Pembrokeshire Coastal Path: Saundersfoot to Manorbier

I had mentioned at the beginning of the year that I had wanted to do some serious walks and hikes this year. I had the goal of walking 1000 miles this year. Well that was a bit, well..., ambitious to say the least. I've been averaging 2.1 miles per day. To get to 1000 I'd need to do at least 2.8.

Anyway, last week Mary and I escorted a group of kids (ours included) out to camp in south Wales and had made the decision to take a couple days and walk part of the Pembrokeshire Coast Trail.

You can view our route on the Ordinance Survey.

We got into Kilgetty the night before and stayed at The Manian which was really nice. It's a little out of the way but still very nice.

The next morning we got up, had breakfast and took a cab to the beginning of the trail for us (it was a couple miles away and we didn't want to spend our morning energy on road walking).

Once we got there we were greeted by some well posted signage.

We had a nice chat with another couple coming down the trail. They gave us some tips as to what to look out for and be aware of and then we were on our way. Immediately it started off with an incline and into some up and downs which would continue through out most of both days.

Within the first few minutes we were rewarded with our first view of the coast

The wooded trail during this part of the trail provided some wonderful shade during this part of the trail.

After a while the trail leveled off a bit and opened up into the first bit of farmland we were to cross. This provided some more wonderful views.

Before long we were greeted with our first views of Tenby, Wales, which would mark the halfway point of the first day, and were we would stop for lunch.

Even though we could see Tenby on the coast we still had a ways to go. It included some more technical parts getting back down to the coast line.

After a bit more we came to some more pastureland and the trail opened into what I think was probably the best view of the trail. It was a wide open pasture that gently curved down towards the coast and the town of Tenby. That allowed for some amazing views of the village and surrounding area. There were a few people who were even sitting in the field enjoying the view with a picnic.

After a bit more pastureland and some downhill we came across this view.

At first we though, "Oh this looks cute!". It's very fairtale-esque. And that also means it's very deceiving. It just kept going. Up and up, and on and on. We had to take a couple breaks on the way up.

Make it up that part of the trail and we were rewarded with finally making it into Tenby.

At that point it was time for a bit of lunch and little rest. We couldn't take too long though because we still had a long ways to go to get to our hotel for the night.

Leaving Tenby to the west lead to what was one of the worst parts of the trail. It started off with a really long beach walk. Walking a long ways on sand is just not fun. It's tiring. It takes way more energy. And this beach was super busy as well.

This then lead to an equally long paved path along the side of the A4139. Really not much interesting and if there was a way to skip it we probably would have.

Finally we made it off the road and back onto the trail. First through a field and then onto a long upwards through more pastureland.

We were getting closer to Manorbier and it was getting late in the day. This is when the path became the most technical. There were mulitple parts where the up and down parts of the trail were greater than 45 degrees.

At that point it was time to head back inland to make our way to our hotel for food, a good shower and sleep.

We got settled into The Castlemead Hotel in Manorbier. After a long day it was time for some rest and getting ready to continue on the next day!