Loyalty demands that I promote North Pembrokeshire at every opportunity and there is plenty to boast about up here, however, I have to admit that while exploring the other day carol and I came across two superb short coastal walks both of which were in South Pembrokeshire. One was at Ann’s Head at the mouth of the estuary at Milford Haven and the other just along the coast heading north at Martins Haven.
St Ann’s Head has a really interesting and amusing history. As well as the old Trinity Light (above), a weed infested helipad, a friendly herd of cows and some spectacular rock formations (above) it was also once home to HMS Harrier (1948 – 1960)– the Royal Navy’s Meteorological School but more impressive still it was the school for training Royal Naval personnel to intercept enemy aircraft coming in from seaward – what the RN calls ‘fighter interdiction!’ Nearly all evidence that such goings on ever occurred in this beautiful part of Pembrokeshire has long gone and the only reason I know about it is because one of the photographs on the information board in the car park caught my eye. It showed a Naval officer looking at what I thought looked like an old ice-cream seller’s bike! (below). And on closer inspection that is exactly what he was doing!
Now this is true, apparently just after the war the RN could not afford to use real aircraft to practice their fighter interdiction and so they simulated enemy and friendly aircraft using ice-cream tricycles which they hired from Walls Ice Cream! And they made Naval ratings peddle these around at a set speed and course to simulate aircraft movements and the students (Women’s Royal Naval Service – WRNS) who were in radio contact with the peddlers told them which way to turn! I absolutely love the image which that conjures up in my mind especially as I know what a wicked sense of humour Naval ratings have always had. I bet it was absolute chaos as ice-cream tricycles careered into each other and I am sure some would ‘accidentally’ peddle off the edge of the slopes and down the cliff faces on sunny summer evenings back in the late 1940’s. I think what heightened my amusement was that I served in an aircraft carrier and a helicopter carrier during my career and I know the serious nature of fighter interdiction today. So thinking about how they used to train for it was absolutely hilarious.
Tearing myself away from St Ann’s we went on to Martin’s Haven. It was late afternoon and to sun was starting to go down beyond Skomer and Midland Isle (above). We were the only ones there and we had the whole of the iron age hill fort and the deer sanctuary to ourselves. We sat for ages just drinking in the most beautiful views (see Carol above). If you are a novice to Pembrokeshire I would really very much recommend a visit, particularly at this time of day when the island visitors have gone and you can enjoy the views and the atmosphere without interruption. The ditch and bank construction which is the iron age hill fort is massively impressive – I love all such pre-history and archaeology – and seeing if for the first time on such a beautiful and tranquil evening with no one else around – it seemed even more strange to think that on this site iron age man needed to protect himself with such huge, imposing structures (see below and artists impression of the hill fort – by kind permission of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority).
In truth we sort of stumbled across both walks while out exploring and in many ways that makes them even more special. This was not a particularly well planned day from start to finish – it just, sort of, happened. I guess that is one of the real advantages of living in Pembrokeshire – you find precious jewels around so many corners.
Hope you like the photos.