After a hearty breakfast, I left Pembroke with the words of the hotel owner ringing in my ears; “but these are Welsh hills” after informing him that we do have hills in the southeast.

My first target of the day was St Davids, 30 miles away and the smallest City in the UK with a population only @ 1,800. However there would be hills and westerly headwinds. It started off hard with 2 hills before crossing the Cleddau Bridge after 3 miles.

After this the hills were moderate until I descended down to the coast at St Bride’s Bay and then struggled out of Nolton Haven. Newgale beach quickly followed, but as there was a 16% sign on the way out, it provided an opportunity for me to gauge / calibrate my effort ascending the climb (that logic may appeal to any engineers reading this). For me it seems that keeping the wheels turning @4mph is equivalent to a 1 in 6, which was similar for Nolton Haven and probably for 3 other climbs on Day 2 (inbetween loads of others, slightly less steep). No wonder my legs were tired.

Meanwhile the wind was hard work; 15-20 mph according to the BBC weather website, which at times reminded me of the intense French Mistral blowing down the Rhone valley in France.

I continued on through Middle Mill (remember the name) to St Davids for @ 11am, and after some coffee and (dry) walnut cake (probably left out over the weekend) I made sure that I visited the impressive cathedral. Given that food shops are quite infrequent on quiet country lanes I also bought a chicken baguette for a lunch stop.

Leaving St Davids I left Sustrans 4 as it headed to Fishguard and retraced my steps (wheels / revolutions ?) 4 miles back to Middle Mill (but this time with a tailwind). I was now in the hands of Google Maps. GM are great as they provide elevation profiles of the routes selected with brief summary, such as moderate hills, steep hills or very steep hills. From this I knew I had a difficult afternoon ahead of me.

Passing through Letterston and then on to Trecwn, I was stopped in my tracks as I saw the hill leaving Cwm Gwaun. I wanted to check it was the right route, but unfortunately I had no phone signal. It had to be, and I had to have a go at it but as it ramped up again, my legs had nothing left and commonsense eventually took over and I had to walk much against everything that I am (this must have been one of those Welsh hills, perhaps a 1 in 5, based on on my ‘feel bad’ scale). However, I have to realise that I’m no spring chicken and I need to return home on a bike than in a box. It also told me that I needed to think about an alternative route.

I had been so lucky that the weather had been wonderful all day and provided great views over Dinas Head and Cardigan Bay on the descent out of the Preseli hills into Newport. Here I implemented Plan B to join the A478 to Cardigan.

On reaching Cardigan, I stopped before descending down into the town to contemplate my options. Given that the A478 had not been too busy, I decided to continue on the A487 (I’ve only noticed the subtle change in numbers now) Aberystwyth road. This was a good choice as sections of it had shared cycle / pedestrian paths, the traffic between 5-6pm was lighter than expected and being a main road the hills were rolling. I soon found a petrol station to refuel with water and a coke which, together with some music, provided a welcome boost for the last 20 miles. With the exception of a German coach, the driving was very courteous and respectful.

After 86 miles I descended into New Quay a beautiful harbourside village. Checking in at the hotel, Colin gave me a very friendly welcome but on asking where I had come from, seemed unimpressed that it was only Pembroke (55 miles direct by car and no doubt fairly flat). If he only knew.

I wasn’t aware of New Quay until I was looking for somewhere to stay. And yes, I had it confirmed from Colin, that people have come here, rather than the similar named one in Cornwall by mistake; a classic Sat Nav error. This one’s famous for dolphin watching and Dylan Thomas and was a very pleasant end to another tough day.