A Windy Good Bye

Friday - Newgale to Broad Haven
6.5 miles, 1220 ft elevation gain

We'd been a bit spoilt with the fantastic weather the last few days. So our last walk to Broad Haven felt a bit like an anti-climax. It was overcast and very windy again, so we layered up properly. Had a small brekkie of cold sausages and packed the tent and our sacks one last time.

Even considering the lack of sunshine and warmth, the coast wasn't as spectacular as it had been over the last view days. So we plodded on, fighting the at times fairly strong winds and walking steeply up and down much more than expected.

Just after 11am Broad Haven came into view. Here our week-long journey from Cardigan ended with a coffee and Welsh cakes. The weather was turning and we had only two days left. We would've never made it around the next big headland in such short time, so we called it a day here, with the promise to come back and pick up where we left the trail. 

The journey home to Bristol took almost 5 hours so we were happy to have had only half a day's walk before and not arrive too late.

Conclusion

Walking along the coast for a week may sound boring, but the varied geology, weather and challenge made for some interesting walking. We've done the most challenging part in the most challenging weather and looking back I have no idea how we made it. Mountain dimensions in mileage and elevation gain, paired with strong winds, heavy rain, high cliffs and narrow paths... I guess we just plodded on.

Proud of Rich and how he managed to keep going for hours despite every muscle hurting and being soaked to the bone. Baptism by fire on his first long distance trail ever! Glad he wondrously recovered over night so I could show him over the next few very sunny days why I love this so much.

We were quite early in the year which limited our choice of accommodation and more so wild life spotting. No puffins, no seals, no dolphins... Boo. We still had a fantastic time and will be back to do the rest of the path. 98 miles left plus the bit from Fishguard to Trefin we had to cut short due to no available accommodation.

Maybe next Easter maybe another time. but we will be back!