A trip along superb coastline
Starting at Freshwater East
We had to travel to West Wales and decided to make the most of it and take the kayaks. You know how it is, we planned to be on the water by late morning, the meeting took longer and then we we discovered the absolute gridlock of holiday traffic, roadworks and goodness knows what else in Pembroke town. Note to self: AVOID in Summer! Change to plan B.
Second, be aware that parking at Stackpole Quay is very limited and was full even on a Monday in the middle of August. Plan C?
Certain that we would find somewhere to launch we continued along the minor road to Freshwater East. Here we found a car park on the left (with space! £5.00 for the day!!!) and, better still, a small track opposite which lead up past some houses to the top of a slipway. There is no parking here and not advisable to drive onto the sand, but we were able to unload the boats right on the beach and then go back to park the van.
We arrived knowing that the tide would be ebbing, and I had flash-backs to very very long carries at Oxwich, but the beach has a better gradient here, so the sea didn’t disappear too far away.
Weather and tide
We were paddling on an ebbing tide so we decided to leave Freshwater East and paddle with the tide to start with and head towards Stackpole and Castlemartin. (Check on 01646 662287 to make sure there is no firing on the ranges). We expected winds of around 7 mph (light) from the NW, so we faced a calm trip under the cliffs. As we were around 3 hours after high tide, we expected to have a faster tide on the way out than for our return, making for slightly easier paddling. (Here it runs on 4kn Springs and based on the twelfths rule, we’d expect around 3 knots as we were off Springs and heading for neap tides). If you’d like a nice quick article on tides and the twelfths rule, have a look at: http://www.ukseakayakguidebook.co.uk/short_articles/tide_simplified.pdf
Setting out
We headed round Trewent point and crossed the bay towards Stackpole point. It was a steady trip across and we stopped to watch tankers moored and doing exercises with their lifeboats. At Stackpole head there are lots of rocks beneath the surface and we found the tide running fairly well: as we looked through the rock arches, we had the bizarre illusion the the rocks behind were moving! At under 3kn it was a steady paddle against the flow, but once under the dramatic arches we found calm water.
Never in a hurry, we stopped round the corner to watch climbers traversing the superb limestone cliffs.
Continuing across the bay we headed around Church Rock (another rock that had abandoned climbing slings as evidence that we would never be the first to its top).
Heading back
On the way back we took our time again and made the most of exploring the many caves, arches and rock gardens that we found.
It’s a great place for practicing manoeuvres and testing paddle strokes, looking for the movement of the water and, last but not least, being glad that you have a plastic, not composite boat when it doesn’t quite go to plan!
And finally heading back to the dramatic arches of Stackpole Head…
The trip back across the bay felt long, and once we’d rounded Trewent we felt the wind funneling down from the shore. I’ve felt this effect before: light winds can become much more than expected when they are channeled down a valley.
…and Finally
Definitely a trip to do again and next time maybe to get along under the cliffs by Castlemartin. Or maybe go the other way to Caldey Island.
Oh, and here is the video: https://youtu.be/M4MkgSNJ9T8
So many choices.
AC Canoe Adventures 