D180: FISHGUARD to NEWPORT
Wednesday 17th September 2025
Today miles: 12.4 Total miles: 2942.5
I woke this morning after a poor sleep due to the persistent heavy rain and high wind, which was rocking the caravan. When the alarm sounded at 7am I pondered on whether I should just take a second rest day. The forecast for today isn’t particularly pleasant and I was so tempted to knock off the alarm, roll over and go back to sleep. Ten minutes later however I’m out of bed and sticking on my waterproofs. If I take another rest day now it’ll cause me problems later on in the week as I get closer to Aberystwyth. The route out of Fishguard takes me down the main street and towards Lower Fishguard. There’s a small dock/marina and the only people milling around are a couple of local fishermen sticking on their oil skins, guest the wet weather isn’t much of a problem for them. Half a mile out of Lower Fishguard the road is left behind and the mud trail begins. I can’t see much of the path in front of me due to low cloud but I can just about see Dinas Head in the distance, which is roughly my half way point for today. As usual on this stretch of the coastal path there’s lots of short ascents/descents. Several times I lost my footing in the mud but thankfully I managed to stay on my feet. I passed by several small bays but surprisingly there’s no sight or sound of any seals or their pups. Not surprisingly, I hadn’t seen anybody else walking today but as I approached Dinas Bay I did pass several people. I hadn’t really expected there to be many facilities on todays route but as I descended into Dinas Bay I managed to spot a pub named ‘The Sailors Safety’. Sadly, it’s closed until 12 so I entered the nearby public toilets and temporarily escaped from the rain. Don’t judge me but I ate two slices of cold pizza whilst sat on the floor of the toilet, leftovers from last nights tea. I redressed in my still wet waterproofs and got back to it.
Despite the poor conditions and the treacherous terrain I was actually enjoying the walk and wasn’t too disappointed to be continuing. The route up towards Dinas Head was a long steady climb towards the trig point. Turning the corner at Dinas Head there’s a significant increase in the wind speed and I found it difficult to continue walking in a straight line. The path turns South East down a steady descent towards a small village. I couldn’t find a spot to shelter so just plodded on up the next slippery hill. There’s a lot of meandering around several headlands with some short but steep descents and then similar ascents. I had noticed that the grass along the route had recently been cut and a few miles later I chanced across the motorised lawn mower. He hadn’t seen or heard me and I had to slowly trudge behind him. About about ten minutes he finally turned his head, spotted me and let me squeeze past. Soon after I entered the fringes of Newport at a small suburb named Parrog where there are several large caravan parks to negotiate around. There’s also several herds of cows to avoid.
Despite the rain I enjoyed the walk along Newport Estuary. I skirted around the Northern edge of Newport until I reached the bridge which crosses the Afon Nyfer. I decided to end the days walk here and board the bus back to Fishguard. I left the coast path and walked into Newport where I managed to grab a coffee before boarding the bus.
Back at the caravan I turned the heating to full in an attempt to dry out my wet clothes and enjoyed a nice curry and a couple of beers.
Werewolfandflump UK Coast Path 