Tuesday 30 April
East Angle to Pembroke
Another soggy day in my home county, Pembrokeshire. Not exactly the dry, balmy weather I'd hoped for but crack on soldier!! Despite the deluge I knew that today was going to be nostalgic as I'd be walking beside many childhood memories. As a family, when I was growing up, our special days were Sundays, the only day my dad had off from work. In the summer we spent it on the river in our 15ft, clinker-built, ex-Navy/RAF tender which was powered by a noisy outboard engine. Depending on the tide times we'd either go up-river or, better still, down to Angle to swim and picnic at West Angle Bay or go cockling off the boat, on the mudflats, at low tide. Very Swallows & Amazons!! The sun always seemed to shine in my memory!! In the other seasons we walked the abundant quiet lanes, picking blackberries and sloes or foraging for mushrooms. Sometimes we even found the odd pheasant snared by some poacher - we had been known to release the poor, dead creature (& later eat it, roasted!!) This was the setting for today's walk.
So eager was I to start that I forgot to switch on my gizmos or get Denise to get out of the car (in the pouring rain) and take a start photo. Needless to say, she didn't remind me!!
I'd walked almost a mile before I remembered to switch on & take a photo!
At this time I'd been sheltered by trees but, as I carried on I decided to use my umbrella to keep the worst of the rain off.
Fortunately the wind was a mere puff compared to yesterday.
My route took me all the way round the edge of the bay, not particularly to report other than the incongruity of the massive Valero Oil Refinery dominating the skyline. I felt and still feel sorry for the residents of Rhoscrowther and Pwllcrochan; the installation was large when first built when I was a young teenager - it has grown even larger since then.
As I walked past Sawdern Point I turned and took a picture of my Start Point (see green arrow)
Angle village, Angle Point and the lifeboat station are barely visible in the rain and mist. As for a view down the haven of the Stack Rock Fort and Dale Fort on the northern shore at the mouth of the haven, they were shrouded in a cloak of mist.
I walked on towards Popton Fort which was completed in 1864 as part of the inner line of defence of Milford Haven. It has tapering hexagonal ramparts with pentagonal bastions at the angles. It is surrounded by a large clear area of sloping ground to the front, and a ditch on the south side. It comprised two batteries, Moncrieff Battery on the west side and Open Battery on the north. It was abandoned at the start of the 20th century it was used again by the military during the Second World War. It was ought in 1957 by BP to be used as an oil terminal & was renovated but was closed to the public. It is now part of Valero's Angle Bay Refinery & still closed to the public.
https://radio.bfbs.com/catchup/bfbs-afternoon
After the interview I headed down the path and yes, it went down, to go up, to come down, . . . you get the idea.
Nostalgia hit me as I came upon Bulwell Bay. I well remember as a child/youth mooring in or near the bay at low tide and squelching around in the mud picking cockles. You could feel them with your toes so could then bend down, pick them up, give them a bit of a wash and throw them in a bucket. We'd take them home, let them soak in salt water for a day or so to clean them and then cook & eat them!! Yummy, especially when bottled in vinegar.
I'd taken the coastal path that skirted round the refinery. The going was ok, a little soggy underfoot with some smallish puddles and a little slippery descending and climbing so I had to take care. I was quite pleased then to be finished with the jetties as I made my way under the pipelines carrying the fuel to the refinery. I took a photo of Pembroke Dock, some way up-river shrouded in mist and rain like everything else. Then I started to ascend again, walking up towards the fields above the treeline.
Just when I thought it was safe and I was out of the soggy path I ended up in the mire!!
I laughed it off.
"Oh well, never mind", I thought, "I'll soon be walking on a nice grassy field"
Well, you know what thought did?
It found me some cattle!!
Thanks to the rain the sloping field that they were grazing was a more a sloping lake. They had obviously trampled around quite a bit and churned the ground up quite badly all over the field. They ignored me and I ignored them from behind my umbrella!! All I had to do was exit the field and find my next prehistoric fortification. Both proved difficult. This was the gate I had just come through and the fortification was through another, equally muddy, gateway to my right! I decided the fortification could go un-bagged!!
I made my way down the muddy lane to Rhoscrowther church with the view of the refinery burning off excess gas!!
Blot on the Landscape springs to mind.
I guess this is the price we pay for our modern conveniences!!
The next bit of my walk I decided to keep to the road and not dice with mud-baths on the coastal path. As I was walking southwards up onto the ridge again the wind, such as it was, was full in my face and the rain was battering me.
At the top of the ridge I headed eastwards along a very minor road. The road undulated and became a typical quiet Pembrokeshire lane with high banks topped with hedging and surrounded by woodland each time it dipped down towards sea-level.
The wild flowers were stunning and I saw my first wild orchid of the year.
Each time I crested the ridges I was rewarded with panoramic views.
I even saw the P&O ferry as she made her way up haven to Pembroke Dock.
Bet it wasn't much of a pleasure cruise yesterday!!
I didn't stop for anything to eat for a couple of reasons; firstly it was raining so nowhere dry to to sit (or even stand), secondly, with all the waterproof coverings, umbrella etc to cope with it was just too much trouble to unpack my sandwiches!!
Before I knew it I had passed Monkton Priory and was making my way towards Pembroke Castle.
This spectacular and forbidding castle was the home of the earls of Pembroke for over 300 years and the birthplace of Henry VII, the first Tudor king.
Most of the present buildings date from the 13th century. The oldest part of the complex is the looming keep, dating to 1204. Next to the keep is the Dungeon Tower, where you can peer into a dank, dark prison cell.
Nearby, with access through the Northern Hall, are steps to Wogan Cavern, a large natural cave that was partially walled in by the Normans and probably used as a store and boathouse.
According to research carried out in 2022 the cave was occupied by residents as far back as the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Periods
In the room in which he is believed to have been born, in 1457, a tableau commemorates Henry Tudor (Harri Tudur), who defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to become Henry VII.
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