Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( 0845 371 9141; www.yha.org.uk ; Llaethdy; dm/r £18/49; ) Set in an atmospheric former
farmhouse tucked beneath Carn Llidi, this hostel offers excellent views, quick access to
Whitesands Beach and endless opportunities for walking and exploring. The snug dorms
are in the former cow shed. The hostel is 2 miles northwest of St Davids.
Getting There & Away
Expect to pay for parking. The Celtic Coaster heads to Whitesands Bay from St Davids or
you can walk here, but you will need a decent map to find the twisting paths that make up
the route.
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St Davids Head
This atmospheric heather-wreathed promontory was fortified by the ancient Celts. The
jumbled stones and ditch of an Iron Age rampart are still visible, as are rock circles, which
once formed the foundations of huts. The tip of the headland is a series of rock and turf
ledges, a great place for a picnic or wildlife-spotting - in summer you can see gannets
diving into the sea and choughs soaring on the breeze. Adding to the ancient ambience,
wild ponies can often be spotted.
Further along the grassy path through the heather, an even older structure stands. The
simple burial chamber known as Coetan Arthur (Arthur's Quoit) consists of a capstone sup-
ported by a rock at one end and dates to about 3500 BC.
The rocky summit of Carn Llidi (181m) rises behind, offering panoramic views that take
in Whitesands Bay, Ramsey and Skomer Islands and, on a clear day, the coast of Ireland
on the horizon.
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Porthgain
For centuries the tiny harbour of Porthgain consisted of little more than a few sturdy cot-
tages wedged into a rocky cove. In the mid-19th century it began to prosper as the port for
shipping out slate quarried just down the coast at Abereiddy, and by the 1870s its own de-
posits of granite and fine clay had put it on the map as a source of building stone. The
 
 
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