Wales Coast Path Run – Green Bridge of Wales to Freshwater West

As seems to be customary with these Coast Path run stories, this one follows yet another hiatus in my journey. Last time I was on the Coast Path running from Stackpole Quay to the Green Bridge of Wales I managed to injure my ankle. It turned out to be a fairly substantial tear to ligaments all around my ankle so I was unable to walk or run for a while. I allowed it to heal and then had to slowly strengthen it again and start running short distances only. All of this kept me from continuing my journey around Wales yet again. Other things got in the way a little too.

I’m also still relying on Anna to act as my support crew at the moment. Before my heart attack each run along the Coast Path was in the region of 15-25 miles. This was enough progress to make it worthwhile driving all the way there, doing the run, getting public transport back to where I started and then driving all the way home. Since my heart attack that is probably too much for me in one day . I’m also running shorter distances. This means that I tend to be starting and finishing in slightly more remote locations where public transport isn’t an option so having Anna there with the car makes things easier. It’s also a long way to go just to run 10 miles or less. We therefore thought it best to make long weekends of it and at least get 2 or 3 short sections completed. It’s a good excuse for a nice weekend away together as well.

Having Anna there on hand is good for my confidence too. I still have the odd ‘bad day’ and still get chest pains from time to time. If that happens while I’m out on a run on the Coast Path having Anna not far away in the car means I could in theory just stop and get her to come to me. It’s not always quite that straight forward as I can be miles from an access point but it’s definitely better than being there all on my own.

So, with all of that in mind we were off to Pembrokesore last weekend. We arrived on Friday afternoon and had a table at a local restaurant booked for an early dinner. We did however have just enough time for a short run along the Coast Path before we checked into our Air BnB. I drove to The Green Bridge of Wales which is where I had hobbled to the car after my last stretch of Coast Path. After a quick change I jogged to the coast for a photo of the Green bridge of Wales itself. I hadn’t taken one of these last time I was here as I could barely walk! I then retraced my step back to the car park overlapping with a bit of the path I’d done last time and then headed on my way.

This was only going to be a short run today as I didn’t have much time and it would be a nice way to ease myself back into it. It was also going to be a fairly uninteresting run. It started off with a long flat stretch along the tarmac road through the Castlemartin Firing range. There was little to see here. A few gates with the scars of firing practice, a lonely church and some soldiers playing with tanks. That was about it.

At the crossroads I headed straight over the road and up a hill towards the little settlement at Warren where there was another church. From here the Wales Coast Path (which is also the Pembrokeshire Coast Path National Trail) joined the Castlemartin Range Trail. This follows the edge of the firing range and took me along grassy with the boundary fence to my left. To my right was a hedge and then the road. It was easy going but the day was hot so I was soon a sweaty mess. There was nothing of note along the way though, although I did take a photo of some graffiti seeing as it was Anna’s Birthday today!

The path emerged out into more open countryside after Castlemartin itself, still following the road and the edge of the firing range. It then started dropping downhill towards the surf beach of Freshwater West. After the detour inalnd to navigate around the Firing Range I was back on the coast and greeted with nice views of the beach and roacky coastline.

The car park a Freshwater West was busy as I ran past and then along the road behind the dunes for a bit of a climb up to the second car park where Anna was waiting.

Just a short one today, only 6.5 miles but it had been harder than I was expecting and pretty hot and humid out there.

It was at least only a short 5 minute drive to our Air BnB where I could have a shower before heading out for a nice dinner. I was finally back on the coast path again and had a couple more runs planned for the weekend.

Tags: Coast Pathrunning