Strumble
Strumble is on the North West tip of Pembrokeshire west of Fishguard. The area is known as the Pencaer Peninsula, although it isn’t actually a peninsula. Bordered on two sides by the sea and on the inland side by a line of low hills, it does give the feeling of being cut off.
Picture: Strumble Lighthouse
The focus for Pencaer is Strumble Lighthouse, perched on a tiny island just off the coast and reached by a small suspension bridge. The Lighthouse is automated now so there isn’t any access onto the island.
An old coast guard lookout nearby has been repaired and serves as a wildlife lookout. Strumble is one of the best places in Wales to see migrating seabirds as they follow the coast up and down the west of Britain. Because Strumble sticks out so far into The Irish Sea, the birds are concentrated and close to shore. Viewing is particularly good soon after dawn in the autumn after a stormy period of weather when the birds resume their journeys after congregating in safe havens like Milford Haven.
There are regular sightings of Great and Arctic skuas, dainty storm and Leach’s petrels, several species of tern, Sabine’s gulls, great and sooty shearwaters, soft-plumage petrel, little shearwater and Wilson’s petrel. Strumble Head is not just about seabirds. Wildfowl, especially that dark sea duck the common scoter and waders like oystercatchers and curlew, also pass, to mention but two.
Dolphin & Porpoise watching is also popular here. A local group called Sea Trust hold several surveys here every year.
Picture: Part of the Last Invasion tapestry in Fishguard Town Hall
Carregwastad Point is a few miles east of Strumble Lightouse along the Coast Path. This is where a force of 1,200 French soldiers landed in 1797, the last time the British mainland was invaded. A 100ft long tapestry commemorating the event can be seen in the old town hall in Fishguard. Sewn in a ‘Bayeux’ tapestry style it’s a humorous and interesting account of the ill fated invasion. Many of the scenes on the tapestry relate to incidents on the Pencaer Peninsula.
Accommodation around Strumble is limited. There is a camping and touring caravan site near the lighthouse and a youth hostel at Pwll Deri plus a few self catering cottages. Hotels, guesthouses, Inns and B&B’s can be found in Goodwick. There’s a holiday park with self catering static caravans in Fishguard.
Picture: Pwll Deri. The youth hostel is just visible as the white building at the top of the cliffs.
Coast Path walking around Strumble is fantastic but can be quite taxing. A good circular walk starts at the historic hamlet of Llanwnda with it’s tiny church and Neolithic burial chamber. Follow a track directly west to the minor road going towards Strumble lighthouse & continue to Trenewydd Farm on the road. Almost past Trenewydd is a footpath that takes you partly through the farm buildings and directly south on a rough track. Just below a small hill called Garn Folch, follow another track due west again to another minor road. Turn left up hill & right to the top of Garn Fawr, an Iron Age hill fort and fine viewpoint. Continue due west down steep ground towards a collection of cottages and the youth hostel. The rest of the walk is along the coast path to Carregwastad Point where you turn inland to return to Llanwnda. The coastal scenery here is some of the best in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.
A Pembrokeshire Farm
A recent BBC programme titled ‘A Pembrokeshire Farm’, followed the renovation of Trehilyn Uchaf, an historic old farmhouse near Strumble, owned by Griff Rhys-Jones. There's a chance the series may be repeated in the near f