Lovely days on the Pembrokeshire coastal path

„Take warm sweaters. It’s always cold in Wales“, Helen had advised us. Hiking on the Pembrokeshire coastal path with a tent, we planned to be only outdoors for two weeks. We packed all the raingear, warm underwear, and gloves, expecting the worst.

Lovely day!

At 17 degrees and a hint of light rain, we shiver, lamenting that we didn’t bring our woollen hats for the day trip to Blaenavon. But the woman with the shopping bag waiting for the bus next to us smiles: “Lovely day, innit? So sunny!”

“Lovely day!” It’s a standard greeting among the walkers, and indeed the cliffs shine in bright sunlight, there is no cloud to be seen. Manorbier beach is full of holiday makers sitting in folding chairs.

Children build sandcastles with specialised buckets in turret shape. We wouldn’t think of dipping into the ice-cold water, as some do. But the British vacationers, we noticed, have sensibly brought their wet-suits.

On the Pembrokeshire coastal path

After a week of walking along the Pembrokeshire coast, the sunny weather still holds. “Lovely day,” we smile at the day trippers. “Isn’t it – it’s not so hot today!,” an elderly woman in a pink summer dress replies.

In a café in Solva, one of the customers nods understandingly at our backpacks. “Strenuous stretch from Newgale, isn’t it.” She then recounts that the weather was fine, too, when she walked the Coast Path a few years ago. “It doesn’t really rain as much here as most people believe,” a shopkeeper insists: “We’ve hardly any rain for weeks!”

For two weeks, we walk in sunshine and a pleasant breeze. Perhaps the Welsh bad weather is just a rumour, or we were just lucky – admittedly, it did rain the day after we had finished our walk. The only drawback was a heavy backpack full of gear we didn’t need.

Later, we hiked some similar long-distance paths in Scotland – both in really bad weather. Nonetheless, we loved them both: The West Highland Way was absolutely magnificent. And the Hebridean Way – on the Western Isles – was so lonely and remote but also grandiose that we practically wanted to move there!

NB: Our trip to UK and hiking the Pembrokeshire coastal path was not sponsored in any way. We paid all the expenses ourselves.