Day 14: Fishguard to Newport
Two days for the price of one in this entry. What good value!
Days 13 and 14 continued through some stretches of the path that are relatively familiar to us both, taking us around the lighthouse at Strumble Head, past Goodwick and Fishguard, and on further north towards Newport.
The two days were very contrasting in terms of weather-hot sunshine on Thursday, followed by rain (quite heavy at times) on Friday. Strangely enough, it was the rain that we both found more enjoyable to walk in - far more refreshing!
We were dropped off at Pwllderi on Thursday morning by Maggie and Jonathan, who, along with Lorna, then drove onto Strumble Head and walked back to meet us.
We had lunch with them on a grassy slope overlooking the lighthouse, and they continued walking on with us for a short while, before turning back. They did however leave us with a mission, to find the stone that marks the place of the last invasion of the UK, close to Fishguard. We succeeded - photographic evidence below!
We soon dropped down into Goodwick, where we stopped for a quick drink at the Glendower (pub number 17), before making our way up the hill to Fishguard, and to James' parents Nicola and Nigel's house, where we were staying tonight. After a brief visit into town to The Royal Oak (number 18) to catch up with The Bear (Matthew Griffiths), along with his mum Breda and his two little cubs Joseph and Grace, we returned to a lovely meal cooked by Nic (in the same way that we have found with Dan's mum Sheila, you can't beat a bit of home cooking!), and took the opportunity to bore her and Nige, along with James' brother Josh and his girlfriend Jo, with some of the inane videos that we have taken during the walk.
The next morning, after bacon and eggs prepared by James, we set out in overcast and drizzly conditions towards Lower Fishguard, where Dan spotted 'Sanity', his Dad's old sailing boat, sitting in the harbour. With its mast up, it looked like it was being well used and well looked after by the new owners, which was great to see - he would have wanted it to go to a good home, and for someone to get as much enjoyment out of it as he always did.
We followed the road up the hill and past the fort, as the weather really started to close in and the rain became heavier. We had our waterproofs on though (both on us and our bags!), and as we mentioned earlier, it was actually quite nice. We don't think that the groups of people huddled in small caravans at the cliff top holiday park we passed just after Fishguard would agree with this observation however!
We stopped off for a quick pint and to dry off at The Sailors Safety in Pwllgwaelod (number 19!) where we bumped into Dean Drummond, an old school friend that we hadn't seen for a few years, and when we came out, the rain had stopped. We continued to the pretty village of Cwm-yr-Eglwys, where we enjoyed a lunch of meat pie and ham rolls prepared by Nic.
At this stage, our destination of Newport was already in sight across the bay, but it was a little deceptive and it was about another 3 or 4 miles (complete with lots more of these ups and downs that we are getting accustomed to!) over the headland and past the seafront and yacht club into the town.
Whilst Dan enjoyed a long soak in a hot bath, James took the opportunity to go and visit his Nan, who lives in the town.
We ended the day with a few drinks in The Castle and The Royal Oak (numbers 20 and 21!), where we also had a curry. The Oak has a good reputation for specialising in Indian food, but we found it overpriced and not brilliant - average food that took over an hour to arrive, and then they had to refund our money for the naan breads we had ordered as they had run out.
Also in the Oak were a couple that are also walking the path, and who we had bumped into a number of times before over the last few days. It was nice to have a chance to sit down and have a chat with them properly and compare stories and experiences from the walk, although it did mean that we went to bed a little later than planned given the long day tomorrow.
Well, we are definitely on the final straight now, and contrary to what a few doubters (who will remain nameless!) may have thought, it looks like the bodies are going to carry us through and that we are going to make it. Having said that however, we have found throughout the walk that quite often the toughest part of a day's walking is the final few miles when we have the day's destination in sight and seemingly within reach. With this in mind, and with a 16 mile stretch to St Dogmaels (that everyone says is the toughest day of all) still to go, we don't want to count our chickens just yet...
Tight calves!
Dan and James
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