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Thursday 19th September
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| View south towards St.David's Head |
After a later
start because of the rain in the morning, we headed north of St. David’s to
Strumble Head. On the way, we stopped at Croes-goch, where John Knapp Fisher,
now 82, had his gallery in an earth red painted stone bungalow near the main
road. We saw many of the paintings, or at least large reproductions of them, in
the book about his artwork in Pembrokeshire Munros Man had bought at Oriel y
Parc. The artist was there. He looked a bit frail, but is still painting strong
and asked if we knew when the weather was clearing. Presumably he hoped to get
out later and do some art work, if not walk the dog. The gallery was in two small
rooms of the downstairs of the bungalow. He had a big plan chest of drawers
with numerous notes and sketchbooks. Near the entrance, scrapbooks of press
cuttings. I thought of my painter and printmaker father.
Leaving the
gallery, we turned off the main road and followed the smaller, more fiddly
lanes north towards Strumble Head. Parked in the car park on the east side of
Garn Fawr, which was still shrouded in fog when we got there. Then, the weather
quickly improved, the coast revealing itself. Followed the paths round the
south side of Garn Fawr and down to the coast path near the youth hostel. This
walk harder going than the ones around St. David’s Head and Solva earlier in
the week, so didn't walk as far. The first bit was a narrow path, with wet long
grass. Don't know whether it was the geology - Ordovician volcanics, but it
made for more steeper, more undulating terrain. Some of the slopes were
slippery after the rain. We didn't see many other people on the coast path here
as around St. David’s. Most of them were at Strumble Head itself where there
was another car park.
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| Garn Fower |
The views
were good, though, and we saw some more grey seals in the remote coves beneath
the steep cliffs. Could see St.David's Head in the distance to the south, Carn
Llidli and the other gabbro outcrops here prominent on the skyline. Behind us
was Carn Fawr. Tried to sketch the Strumble Head lighthouse over lunch, but cold
in the wind. Better views of lighthouse further along the coast path, on a rock
islet, linked by a bridge. Sketched near
the gate up to the lighthouse. We couldn't go through it, but we saw some seals
in the cove beneath it.
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| Grey seal beneath Strumble Head |
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| Strumble Head lighthouse |
For
simplicity, we walked back along the road, rather than reversing the walk along
the coast. Though much quicker, it was no fun. The road was very narrow, with a
tiresome number of cars, even off the route to Strumble Head, going steeply up
the hill up to the fort at Garn Fawr. It was also sheltered from the wind and
hot going up the hill in the sun. Glad to finally be off the road, we climbed
the last steep bit up to Garn Fawr (213m). From the top, a view across the
fields and farms to the lighthouse. Here, we reflected on a good week away and
ideas for future holidays, Pembrokeshire well worth another visit. This one had
been long overdue.
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| Strumble Head from Garn Fawr |
