The Amazing Wales Coast Walk – Keeps Me Present

The gorgeous beach as part of the farm that my cousin Ray's wife's family owns - the start of my Coast Walk

On Thursday, now that I was staying right in the Coast National Park at my cousin Ray’s, what more could I do but to go on part of the Coast Walk which was right at my doorstep.

Looking back from the beach - paradise

The amazing round shale on the shore can be used to build anything

This Coast Walk is about 187 miles long, I think I read somewhere, and I walked all of about 8 miles of it.  I walked from Dina’s Head to Newport and then once in Newport, this great funky old town, I walked up the nearby ancient and significant mountain/hill – Carningli.

Heading off on the trail

Although it was foggy for the bulk of my day, that only added to the mystical feeling of the experience.  Apparently this Coast Walk is rated as one of the top three in the world only surpassed by one in New Zealand.  And yes it is a little different to walks in British Columbia where everything is so untouched and young.  There is something to be said about lands that have been significantly inhabited by man for over 2,000 years.  The way the history wreaks in these parts is amazing.  And I mean that in the kindest of terms.

Let the sign speak for itself

Ummm ... I wonder what this means?

Everything about the land and the coast feels ancients.  You know so many significant wars have been fought on these hills and valleys.  Many a person has died.  Many a family have struggled to survive and wilderness means an entirely different thing here.  You don’t have to worry about being confronted by a bear or a moose, but that doesn’t make the walk any less dangerous.  There are lots of opportunities to fall down perilous cliffs and make a wrong step.  But by and large you can see distances and embrace the tremendous rugged coastline that no matter how much of man’s presence is there, remains as always.

Here is the black sheep of the family - I thought I recognized myself

I found the walk so peaceful and specials.  What I noticed however was that at times I was so deep in my head thinking about things in the past or things of the future but not being in the present.  I would catch myself and make myself let go of those other things and just be in the present.  Because what is more important? The past, the future or the present?  Why the present of course.  What good are the other two?  You can’t do much about them.  You can’t go back to the past and you can’t do much about the future.  Heck you might not even reach it.  All you really have is the now.  So I kept bringing myself back to the present.  To the sounds, the smells, the experience.

Ahhh , how cute is this?

The birds were calling, the waves were surging and the fog horns were sounding.  From time to time the sheep were bleeping – or whatever they do.  All in all, it was pretty amazing and beautiful.

The consistently changing path

And this part of the path was just so quaint

Going up to the top of Carningli was amazing.

Carningli - yup - going up there

Mynydd Carningli is considered a small mountain or hill near the town of Newport in Pembrokeshire, southwest Wales.

Part of the old wall of the fort from times BC

It is less than 400 m high, but it is close to the coast and dominates the surrounding countryside. It is easy to climb but has a rocky summit and a steep scree slope on its southern and eastern flanks. The mountain has always had sacred associations — according to legend Saint Brynach (a local saint) used to climb to the summit to find serenity, to pray and to “commune with the angels” in the 5th century. In some old texts and maps the mountain is called Carn Yengly or Carnengli, which are probably corruptions of Carn Engylau. Strictly, this would be translated as “the rocky summit of the angels.” However, this derivation of the name is not universally agreed.

an ancient hut circle

The summit features a large and prominent archeological site. This hillfort, generally dated to the Iron Age and assumed to be from the first millennium BC. It covers an area of about 4 ha, and is about 400 m x 150 m in extent. The lower slopes of Carningli are covered with traces of Bronze Age settlement (Pearson 2001) and so some features of the hill fort may be even older. Although not one of the largest fortified sites in Wales, it is certainly one of the most complex, incorporating a series of substantial stone embankments, natural rock cliffs and scree slopes which may have been used as natural defences. Inside and outside the embankments there are terraced enclosures, hut circles and rectangles. There are around 25 hut circles at the North East end of the site, and on the other side there are three enclosures separated by embankments. Beneath the scree slope on the eastern flank of the mountain there are two further massive defensive embankments.

The ancient fort from below

I thought they were wild ponies but I understand they are just let to roam about - they look wild

Once you are up there and exploring you can see evidence of all this although not in a formal way.  You can get a real sense of rugged living and capability of conquering the land but living with it too.  I have to say, it was eerie and comforting all at once.

The quaint town of Newport