As part of our Pembrokeshire holiday with Yvey & Matt and Clare & Steve, this post covers our coastal walk from Porthgain to Abereiddy, Fishguard, Cwm-yr-Eglwys and Newport, where we were based for the week.
Coastal walk from Porthgain to Abereiddy and back
We left our cars at Porthgain in the small car park in the centre of the village and made our way past the abandoned brickworks. Bricks were manufactured in the early 1900’s from local slate and stone. This was loaded onto ships and used for road surfaces across the UK.
With the brickworks to our left we climbed up some steps which took us to the cliff top and turned left towards Abereiddy. The sky was clear which enabled us to have amazing views along the dramatic coastline… although we could see some dark clouds in the distance!
The 6 of us (together with our 4 legged furry friends Ralfy, Kash and Jess) made our way along the coastal path breaking off at times to peer over the cliffs and walk to the end of one or two small peninsulas.
We came across the stunning Traeth Llyfn beach and made our way from the cliff top and down quite a few steep steel steps to the golden sands.
This was the perfect spot for a coffee and a snack!
Upon leaving the beach, back up the steel steps we resumed our cliff top walk. Just past the headland we were fortunate to see a rainbow! Thankfully this didn’t come with much rain, just a few light spots.
It didn’t take long to reach village of Abereriddi and the area known as the Blue Lagoon.
The Blue Lagoon was until 1910 a slate quarry before it was abandoned and flooded. Today its vivid blue waters attract divers and coasteerers. You can participate with local organisations in coasteering days which involve scrambling around the rocks and jumping off the cliffs. We didn’t see too much activity during our short visit.
From the Blue Lagoon we began to make our way back along the coast path to Porthgain. The sky was by now looking stormy but did add some drama to the scenery!
It had just started to rain as we reached Porthgain and where better to shelter than the Sloop Inn! The Sloop looks tiny from the outside but we were delighted to find a fairly large pub with traditional nautical decoration and artifacts. What a lovely place to finish our walk!
Fishguard was about 15 minutes by car from our holiday house in Nevern, just north of Newport. This meant was passed through several times throughout the week while setting out for the day. One day we decided to stop and have a look around.
Famous for its historic herring industry, Fishguard is quite picturesque with its small harbour of fishing boats. Next to Fishguard is Goodwick and from here you can travel by ferry to Ireland.
Cwm-yr-Eglwys is a tiny hamlet nestled in a small bay just a few miles from Fishguard, another stop off point!
Newport, Newport Sands and Parrog
Just a mile or so from our holiday cottage was the Nevern Estuary. You can park here and walk along the estuary to Newport Sands. Many species of birds can be seen in this small area, some (such as plovers) migrate here whereas this is a permanent home for others (such as gulls).
We followed the estuary to Parrog with the intention of another coastal walk. However the weather was a bit rubbish on this day so we didn’t go too far before turning back.
Newport is a small town in the north of Pembrokeshire. There are several restaurants, pubs and coffee shops. In one such coffee shop we tried Barra Brith which is a traditional Welsh tea bread served with butter.
Newport Sands is a wide sandy beach and in low tide you can explore caves and rock pools. For a short time… you need to keep your eye on the tide and ensure you don’t get trapped!
Back at River Cottage… Throughout our week, each couple took a turn to do the cooking which meant we had 3 evening meals in the cottage and 4 meals out. Chris and I were not used to having so much room in the large cottage kitchen as we set about cooking one of our signature dishes: Sweet Potato Bake served with black rice!
This concludes the third of three posts summarising our week in Pembrokeshire. We were grateful to Matt for showing us some wonderful places and we were fortunate to have had fairly good weather for the last week in September.
We are both keen to return explore more of beautiful Pembrokeshire and I now have a new ambition to walk the 186 mile Pembrokeshire Coast path!
Sadly our week in the cottage came to an end on the Friday morning. However once we had said our goodbyes, Chris and I sat in the car in a rainy car park in Newport and decided there and then to drive down to Tenby and spend the weekend there rather than driving home!
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