Rock Climbing in Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire is one of the great British sea cliff climbing venues, and the reason is a band of carboniferous limestone along the southern coast that comes out of the ground flat on top and vertical at the edge. Routes here are almost all traditional, almost all approached by abseil, and almost all above the sea.

The heart of it is the Castlemartin coast between Freshwater West and Stackpole. Huntsman's Leap is the famous one — a narrow, sunless chasm cut into the cliff, hemmed in on both sides, with a lot of very good hard routes and an atmosphere unlike anywhere else in Britain. St Govan's Head above the tiny chapel wedged in the cliff has a great spread of grades and is where most people start. Further west, Stennis Ford, Mowing Word and the cliffs around Stackpole Quay give more of the same on generally superb rock.

North Pembrokeshire is different: older, harder, more broken volcanic and sedimentary rock around St Davids, with sea cliffs at Caerfai, Porthclais and out towards Porthmelgan and St Davids Head. Shorter routes, more adventure, less consistency underhand.

Two things govern the calendar, and neither is weather.

The first is the range. A large part of the best climbing lies inside the Castlemartin live firing range, and when firing is on, the coast road, the paths and the crags are shut. Firing times are published in advance and there are long-standing access agreements between the MOD and the climbing community that make the whole thing work. They only continue to work because climbers observe them. Check before you drive.

The second is birds. Guillemots, razorbills, fulmars and choughs nest on these cliffs, and voluntary seasonal restrictions close specific buttresses from roughly March until the young have fledged in July or August. The restrictions are published in the guidebook and by the BMC, they change from year to year, and the crags stay open the rest of the time because people respect them.

That leaves late summer and autumn as the prime season, which happens to be when the rock is driest and the sea is calmest. Spring climbing is possible on the areas without restrictions. Winter is mostly out — the swell hits the abseil-in ledges.

A day here is not a day at a sport crag. You walk to a stake on the cliff top, rig an abseil, drop to a ledge that may be dry now and underwater in three hours, and climb out. If the route defeats you, prusiking back up the rope is often the only option. That is the appeal, and it is why Pembrokeshire has a reputation for feeling more serious than its grades suggest.

What catches people out: tide and swell. A calm forecast does not mean a calm base, because groundswell arrives from Atlantic storms days away. Second, the abseil approach — people arrive with a single rope and no ascending kit and have no way back. Third, underestimating the commitment. Bring a guidebook, bring the right gear, and if you have not climbed sea cliffs before, hire an instructor for the first day.