Pembrokeshire

As for my Pembroke adventures, we took a train to a little town called Saint David. T'was a cute little town, covered in flowers and sweet old people and multi-colored cottages. We walked around and had ice cream and visited a big Cathedral.

We set out for the coastal path a little after lunchtime. With the help of Lukas' gargantuan map, we made our way out of town and to the coast. We stumbled upon three white horses en route to the trail and also an angry mob of fuzzy cows that all ran towards us suddenly and then lined up and stared at us. They would creep forward when we weren't looking and then freeze when we turned their way.

The beginnings of our hike looked like this. Green grass, blue water, rocks, flowers, and overzealous German hikers.

The first landmark, if you will, is Whitesands Beach. It is in fact a white sanded beach leading into clear turquoise water. Why have you not heard about this Welsh riviera? Because the water is FREEZING!! Thats why. Admittedly the water is very appealing and given the nice days weather I could understand the mobs of pasty white skin that were basking under the hot sun. Then I stuck my foot in. 

Nope. Not doing it. The water was so cold that the swimmers would occasionally emerge from the waves, run one or two laps around the beach (to warm up) and THEN get back in. I saw one family casually wrap up in space blankets afterwards. As if thats normal beach activity. There were naked babies in the water. NAKED BABIES!!! Come on. Lukas enjoyed the "refreshing" water and desperately wanted to swim however I refused to join him, so we sat in the sand instead.

After our beach break the trail became a bit more...treacherous. I became irritable about the heavy pack on my back and my joints started creakin'. The path was running right along the edge of these Jurassic Park cliffs and occasionally I wondered if we would all end up on an episode of "I Shouldn't Be Alive". After mile 8 or so we noticed quite the storm brewing out at sea. We enjoyed watching the clouds move, the changing colors, and the falling rain. Suddenly we realized the blob was headed right for us! We began run-hiking. A combination of flurried climbing and squatting while you run. Somehow it makes you move faster when you've got 25lbs on your back.

Our squirrel-like hustle worked in our favor and we were never drenched by rain or struck by lightening. A few miles later my Greece influenced Booty workout failed me entirely. I got a bad case of Fanny Fatigue and I could barely make up the hills and cliffs. I became tickled by my excruciatingly tender hindquarters and began laughing uncontrollably. At that point Lukas realized he could drag me no further. We stayed for a weird sunburst-sunset deal before hiking a few more miles (through mud) back towards civilization.