Coast Walking (Wales): Pembroke to Angle 18 June 2015

We started off this day as we had finished the day before, the first bird recorded being jackdaw! They were in large noisy flocks as we descended from the east end of Pembroke to the lower road which runs just outside the medieval city wall and beside a line of parks and a stream. Much of the old wall remains and is impressive. Some of the houses above are also very old.

We joined the B4320 going west, past an inlet round the castle, cutting it off by water on three sides. Above towered the remains of Old Hall (14-15th century), the Priory, Monkton Church and other old buildings. We passed through the new suburb of Monkton. After a kilometre of road we reached Quoits Water Pill, where a small road winds down to the head of the inlet, and where there was a little saltmarsh vegetation. The coast path remains 250m from water and often much more, there being no continuous access along the banks of what is here the Pembroke River. So we walked through farmland, by hedges and small woodlands all morning, apart from one kilometre along a minor road. The shady parts were full of ferns of many varieties, including hard fern, while small streams often had patches of opposite-leaved golden-saxifrage. The presence of massive pylons wherever we looked was evidence of our approach to a large power station, contrasting with the occasional old building like Brownslate Farm (18th century). On the path from Brownslate up to the road we passed through meadows full of flowers like yellow rattle, with some southern marsh orchids and occasional plants of the white variety of self-heal. We met the farmer coming through on his tractor and he was proud of these meadows, which he does not cut until the end of July. His farm is organic. He was very pleased by our admiration of the hay meadows.

At Lambeeth Farm the coast walk sign was obscured and we went at least a kilometre the wrong way up a paved track before realising and had to come back. We found the signpost the second time, but it was hidden away from the path beyond a gate and with cars parked in front of it. The loss of 20 minutes on this fool’s errand was to cost us dear at the end of the day, although we did see lots of young dark bush-crickets and pencilled cranesbill in the hedges. The proper path descends to close by the power station, beside Milton Haven, and along a pleasant flowery track which included more marsh orchids, yellowwort, and the rare pale flax, so delicate it is difficult to see the stems below the palest of blue flowers. We had our lunch sitting on a log along this section. Goldfinches showed themselves in flocks – it is always rewarding to see these pretty birds. A short length of minor road passed through Pwllcrochan, a community largely destroyed by the industrial building.

We crossed more fields to the north side of the massive oil refinery, coming at one point right beside the water where the pipelines went to jetties with waiting oil tankers in the deeper parts of the Haven. The passage along this side of the refinery was over a mile in total! We continued then on to Point Popton and the eponymous fort before reaching the start of the huge Angle Bay, the refinery now looming above us to the east. We collected a few shells from the head of the mudflats, where oystercatchers and a heron were feeding. We then realised we had just 40 minutes to get right round the bay to the village of Angle to catch the bus at 4.10. The distance was 3 miles, mostly through pastures (with corn spurrey) and finally along a long private drive. We just made it to the bus stop in the centre of the village with 3 minutes to spare.

Back in Pembroke we just made it to Williams for coffees and chocolate fudge cake, their last customers before they closed. In the evening we went to Watermans, a pub beside the Mill Pond below the castle, where we had a window seat with a good view.