Pembrokeshire Coastal Path
| Pembrokeshire Coast Path | |
|---|---|
View from the Pembrokeshire Coast Path on Marloes peninsula
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| Length | 300 km (186 mi) |
| Location | Wales |
| Designation | UK National Trail |
| Trailheads |
Poppit Sands, near St. Dogmaels, Ceredigion 52°05′21″N 4°40′56″W / 52.0891°N 4.6822°W Amroth, Pembrokeshire 51°44′02″N 4°38′52″W / 51.7340°N 4.6477°W |
| Use | Hiking |
| Hiking details | |
| Season | All year |
The Pembrokeshire Coast Path (Welsh: Llwybr Arfordir Sir Benfro), also often called the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, is a designated National Trail in Pembrokeshire, southwest Wales. It was established in 1970, and is 186 miles (299 km) long, mostly at cliff-top level, with a total of 35,000 feet (11,000 m) of ascent and descent. At its highest point – Pen yr afr, on Cemaes Head – it reaches a height of 574 feet (175 m), and at its lowest point – Sandy Haven crossing, near Milford Haven – it is just 6 feet (2 m) above low water. Whilst most of the coastline faces west, it offers – at varying points – coastal views in every direction of the compass.
The southern end of the path is at Amroth, Pembrokeshire. The northern end is often regarded as being at Poppit Sands, near St. Dogmaels, Pembrokeshire, where the official plaque was originally sited but the path now continues to St. Dogmaels, where a new marker was unveiled in July 2009. Here the path links with the Ceredigion Coast Path, which continues northwards.
The Pembrokeshire Coast Path forms part of the Wales Coast Path, an 870-mile (1,400 km) long-distance walking route around the whole coast of Wales from Chepstow to Queensferry, which was officially opened in 2012.
Following the establishment of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in 1952, Welsh naturalist and author Ronald Lockley surveyed a route around the coast. Although there were villages and settlements on the coast, communication between these was largely by boats, and access in the region was generally poor. Lockley's report for the Countryside Commission in 1953 was welcomed and broadly adopted. Some sections of the walk were existing rights-of-way, but the majority were in private hands, necessitating negotiation. Most landowners were in favour, and many benefitted from the erection of new fencing. Even today, however, the path in places detours from the obvious line where landowners were unwilling to accept a new right-of-way across their land.
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Wikipedia