Walk 102

Withernsea to Hornsea 19miles

Withersea Lighthouse

Coastal Erosion

Today was the best day of the week weather wise, and you can see this by the 2 pics I have posted, both taken in Sunny Withernsea.  Someone described to me Withernsea as "a council estate by the sea!" and they were not wrong!! I have never seen so many "Hoodies" in such a small area!!!! 

So, onto the walk....I hopped onto the beach with the intention of walking most of the way to Hornsea, but due to the on rushing tide I had to abandon this idea at Monkwith. I was in a bit of a panic because of the tide, but fortunately I managed to find a spot to scramble up the cliff before I was caught out!  The only reason I could climb up the cliff was due to the coastal erosion in this area and my  pic highlights this problem!!!

 The rest of today's walk was along roads through the villages of Hilston, Garton, Aldborough and Mapleton and then finally Hornsea.  Hornsea is a nice little town and 100% better than Withernsea

Withernsea Seafront

Walk 101

Kilnsea to Withernsea 18miles

The Westmere Farm B&B I stopped in last night is the best accommodation so far on my travels. The hosts Sue and Andrew could not do enough for their guests, right down to the packed lunch I was given just before I left!!!!  The first part of today's walk was the 7 miles to the end of Spurn Point and back, things were going well and I managed to take a pic of the lighthouse, which looks a bit tatty at the mo but I have been reliably informed that it is to be renovated soon.  The weather soon turned and as I rounded the point the rain was lashing down complete with a fierce wind!!! however as I trudged along the beach I saw something move out of the corner of my eye, and there in the long grass was a small Deer I couldn't belive how far onto Spurn
Point it was, it must have been lost!!!  I guess in the weather it was thinking the same about me!!!!  I walked on back into Kilnsea and then picked up the road to Easington, I had no choice today than to roadwalk all the way to Withernsea as the tide was very high, and this was born out on my second pic taken from Holmpton looking back towards Kilnsea.

Walk100

Hull (Heddon) to Kilnsea  23 Miles

Its May, its cold, its wet and windy so I must be on the East Coast again!  A treat for me this week was that I was able to catch a flight to Leeds in order to get to my start point in Hull, mind you it did take another 2 buses and a train to get to this point!!!  By the time I reach Heddon the weather is much better, so I hop onto the road for a mile and then pick up a path along an estuary which takes me down to Paull where I took a pic of the lighthouse which is now someones home!  The one thing that struck me about Paull was that even though it is only a small village it has a lot of pubs, there must be 1 for every 10 people that live there!! :) All of today's walk was along the north bank of the Humber, passing through Skeffling, Easington and finally onto Kilnsea.  I did have a couple of problems today, the first was with the route being closed a mile before Hawkins Point, but fortunately the foreman let me walk on as there wasn't anyone working today. Just after Hawkins Point there is an interesting monument marking the point of 0 degrees latitude, so I took a pic to mark the occasion of passing through it !!  The second problem was just before Skeffling where I thought I could cross at a sluice but I was mistaken and so had a lengthy detour upstream and then through high high wheat fields, nettles and long grass in order to get back on track. Today I heard my first Cuckoo of the spring and I also saw a short eared owl but I couldn't get my camera out quick enough to take a photo !! :(

Walk 99

Bosherton to Angle 15miles

Today was a quick march to Angle where I had to catch the only bus on a Monday in order to get my train home! The day didn't start too well though as I managed to get lost on the Castlemartin estate, I decided to follow a route marked by sign posts but not on the map....big mistake you could of found me that morning quite easily by listening out for a loud voice uttering various expletives in a farmers field!!! Anyhow I managed to find my way back onto the correct route which is basically the road around the Castlemartin Artillery range and on through Castlemartin itself. The route then took me onto the beach at Freshwater West which is where they filmed various Doctor Who and Harry Potter scenes !(see pic) Shortly after Freshwater West I caught up with an interesting young woman who is running 39 marathons in 42 days for charity, which is the whole of the Welsh coast(including Offas Dyke). We had a good chat and I donated to the £25,000 she is trying to raise....here is the link please donate yourself www.dragonrun1027.wordpress.com/....... many thanks. The rest of the walk to Angle took in the sights and sounds of the various Oil refineries at Milford Haven.

Walk 98

Tenby to Bosherton 18miles

A clear crisp 1st April morning greeted me first thing, and the first order of the day was the 2 mile walk across the beach at Tenby which was lovely!!! Once around the headland I could see exactly where I had to walk to today and that can be a very daunting sight at the start of a days walk!!! The first bay you reach after Tenby is Lydstep Bay which sounds very nice but is in fact a caravan site butted up against a shingle beach....Yuch!!! I then had a small detour around the barracks at Manorbier before dropping down onto the lovely bay at Manorbier Beach (see pic). Next up was Swanlake bay and then Freshwater East (see pics), the fantastic scenery was coming thick and fast and so were the people!!! for 2 days I had hardly seen a soul out walking but today....you couldn't swing a cat without hitting someone!! The terrain was a little bit up and down, but a whole lot easier than yesterday. Finally I made it tho the military ranges at Castlemartin, and to my horror( where despite there being warning signs every 20 yds telling you not to stray from the path due to the possibility of unexploded debris) dog walkers were letting their dogs run freely in and out of the danger areas!!! I was waiting for the "bang" and bits of flying dog :(

Walk 97

St Clears to Tenby 20miles

Today started with what I thought was going to be a trudge to Pendine along busy roads, but I was pleasantly surprised when every now and then a Wales Coast Path sign popped up directing me along various farmers fields and saving me from a car squishing! The first port of call was Laugharne with its spectacular castle perched on a hill(see pic), just after this I picked up the "Dylan Thomas Birthday Walk" which was very well sign posted and had a lot of interesting info about this famous Welsh poet. Next stop was Pendine sands which I was reliably informed was the home of the land speed record, I took a pic just to show how big the beach is! And so, the main business of the day was upon me, 10 miles of hills and steps the like of which I haven't seen since deepest Cornwall! though I was relishing the challenge especially after a week of walking through Lincolnshire!! First up was the trek to Amroth this 3.6miles was pretty gruelling as one valley alone had 121 steps to the top!!!! but I was loving it :) :) At Amroth I picked up the Pembrokeshire National Trail and I was surprised by the lack of signage for such an important coastal path, I couldn't quite believe the total lack of interest. Anyhow I strode uphill and down dale through Wisemans Bridge, Saundersfoot, Monkstone Beach and finally on into Tenby. Tenby is another town I haven't visited for may years(12 to be precise!) and once again it was a total let down since my last visit, talk about shabby and full of drunken kids.....where did it all go wrong.................(perhaps a Mr T Blair would like to stand up and be counted for this problem!!!!)

Walk 96

Carmarthen to St Clears 15miles

A walk through town took me to the castle at Carmarthen(see Pic), this was followed by a stroll down the high street and on to the river Towy, which I would follow downstream and then pick up the river Taf upstream to St Clears. Today was a mixture of roads and fields plus trying to make sense of the new signs for Wales coast path which were not marked on my slightly old map. Just before Llanstephan I managed to hop onto the beach and was able to walk around the headland, here I took a pic of the castle on the hill. The path then wound around the castle grounds and I had my lunch overlooking the river Towy(very nice indeed!) The rest of the walk was along fields and country lanes, on the outskirts of St Clears I met a couple of council workers who just happened to be in charge of 84 miles of the Wales coast path, we had a good chat and I pointed out a couple of places that signs were missing and they were very gratful for the feedback. It was nice to meet the people behind the hard work that has gone into making this continuous path possible!