St Davids Weekend Report

Once again Doug has organised another great weekend away, this time enjoying some of the coastal delights offered to us by St Davids.

We started the weekend by gathering at the YHA Youth Hostel in St Davids. We used the new annex in the hostel. It is somewhere I have stayed a couple of times previously, but the new Annex is an excellent addition to what has always been a basic but charming smaller hostel.

Doug cooked the evening meal on Friday, a vegetarian Chocolate chili and rice, and after drinking a reasonable amount of wine and beer, Steve introduced us to some Party Games. Most notable was Cereal Boxing, a simple game of elimination where the contenders had to pick up an empty cereal box with their teeth, keeping both feet on the ground and not falling over. After each round an inch was cut from the top so making the feat of agility and balance more difficult. The game was a draw between Steve and Doug, when all that was left of the carton was a small piece of cardboard.

Eventually the full compliment of Doug, myself (Rob), Steve, Cat and Graham from the Trekkers were joined by Chris, Raquel, Anne, Matt and Nick from the Black Country walking group.

The weekend walks were made up of two classic walks taking in stretches of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, on Saturday we walked from the city centre of St Davids out towards St Non's well and then picked up the coastal path and followed this as far as St Justinian and the lifeboat station. We then turned inland and back towards St Davids. We were outstandingly lucky with the weather, dispite the forecast being somewhat fierce, we were only hindered by a few sharp showers that emptied down on us, but we were spared the persistent rain that was threatened. We were rewarded by fantastic views of the islands of Skomer and Grassholm in the distance as well as Ramsey Island and the angry swirling torrents of Ramsey Sound. On our return, we had some time to contemplate the majesty of the Cathedral and its somewhat eccentric archtecture.

That gave us some time to unwind and prepare for a night out in St Davids. Some of the contingent entertained themselves with a game of Trivial Pursuit, while others took some time out to relax for a while. The taxi booked for 7.15 came along at 8.00. We must remember we are in Pembrokeshire and the generally chilled atmosphere means not too much attention is paid to precision timepieces, and headed down to the Farmers for some desparately needed food and drink. The food was reasonably priced, well prepared and plentiful, you can't really ask for more than that, and we left the pub well satisfied.

On Sunday, we enjoyed a somewhat shorter walk from the Youth Hostel itself, around the side of the rocky outcrop of Carn Llidi that serves as a backdrop to the hostel and back along the coast towards Whitesands Bay stopping off to investigate some of the bays and headlands along the way. We induldged ourselves on an ice cream at Whitesands and some of us braved the winds and headed towards to the top of Carn Llidi. We were rewarded by some outstanding views of the St Davids Peninisula thanks to the fantastic clarity of the air.

After sorting out the Hostel, we all departed, the Black Country mob having a five hour journey ahead of them to get up to Stafforshire from the most westerley point in Wales. Doug and I, since we were somewhat closer to home, took the opportunity to call in the Gwaun Valley near Fishguard, (well a detour really) to visit one of the most Famous Pubs in Wales, the Dyffryn Arms in Pontfaen and Bessie the Landlady. On asking Bessie what Beer she had in she replied "Well that Beer!", pointing a finger at one of the pints she had just served to one of the other customers who had arrived there at the same time. There is only one Beer (it was Bass by the way) served in Bessie's, carefully served from a jug. This place is special and defies description, for more information on this little gem read this article.

It was another one of those weekends when everything came together helped by the typical Pembrokeshire weather. It is place I have visited many times, and I do not expect to tire of visiting the area any time soon.