Memories of Gate building -
Memories of Spain May '10 -
Memories of Dartmoor -
Orienteering June ‘10 -
Memories of Pembrokeshire Coastal Path section 1 -
Memories of Pembrokeshire Coastal Path section 2 -
Memories of Gate Building
The 100th Gate at last
What an achievement, the 100th gate was installed on Friday 25th July '09. The 100th
gate day was good fun but the weather was not kind. The RWP and Sue ( Rights of Way
Officer) who walked with us on her day off, walked to the gate and Paul Hendry (
Chief Officer -
As you will have read on the "Work Party" page, Colin's team of gate installers have been hard at work but as we see here, installing the "Nelson" gate on the 200th anniversary of Admiral Nelson's death wasn't all strenuous activity. But hey I guess they deserve a break!
I think someone forgot the hip flask when the 50th gate was installed in December 2006. Serious stuff this gate building. And just in case you are thinking, this gate building looks fun, how about building mud pies instead.
"DARTMOOR'S GREATEST WALK" -
The second section consisting of stages 5, 6 and 7 was completed on Sunday 10th May 09 with the group being awarded their certificates of completion by Ian Kirkpatarick, Chief Bounder, and his wife Caroline. Brian Atkins was lucky enough to have his certificate number make him the 1100th Bounder.
The Pembrokeshire Coast Path (Llwybr Arfordir Sir Benfro) – Stage 1, September 2009
On Sunday 13th September, 20 of us set off for Newport (Pembs) to commence the first
stage of the 179-
Management of the trail is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, the Countryside Council for Wales and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority. Most of the route is on private land and the Authority acknowledges the support of many landowners including the National Trust and the MOD.
Day 1: A walk around Dinas Head on our arrival day to break ourselves in.
Day 2: The starting point was the slipway north of St Dogmaels, Cardigan where everyone posed on the ‘first footstep’. We walked from there to Moylegrove along a very fine wild stretch of coast with splendid high cliff scenery.
Day 3: Moylegrove to Newport, a long, lonely and wild stretch. The cliffs along the coast are high and craggy with jagged rocks, caves, arches and tiny inaccessible shingly beaches. We passed the Witches Cauldron and picnicked on the magnificent Newport Sands.
Day 4: Newport to Fishguard – excellent coast and cliff scenery.
Day 5: Fishguard (Goodwick) – a good, long, lonely stretch of excellent walking with wonderful views, stopping off for a photocall at Carreg Wasted, where a stone pillar commemorates the abortive French invasion of 1797. Continuing around Strumble Head with excellent views of the lighthouse, we finished our first stage at Pwll Deri. Below the cliffs we witnessed many Atlantic grey seals with their new babies and heard their amazing chorus.
Day 6: Homeward bound, we visited the Pentre Ifan burial chamber dating back to
4000 B.C., which lies on the slopes of the Preseli mountains and is reputed to be
one of the best examples of an early Neolithic tomb in the U.K. Our finalé was the
Walk of the Stonehenge Blue Stones at Mynachlog-
The mileage walked may not appear great but ascents and descents had to be taken into account!! We were very lucky with the weather – sunshine all the way. We were also very lucky to have David McGregor with us – he gave a very interesting talk on the geology of the area and the “bluestone enigma”.
Our accommodation and food at the Golden Lion in Newport is best described as Five Star plus plus. The holiday, which included door to shore transport, was arranged through an organisation called PLANED (Pembrokeshire Local Action Network for Enterprise & Development). It was established to improve the social and economic well being of the people and enhance the environment of Pembrokeshire and is part funded by the Countryside Council for Wales and the European Union Leader Programme. Within its umbrella it manages Greenways Holidays, a community enterprise, and we had superb support from Sarah Gerlach who will also be our contact for the second stage.
We will begin the second stage on Monday 7th June at Pwll Deri and finish at Newgale. There will be 22 of us – priority has been given to people who were on the first stage and it is already fully booked.
Pat Honeybone
SPAIN AGAIN – RETURN TO GRAZALEMA NATIONAL PARK
Wednesday 21st April -
Thursday -
Friday, We repeated our 2005 “Walk of Mr Henderson’s Railway” – re-
Our FREE DAY optional walk ‘The Walk of the Hidden Valley’ without doubt one of the Sierra’s most special walks into the heart of the Grazalema Park. The long walkers striding out from the hotel with the short walkers being taxied to the top of the pass El Puerto del Boyar.
“THE WALK OF THE GOATHERD'S LEAP” was the choice for Day 4: An outstanding walk with magnificent scenery connecting two of the prettiest white villages of Andalucia (Grazalema and Benaocaz) taking in the famous “Salto del Cabrero” (Goatherd’s Leap ) which in fact is a great cleft in the limestone rocks of a ridge . We witnessed masses of Griffin Vultures perched on the rocks, circling above us and overseeing a very large herd of goats with their new born in one of the goat farms en route. The wild flowers were unbelievable from Paeonies to Blue Iris to Bee Orchids etc……
THE 'WALK OF THE BAND0LEROS' another of the great walks in the national park albeit a very enduring one! We started off along an old drovers path before picking our way through rocky terrains and snaking our way around the flank of the Sierra de Benaojan with great views back to Ronda, climbing ups and downs to the most beautiful Libar valley. It was very easy to see how 19th century bandoleros and later persecuted Republicans were able to give the authorities the slip in this wild and rugged terrain. A long but fantastic walk with spectacular scenery and magical flora landscapes.
Our final walk, for which we had to obtain a special permit, was the LA Garganta Verde Walk (the green gorge) – A 400 metre deep limestone gorge with Europe's largest Griffon Vulture colony at the top and at the bottom ‘La Ermita’ a pink cave which was compared to a “landscape from another planet”. Some descended to the bottom whilst others climbed to a very high viewpoint to witness the impressive birds returning to and from their nests. Not only did we see vultures which have an 8 ft wingspan but many choughs and Eagles. A truly memorable day and a grand finale to our holiday.
Mention must be made to the hospitality extended from our host Andy Chappel and his wife Pauline of the Hotel Molino del Santo, Eva, Paco, Victor and all the staff, the attention, the wonderful dinners and two special evenings. One being our St George’s Day Celebration on the 23rd complete with national flags, a delicious cake, beautifully iced in white with the red cross depicted in strawberries and several of us being dressed in red/white. Colin commenced the readings with “I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start. The game's afoot: Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry 'God for Harry, England, and St George! ' followed by a rendering from our two chums from ‘north of the border’ who raised the roof with a Flanders & Swan “English are Best” and many more readings all adding up to a splendid evening. Finally, our last night was celebrated with the “Parade of the Paella” which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
Our special thanks to all, past and present Spanish walkers, we have enjoyed making our contributions, coming up with the ideas, planning, writing the scripts and most importantly a thank you to you all for playing your parts with enthusiasm and the great camaraderie amongst all. Pat & Colin
The Pembrokeshire Coast Path National Trail – Stage 2 – June 2010
An unforgettable experience walking along the cliff tops, enjoying the wild and spectacular coastal scenery ~ cathedral type archways, towering rock stacks rising out of stormy seas, precipitous ledges, spring flowers carpeting the cliffs, beaches, fishing villages and offshore islands with their wealth of marine and bird life and not forgetting the Welsh Ponies.
Day 1: A short walk in St Davids: a beautiful and unique city – the smallest in Britain although in reality the size of a village, situated within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. We visited the Cathedral, the ruins of the medieval Bishops Palace and a short walk to the Holy Well of St Non’s reputed to have healing and miraculous powers and which tradition says sprang up at the birth of St David.
Day 2: Pwll Deri to Trefin – 10 miles: Heavily fractured cliffs dominate this stretch, their bases gnawed by the sea creating splintered pinnacles, crevices, holes and arches. An awesome spectacle. A short detour to see the dolmen stone/cromlech, Carreg Sampson, a 5000 year old burial chamber with a capstone over 5m long. The capstone was reputed to be placed in position by Sampson, a contemporary of St David, using only his little finger which is said to be buried on the rocky island opposite.
Day 3: Trefin to Whitesands – 11.5 miles: A wild and rocky walk over some of the
oldest rock in Britain dating from the pre Cambrian period. En route we passed
Porthgain an unusual little harbour used for the export of slates, roadstone and
bricks during the period 1837-
Day 4: Whitesands to Caerfai – 8.5 miles: The path followed the cliff closely
with splendid views, southwards especially, and the off-
Day 5: Caerfai to Newgale – 9.5 miles -
Day 6: Home for some – others visited Ramsey Island, owned by the RSPB.
Our accommodation was at the Lochmeyler Farm Guest House where we were looked after
very well by Mrs Morfydd Jones: the holiday arrangements were again co-
A superb holiday with much camaraderie and ideal weather in spite of our first day in St Davids !
Stage 3: Newgale to Pembroke: First weekend in June 2011.
Pat Honeybone
Orienteering – FUN with Map & Compass
It’s never to late to learn and whether you are a regular rambler or a newcomer, Colin makes everyone very welcome on his fun days out with map and compass. A small group of us recently had a most enjoyable day at the Look Out Country Park, Bracknell. The centre is set in very pleasant surroundings and offers an amazing range of facilities for outdoor pursuits but we were not there to whiz through the tree tops on a zip wire our feet were firmly on the ground and our eyes glued to map and compass !
Our leader was very patient and soon the beginners amongst us had mastered the arrows
on the compass and able to take a reading. We practised our newly learnt skills
in a group taking turns to lead and Colin was on hand to give individual advice as
required -
The excellent cafe provided welcome refreshment at the beginning, middle and end of our satisfying and thoroughly enjoyable day out.
Colin hopes to organise more of these fun days out to suit our varying abilities. Do come and join us to improve your orienteering skills and get so much more out of a walk and, of course, hopefully not get lost !
Thank you Colin -