Tuesday 18th May 2010 - Trefin

After a lazy day yesterday, today we wanted to do a long coastal walk from the campsite.
We left the campsite in bright sunlight and were both wearing sunglasses but within a few minutes the sun disappeared, the glasses were dispensed with and it remained overcast for the rest of the walk. It was however quite warm and the conditions were very pleasant for walking. Walking into the village and down to the sea we followed the coastal path west towards Porthgain. This is a very popular walk and we met many other walkers on the route all of whom had a cheery greeting or stopped to have a chat.
Immediately after leaving Trefin we walked through a stone circle but this was obviously a modern creation as was the standing stone in the next field. The walk to Porthgain, our first target, is easy and most enjoyable. I had particularly wanted to see Porthgain after I had investigated walks for our visit to St. Davids last December. We didn't have time to visit it then but had plenty of time to investigate it on this visit.
The large, white, stone built, inverted ice cream cone of a navigation marker indicated the eastern side of Porthgain harbour. The industrial heritage of the village was immediately apparent – aggregate bins lined the western hill where the sized granite aggregate would be stored and then loaded into ships tied up at the dock below. The granite quarry was a short distance along the coast linked to the harbour by a tramway. Another quarry close inland produced slate and this was the first product exported from the port and was the reason for the creation of the port. The slate was not of great quality but the very hard granite was very hard and produced excellent roadstone. This was sent to ports in South Wales and also South West England, especially the Bristol area. The quarry closed in 1931 but many of the buildings remain and the welsh-speaking village is very alive without the second homes and holiday cottages that leave many Pembrokeshire villages devoid of life outside of the holiday season. A row of slate workers cottages are extant and occupied and the tramway bed can still be followed to the granite quarry.
We walked on to Abereiddi passed the isolated but lovely Traeth Llyfn beach with its curious rock formations. As we walked down towards Abereiddi harbour I heard music playing. I thought that it was celestial music but then realised that it was unlikely that angels played morris dancing music. A couple were sat high above the harbour playing fiddle and concertina and it was very good music. Waiting until they finished the tune, I engaged them in conversation. They were from Leominster Morris and the fiddler was learning some new tunes in preparation for an appearance in June at the Garway Folk Festival on the English side of the Welsh border.
Following the tramway round the corner we came across the so called 'Blue Lagoon' a deep disused slate quarry. After quarrying was discontinued, the local fishermen blasted through the quarry wall to join the quarry to the sea. The flooded quarry provides a small, very sheltered harbour and, due to the very deep water, has a lovely blue colour when the skies are blue. Unfortunately on a dull day it looks rather grey!
We found a sheltered bench by the beach and had our picnic followed by an ice cream (Jane had a coffee) from the van parked in the car park. We then followed a footpath inland and this crossed a tramway that the information board told us transported the slate to Porthgain for export. The footpath back to Trefin took us past some very pretty and luxurious holiday accommodation – converted farm buildings and farm workers cottages.
Photos: Porthgain narrow harbour entrance and the quarry storage bins; Porthgain village and its harbour. Note the roof of the building (the harbour pilots office), it has a concrete skim over the slate roof. This technique, known as 'torching', is common all around this area because the local slate is of poor quality and would not last more than a few years if it wasn't protected in this way; Part of the Leominster Morris at Abereiddi.