Solva - Friday 4th February 2022
On Friday 4th Feb at 10.00am 18 keen Ramblers met in Solva car park (which is free to park this time of year), todays walk was 7.5 miles with the option to cut off at 5 miles.
We crossed the footbridge over the River Solva and followed the coast path signs bearing right uphill (there seemed to be quite a few uphills on this walk - infact in total we covered 1,339 ft of ascent). We eventually ended up on the top of the Gribin with some wonderful views over the harbour and a beautiful high tide. We continued following the coastpath around past an ancient settlement site, a very steep down, aided by steps then over a bridge and across a pebbled beach before another steep climb. I have been reliably informed that on a low tide its possible to walk around the headland here to this point. From our view point at the top of the cliffs again we viewed St Elvis Rock and Black Rock.
we continied around the coastline and had a quick break for refreshments at Dinas Fawr (we didnt actually walk to the point as it was quite blowy), when we arrived at a point where it was possible to walk down to Porthmynawd Bay we turned inland and headed for Lochvane farm, we encountered lots of mud!the next farm on our route was St Elvis farm, we bore left here and went past a burial chamber. we headed back along the path and back onto the Gribin (with more climbs), passing the water treatment plant. We decide against lunch at the top due to the winds and headed back to the car park and public toilets. One member of the group decided to take the 5 mile option and departed, most of the rest of us left our rucksacks in the car to start part 2.
We headed away from the carpark uphill then crossed the road and followed a permissive path (at this point I decided to choose the wrong path but my assistant John soon had us back on track! we dropped down steeply and crossed a bridge before crossing another road and yet another steep climb. Eventually the path levelled out and we once again had lovely views of the harbour, alas, now with no water.
After dropping down we crossed the very fast road and walked past houses in Upper Solva until we once again met up with the coast path. We deviated off the coast path down past Fort Cottages and made our way back along the Quayside, past the footprint in the steps commemorating Queen Elizabeth 11's visit in 1995. As the pub was open when we reached our cars most of the group made their way there!
Lynn
