This walk out to Carreg Wastad Point includes a stretch of wild and treacherous coastline, the site of many shipwrecks and a French invasion. Harbour Village, on the edge of Goodwick and Fishguard, was built at the beginning of the 20th century to house railway and port workers, and had things gone according to plan, the harbour would have become full of transatlantic liners.
An incredible two million tons of rock were blasted from the cliffs at Goodwick to be used in the 2,000-foot-long North Breakwater. The quarry floor became the railway terminus in 1906, and the port opened soon after for transatlantic liners. The ill-judged building of the East Breakwater was to bring an end to the whole scheme in 1913, as it caused silting so that bigger ships were unable to dock.
Many vessels have foundered in these treacherous waters, and the first record of a lifeboat station dates from 1822. Needle Rock is the last resting place of the Dutch motor schooner Hermina, which foundered in December 1920. The wreck of the coaster Gramsbergen lies east of Needle Rock, where it sank in November 1954.
From here, the walk continues to Pen Anglas, the Welsh version of the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. Then the route follows the Pembrokeshire Coast Path as far as the memorial on Carreg Wastad Point, erected in 1897 to mark the centenary of an attempted invasion by the French in 1797.
The French believed that the people of the United Kingdom were ready to rise up against the crown and sent four ships to help them. They disembarked at Carreg Wastad Point on the night of 22nd February 1797. Next morning, they commanded the heights of Garnwnda, but were soon overpowered in what is known as 'The Battle of Fishguard'.
After this, you turn inland, passing through the ancient settlement of Llanwnda. St Gwyndaf's Church is named after a Celtic saint from Brittany and has a typical Celtic bellcote tower.
To the south of Llanwnda can be seen the craggy volcanic outcrop of Garnwnda, the site of a Neolithic burial chamber. Its capstone is 11 feet long by 10.5 feet wide. A small urn containing calcified bones was found here around 1900.
Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.
