Pembrokeshire Coast Path
Location: South West Wales.
Length: 186 miles.
Average number of days to complete: 10 - 15.
Users: 100% for walkers; 3% off roads available for cyclists and horse riders too.
Highest point: Pen yr afr - 175m (1500ft) (Total rise and fall over entire Trail - approx 11,600 metres (35,000 feet). (400 stiles to cross).
Start point: The slipway north of St Dogmaels, Cardigan.
Finish point: The bridge east of Amroth Castle, near Tenby.
Landscape: Spectacular coast, rugged cliffs, sweeping beaches, just about every type of coastal landform. 25% of the Trail is within designated conservation sites. 85% of the Trail is within the National Park, the National Park’s dedicated Coast Path team manages 100%.
Highlights: Over 50 quality bathing beaches. Over 40 Iron Age promontory forts. Norman/ medieval castles/ towns (notably Tenby, Manorbier & Pembroke). Chain of Napoleonic and later forts. Scores of lime kilns and other industrial archaeological remains. Series (over 15) of picturesque ports (eg Tenby, Solva, Porthgain). Innumerable secret coves. Bosherston Lily Ponds, Landsker Line, razorbills and chough.
Famous Associations: Hubba (Norse warrior defeated by King Alfred), Gerald Cambrensis (who wrote a guide to Wales in the middle ages and lived in Manorbier Castle), Henry VII (born in Pembroke), Black Bart (pirate), Last invasion of UK (1797), Admiral Nelson (built Milford Haven military harbour), Gordon of Khartoum, Isambard Kingdom Brunel (built Goodwich transatlantic Port), naturalist RM Lockley, Lindsway Bay was the sight of the first footfall of Prince Charles on Welsh sand in 1955, singer David Grey.
Trail Officers favourite part: 'The sea, beaches and cliffs all the way round but if I have to pick one place it would be the cliffs of Stackpole and Pencamaes and the beaches of St Brides Bay'.
Nearest towns: Saundersfoot, Tenby, Pembroke, Pembroke Dock, Neyland Milford Haven, Broad Haven, Solva, Goodwick, Fishguard & Newport Pembs are all on the Trail. City of St David's 1.6km (1mile), Haverfordwest 9km (6miles), Cardigan 3km (2 miles), Carmarthen 48km (30 miles), Swansea 80km (50 miles), Cardiff 144km (90 miles).
Access: Cardiff is 2 hours from London Paddington by train and 45 minutes from Bristol by train. Cardiff to Carmarthen is 2 hours by train (Cardiff to Tenby is 2.5 hours,change at Tenby for a bus back to Amroth (40 mins)). Trains also go to Haverfordwest, Pembroke Dock, Milford Haven and Fishguard Harbour. Bus Carmarthen to Amroth via Pendine -1 hour. Bus Carmathen to Cardigan is 90 minutes. There are more buses to parts of the Trail from Haverfordwest (15 minutes away).
Information available: National Trail Guide by Brian John - Aurum Press ISBN 1-85410-770-4 cost £12.99. Video (£12.99), Tide timetable (75p), local accommodation, and circular walks packs from Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Education Department (01437 764 636.) Details on public transport from website or Pembrokeshire County Council enquiry line 01437 775227.
Contact for all information and advice: David Machlachlan, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, Winch Lane, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, SA61 1PY.
Telephone: 00 44 (0) 1437 764636. For walker information ask for Education Department, for route care information and reports ask for Recreation Department.
Website: www.nationaltrail.co.uk
For places to stay near this National Trail click here
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This page visited 15319 times since 28th April 2009
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Starry Starry Night, Look You – Dark Skies Tourism, South Wales | Mills and Hills in Central Lancashire, Lancashire | Get Fit on the North York Moors, North Yorkshire | A West Country Christmas – Dorset in December, Dorset | Nottinghamshire – Rural and Urban, Nottinghamshire | The Test Valley, Hampshire | Ashdown Forest, Sussex | The Rugged Northumberland Coast , Northumberland | The Resorts of North Devon, Devon | The Queen's London, London | Denbighshire , North Wales | York and Its Surrounds, North Yorkshire | The High Weald of Kent, Kent | Leisure, Luxury and Retail Heaven in Leeds , West Yorkshire | Rejuvenate Yourself in Rejuvenated Belfast , Belfast | Seasonal Fun in Brum, West Midlands | Autumn in the Southern Chilterns, Buckinghamshire | Cheshire Peaks and Plains, Cheshire | Essex’s Colne Valley, Essex | Cardigan Bay, West Wales | South Wales Valleys, South Wales | Highland Perthshire, Perthshire | South Downs National Park, Sussex | Royal Wedding London, London | Vale of Belvoir, Leicestershire | The Oxfordshire Cotswolds, Oxfordshire | Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire | Edinburgh at Christmas, Edinburgh and the Lothians | Marvellous Manchester, Greater Manchester | The National Forest, Derbyshire | East Lothian, Edinburgh and the Lothians | Regency Brighton and Hove, Sussex | Isle of Purbeck, Dorset | The Somerset Levels, Somerset | Llandudno, North Wales | Hereford, Herefordshire | Cheltenham, Gloucestershire | Bristol, the Great West City, Bristol | Weardale, County Durham | Festive London, London | Islay, Isle of Islay | Blackpool and the Lancashire Coast, Lancashire | The Vale of Evesham, Worcestershire | Land of the Prince Bishops, County Durham | The North Cornwall Coast, Cornwall | Torbay, Devon | Dumfries & Galloway, Dumfries and Galloway | West Highland Way, Argyll | Caithness and Sutherland, Highlands | Harrogate & its Surrounds, North Yorkshire | Sheffield, South Yorkshire
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