Dinas Island

Dinas Island

Route: Dinas Island

Area: Pembrokeshire

Date of walk: 24th September 2020

Walkers: Andrew and Gilly

Distance: 3.6 miles

Ascent: 600 feet

Weather: Mixed sunshine and clouds, showers, and hail near the end. Very strong winds

We first visited the Pembrokeshire coast this time last year and on that occasion enjoyed several wonderful walks in the south of the area. This year we’d decided to explore the northern section. Our first walk would take us around Dinas Island which, confusingly, is not an island at all, but a peninsula. It’s not a completely misleading name however, as the ‘neck’ of the peninsula, Cwm Dewi, is only just above sea level (my gps recorded it as slightly below sea level)

Anyone following this walk would start from the tiny seaside villages of Pwllgwaelod or Cwm-yr-Eglwys. In our case, we were staying in a holiday cottage at Ffynnonofi Farm (which we can highly recommend), and walked through the fields to nearby Pwllgwaelod, where there is a small car park, a cafe and a beach. We decided to walk the circuit in a clockwise direction and set off along the well waymarked coastal path

We climbed out of the village up to the cliff top, following the Wales Coast Path. There were superb views back along the coast from here. A sudden downpour caused us to take shelter for a while, but the strong winds soon blew it over and we continued above the cliffs, looking down to a stony beach at one point where a pair of seals were resting. After various ups and downs we arrived at Dinas Head, where a trig column surmounts Pen y Fan

This marked the halfway point of the coastal section and, as we rounded the headland, views of Newport Sands appeared. The path split here, giving a choice of high or low level walks. We decided to follow the narrower low level path which passes above the soaring stack of Needle Rock. There were a couple of sharp drops to our left, and these could be avoided by taking the higher level route

We arrived in the tiny hamlet of Cwm-yr-Eglwys, where the ruins of the old church look out to sea – a lovely spot. This marked the end of the coastal section and from here we followed a well made path through a wooded vale across the neck of the peninsula. This soon brought us back to Pwllgwaelod to finish a wonderful short walk

Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)

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