A Wet and Windy Ramsey Sound 13/04/2009

With it being Bank Holiday Monday the weather obliged and served up typical Bank Holiday weather.

Before the weather took a turn for the worse Bobby and I set off for Solva to catch the high tide. Already the wind was being funnelled down the normallly sheltered valley of Solva harbour, so we didn't venture too far although Bobby was quite content to have his first taste of some white water kayaking!

With the weather deteriorating as the day went on and no sign of it looking like it was going to improve I finally bit the bullet and put on my still soaking wet gear from yesterday and ventured down the beach (I must be getting old!).

I decided to paddle over to Whitesands then out to St David's Head and let the southerly flowing ebb tide take me down through Ramsey Sound.

On reaching Porth Lleuog, the small bay the other side of the Ram's Nose from Whitesands, there were quite large waves coming in, made steeper by the northerly wind.

Out at St David's Head I then paddle southward initially intending to head over to the north of Ramsey Island but the wind picked up and even though I had the tide with me I was making very slow progress and with the rain increasing it was actually stinging my eyes.

I decided to change course and head for St Justinian and hopefully a bit of shelter. On reaching St Justinian I stayed close to the cliff passing the natural arch and then onto the numerous caves around Maen Bachau.

Around here the water was glassy calm making it ideal to explore the caves with some having 2 entrances. It was a shame that the rain kept on getting on the lens of the camera and spoiling the picture quality.
After exploring the caves and inlets for quite a while I paddled on southward to the tiny bay at

Carn ar Wig.

There is a fishing trip nearby but I don't think they will have much luck as I was soon joined by 2 large bull seals checking me out, only popping their heads out of the water slightly, obviously not wanting to get wet from the rain!!

Watching the seals for a bit I then paddled northwards back to St John's Point and with the wind behind me I made rapid progress averaging a speed of 6.5 to 7 knots.

An interesting paddle in far from ideal conditions. I paddle here so often that I tend to forget how much there is to see and makes you realise what a fantastic coastline Pembrokeshire has.