DAY ONE
Amroth – Lydstep
Predicted Mileage : 11 Miles
Actual Mileage : 13.3 Miles (there was a food festival in Tenby!)
We set off at 5:20 this morning (thanks for the lift Mum!) and had the most beautiful weather we’ve seen all year (in true form, I’m already sunburnt). We had breakfast in The Wiseman’s Inn and pootled along to Saundersfoot and then Tenby – where we ate ALL the food. The next 6 miles were tough and fast as we’d already spent 2 and a half hours in Tenby. We were joined by Steve, a truly wonderful human who kept us company from Tenby. He too is walking the Path in its entirety, and we hope to meet up with him lots over the next couple of weeks. Right now I’m building a nest and Jamie is cooking up some pasta. We are going to sleep well tonight.
POST WALK NOTES: We made the rookie error of stopping for a mid-afternoon pint in Tenby… In 29 degree heat… After about 9 miles of walking and not feeding our bodies enough nuts or water. We learnt our lesson though and I don’t think we made this mistake again for the whole trip. We saved our celebratory pints for AFTER a long days walking (and after the tents were set up… it’s for the best).
DAY TWO
Lydstep – Broadhaven
Predicted Mileage : 14.5 miles
Actual Mileage : 15 miles
Today was rough and long. The heat never makes things easy but after yesterday it felt like it got to us a bit more (I’m now the colour of a Jar of salsa). We took a break in Manorbier at about midday to try and escape an hour and a half of the sun, we stocked up on lots of carbs (in the form of toasted sandwiches, cake and ice cream) and refilled our bottles and set off again. 4 miles later we indulged in an hour long swim and coffee break in Freshwater East. 11 miles in my dodgy knee showed its ugly face again, so the next 4 miles were really slow and painful. I cried twice and I am praying that plenty of ibuprofen, deep heat, KT tape and massaging will keep it at bay. Tomorrow is our longest day, so we’re resting our… everything, praying for a bit more breeze and some beautiful scenery. Goodnight!
- Things we didn’t account for:
- Heat rash – armpits, thighs, hips, bottoms… You name it
- Time needed to relieve our backs from our packs
- Time needed to pet dogs
- 23 million jellyfish
- How much ice cream we are going to end up eating
- Seriously achy feet
- All the horseflies when you come in land by 4 minutes
- The terrible ‘walking pole’ tan lines
- Attempting not to cry about your knees/feet/calf/shoulder pain 4 times a day
- Attempting not to cry over a cold pint after a long day (happy tears)
- Attempting to deal with losing 2 hours of sleepy time because your campsite neighbours are rather loud.
- Time needed for at least 2 swimming stops per day
POST WALK NOTES: This is where I should have ditched the KT tape and gone searching for a proper knee brace. In hindsight I should have packed my knee brace from the very start – it doesn’t weigh much and would have saved a lot of hassle. It’s definitely a mistake I won’t make again. This is also the day I forgot to reapply sun cream after our stop in Manorbier. Kids, sunburn is not cool, nor is it healthy. My ears actually ended up peeling about a week later, which has never happened to me in my life. Also just a quick note to say that the ladies in Beach Break Tearooms in Manorbier were the BEST. They let us set up base there for an hour and a half and had no problem with our weird food orders, or the fact that we took one of the bigger tables (so we had room for our ginormous bags) and sent us off with lots of smiles and full bellies.
DAY THREE
Broad Haven – Angle
Predicted mileage : 18 miles
Hannah’s mileage : 9.5 miles
Jamie’s mileage : 18.5 miles
After an early start we were quickly turned around – the first 8 miles were closed off due to the Castlemartin MOD firing range being in operation. The 8 mile detour took is though hot and humid country lanes and uneven farmland. Though relatively flat, my knee finally gave up for the day just before Freshwater West. This was the last spot for today with a bus to Angle, so we took the decision for Jamie to carry on with our new friend Steve, and I would hop on a bus to Angle, make camp and rest my knee.
The boys had a rough 8.5 mile route to Angle – the path was incredibly difficult with an abundance of sharp declines followed swiftly by tough inclines.
We all finished the evening off together with a hearty meal and an ice cold lemonade at The Old Point House. Those are our two longest days out of the way – So hopefully tomorrow will bring better news on the knee front!
Goodnight!
POST WALK NOTES: Even though day three didn’t quite go to plan, we were totally blown away by the beauty of Freshwater West. This was the first place we had come across that was part of the ‘2 Minute Beach Clean’ project and was one of the first beaches we drove back to after we finished the walk to help them pick up cigarette butts and coffee cups. Freshwater West was also home to the best burgers we found on the entire trek. Café Mor was a tiny burger shack set up in the beach car park. They had fresh bread rolls and hand made their own burger patties with laverbread! We have pencilled in at least three more visits before the summer is up!
DAY FOUR – SIX
Dale
Oh chickens, the knee is OUT.
I need to be a bit sensible (shock) and take a couple of days out. We’re skipping the next two days of solid tarmac city walking (definitely the part of the walk we weren’t looking forward to) and bypassing to Dale where we’ll set up camp until Friday morning.
Jack Childs will be joining us for a few days from there and hopefully with a monster knee brace (this is a new addition as of today and is taking a little bit of time to get used to), a lot of cold sea water and Ibuprofen Gel it’ll be smooth sailing for the rest of the walkies.
I feel like the biggest let down, mostly to Jamie who’s walking strength is absolutely phenomenal. Thank you for all of your kind words! It wouldn’t be an adventure without a little drama! All the love.
POST WALK NOTES: We actually had a killer time. We found Point Farm in Dale, which was a quiet, eco-friendly campsite with the best facilities we had found thus far. The showers were warm, there were charging points and we even had our own shelf in the fridge. We spent our rest days reading folk tales around the fire pit, exploring the little tucked away beaches and we even took the sea kayaks out for an afternoon. By the time Friday morning came around we were well rested and ready to push on for the rest of the walk.
H
The Feral Lady 