Day 090: Westdale Bay to Broad Haven
Distance: 14.66 miles
Ascent: 8269 feet
Weather: Overcast
Accommodation: The ANchor Guesthouse
I woke up in the tent after a good night’s sleep, and on opening the tent flap the dramatic cliffs opened up in front of me. I packed up quickly and set of just after 7, and climbed the short distance up to the path, where I could see the sunrise over Dale which was a stunning start to the day.
The first part of the day felt fairly remote up on the cliffs with a couple of steepish descents down the little valleys. It was a lovely path with Skomer slowly becoming more visible, and in fact a fairly easy stretch to Martins Haven. Boats heading to Skomer leave from here and there was a little Wildlife Trust hut here where I was able to get a little tea and read about the puffins, I was slightly tempted to get on the boat to go and see some of them but decided it best to head on and get to Broad Haven early. This little hut was quite useful as I would be passing no shops, cafes, pubs all day until reaching my end point.
The path continued in a similar way, though now slightly steeper but still incredibly scenic. I was very fortunate to manage to creep up on a peregrine falcon getting within about 30m and it was great to watch it and see it finally swoop off.
After several miles the path reaches St Brides Haven, which appeared to attract quite a few people, and had a nice church, lovely little quaint bay and a large castle which I think may now be a hotel. It also had something I hadn’t seen on the walk and in fact not sure I had seen before a disable friendly picnic table where one side was designed to be easier for wheelchair users.
Again, the path continued in a similar vein undulating up and down still incredibly scenic. Just shy of Little Haven I came across a little group of gannets hunting only a couple hundred meters from the cliffs. It was fascinating watching them slowly glide along fairly low to the sea surface then switch back and dramatically climb in height hover for a fraction of a second and then plummet like an arrow straight into the sea breaking the surface with a small splash. I watched them for about 20 minutes.
At Little Haven as it was low tide I dropped down to the beach which was very busy by the standards I had got used to and I was able to walk around to Broad Haven where I met Rob and Jen again who had very kindly booked a B&B and after doing a bit of admin we had a lovely dinner together. We said our goodbyes as I would likely be leaving before they were up in the morning.
So a short but scenic day, and now to get ready for some horrible conditions tomorrow.
