concertman

Pembrokeshire Coastal Path: Manorbier to Stackpool

Start with Day 1 of this walk Pembrokeshire Coastal Path: Saundersfoot to Manorbier

Let's just cut to the chase: Day 2 of this walk was brutal. We ended up cutting it short. It was still beautiful and a great walk but I just about didn't make it.

Screenshot of the Oridnance Survey website showing our path from Manorbier to Stackpool

You can view our route on the Ordinance Survey.

We started out the morning with a great breakfast at The Castlemead Hotel where we stayed and then has a quick little wonder around the grounds. This church was visible from the grounds.

A white church building with a talk bell tower showing between trees up on a hill

The trail started off at the beach on Manorbier Bay. Fortunately there wasn't any beach walking at this point. Walking on sand is tough!

Manorbier Beach on the left with the bay on the right. Some people wondering along the beach

It may not have started with beach walking, but it did start with some quick gains in elevation. Not hard, but what made it uncomfortable was that there was no wind and it was a bit humid.

Soon enough we were near the top of the first climb and could look back on the beach and Manorbier Bay.

Manorbier Beach in the distance with the blue water of the bay in the foreground and along the right. The sun is shining bright in a cloudless sky

We powered our way through the first stretch and got to the beginning of our first decent. This one down into a secluded beach with a sailboat anchored in the bay.

A wide angle view is the sea on the left. Straight ahead the trail leads down and to the right into a beach off in the distance

Looking down into a blue bay with a lone sail boat anchored in the bay. Off in the distance there is another long beach stretching along the coastline.

As we were getting closer to the beach we could see there were people enjoying the beach. As we got closer we could see that, in fact, they were all naked. 😏

So we made our way down the trail and started our way back up the other side.

From here the trail and the views were pretty similiar. Not many trees (no shade 🌞πŸ₯΅) and a lot of tall vegitation that blocked with breeze. Altogether it was starting off as a pretty hot one.

The trail running across the top of a cliff that drops off to the left down into the sea of bright blue water

After a while (and a long seemingly unending beach walk) we made it to our planned lunch stop of Freshwater East. We were hoping to find some shops to grab some more food and fill up our water, but there wasn't really much near the beach area. We found a restaurant with suitable items and grabbed a quick bite.

As we were leaving we had an immediate steep climb and half way up I started getting light headed. After sitting down for a minute I realised I was not doing well. Something I ate for lunch wasn't sitting well at all and I had very quickly lost all my energy.

Slowly, we made our way back down to the restaurant where we were able to grab a couple of comfy chairs and relax for a bit. It took me a while but after an hour or so I was finally able to start eating and drinking something again and my energy was coming back. It was touch and go for a bit and we had started looking for cabs to get us to our next stop. Fortunately that wasn't needed and we continued on.

We worked our way up the initial climb that I had failed earlier. At the top we were greeted by some horses that had found some shade and were enjoying an afternoon meal.

Horses in a field standing along the fence line all gathered under a tree for some shade.

So back onto the trail and more up and down.

On top of a cliff that drops off to the left down into the sea of bright blue water.

The trail following along the edge of a wheat field with the hills rolling off into the distance

Standing at the end of a crack leading from the sea down below up to the trail. Steep rock faces on both sides.

The trail following along the cliff overlooking the sea with rocks out in the water.

A small bay surrounded by landslips with lots of rocks all around the bay.

A rocky beach with a large bolder jutting out into the sea.

As the day went on we were getting more and more tired. We decided to take a short cut and make a quick way into Stackpool for a shower and dinner.

Road leading into Stackpool. The road is covered by trees and there's a sign for Stackpool

So we made it into our inn for the night. Of course at dinner we had to go all out.

Stuffed crab with chips and salad

And the next morning something to add back the protein.

Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon

And thus ended our Pembrokeshire Coast trail. At some point we'll probably do some more of the trail, but there's also a lot of coast around the UK.