rock arch of which there are many examples along this coast. Just a few metres east are the Stack Rocks, the result of the collapse of one or more arches. One of the two stacks was the home to many hundreds of Guillemots that crowd the rock and make it very difficult for incoming birds attempting to land. All along this coast there are promontories that were fortified in the Iron Age. Banks and ditches protect the headland but rather than hill forts, these were defended settlements probably housing only a single extended family. There were two examples on the next section of the walk, the first of which, Flimston Castle, encloses a huge hole caused by erosion of the limestone. Looking down into the hole the sea can be seen flooding in through an arch and causing more erosion. A series of smaller holes further inland are evidence of the ingress of the sea.
Approaching St. Govan's Head we came to Adam's Leap or Huntsman's Leap as it is more commonly known locally (see picture). The story is that a rider was being pursued along the cliffs by robbers or creditors and jumped the chasm in order to escape from them. When he dismounted and looked down into the chasm, he died of fright.
Just a little further on we came to St. Govan's Chapel which is thought to be dedicated to Gobhan or Govan, Abbot of Dairinis, Wexford, Ireland in the 6th century. Legend has it that Govan crossed from Ireland in a coracle and, pursued by pirates, he landed and hid in a cleft in the rock. The cleft closed around him and opened again once the pirates had gone. He lived in the area worshipping, preaching and teaching until his death in 586 AD. His supporters built the chapel in front of cleft and it is very picturesquely positioned half way up the cliff from a small beach. We walked down through the chapel, the only way to the beach, and found a sunny, sheltered position for our picnic.
Walking on along the cliffs through many wild flowers, including the pretty Green Winged Orchids, we arrived at Broad Haven South a beautiful unspoilt beach with a huge expanse of golden sand.
The beach is backed by a large area of sand dunes and these have increased since back of the haven was damned in the 18th century. The haven was damned in order to create the huge Bosherton Lilly Ponds. This whole area, including the beach, are owned by the National Trust and the lilly ponds and sand dunes have been turned into a nature reserve. We walked around the ponds and missed seeing an otter by two minutes as another visitor told us at one of the hides.
We walked on to the tiny settlement of Stackpole Quay also on the National Trust Stackpole Estate. Here we caught the Coastal Cruiser bus back to Stack Rocks.
Photos: The Green Bridge of Wales; Huntsman's Leap; St. Govan's Chapel nestling into the cliffs; Bosherton Lilly Ponds.
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