text:
Helge River

The river Helge or, in Swedish, Helgeån, alternatively Helge å (lit. The Holy river), is a river which flows through Småland and Skåne in southern Sweden. The course of the river takes it through Kristianstad and out to the Bay of Hanöbukten in the Baltic Sea.

In the southern parts, there are large wetland areas with a rich bird life. The Kristianstads Vattenrike (The Rich Wetlands of Kristianstad/Water Kingdom) reserve extends along 35km and covers 100,000 hectares in the river's lower course near the city of Kristianstad and the Bay of Hanöbukten. This wetland is recognized as having international importance under the Ramsar Convention.

Within the catchment area, there are 14 major lakes and 16 watercourses designated as being of national or regional value. There are also 64 Natura 2000 areas, 14 of which have been established because of their high nature values in the water.

title: Helge River


text:
Talk:Twinkie

Always like that? WTH?
"It was formerly made and distributed by Hostess Brands and is again being sold under the Hostess Brands name." What's the value of this one? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.103.186.7 (talk) 09:48, 18 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Corrected links. Click each one, they are different companies (same name). Msw1002 (talk) 15:59, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Hostess Filing Date -- Correction
The correct filing date for Hostess' most recent chapter 11 petition is January 11, 2012 -- not the date you have listed in this article.|174.44.181.238 (talk) 17:45, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 2 one external links on Twinkie. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20131022002414/http://www.donatwinkiesaunamericano.org/desktop/index.html to http://www.donatwinkiesaunamericano.org/desktop/index.html
 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20130608081431/http://www.merca20.com:80/campana-de-la-semana-dona-twinkies-a-un-americano/ to http://www.merca20.com/campana-de-la-semana-dona-twinkies-a-un-americano/

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 18:25, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

News
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2016/07/05/what-it-took-to-save-the-twinkie/

Double check Twinkies name in Mexico.
The current page says that Twinkies made by Wonder in Mexico are called "Tuinky" but I bought Mexican Twinkies made by Wonder on May 2020 and they are called "Twinkies" just like the rest of the world, I tried to check Wonder's official website but it says it's under construction wonder.com.mx So I couldn't double check officially if Twinkies are indeed call Twinkies in Mexico or if they are called "Tuinky" — Preceding unsigned comment added by Artu165 (talk • contribs) 18:06, 23 May 2020 (UTC)

What about Chocolate Twinkies?
Chocolate cake Twinkies which came out in 2017, aren't mentioned, though I'm not sure where to insert them. ErrorReaper (talk) 13:24, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Twinkie


text:
National nature reserves in Wales

National nature reserves in Wales are selected and designated by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) (formerly the Countryside Council for Wales). There are 76 reserves all of which are also SSSIs, they cover 26536 ha, or less than 1.5% of the land area of Wales. They range in size from Dan yr Ogof at 0.5 ha to Berwyn which covers 7920 ha. A national nature reserve is designated because of its special biological, geological, habitat or landscape value and most in Wales are open to the public. They include upland and lowland areas, several offshore islands and in some cases estuarine and intertidal zones.

Management
Although the majority of sites are managed by NRW, a number are managed by other bodies, mainly in the public and wildlife charity sectors, including:

• Bardsey Island Trust

• Caerphilly County Borough Council

• Forestry Commission

• Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust

• National Botanic Garden of Wales

• The National Showcaves Centre for Wales

• National Trust

• Natural England

• North Wales Wildlife Trust

• RSPB

• University of Wales

• Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales

• Woodland Trust

title: National nature reserves in Wales


text:
Countryside Council for Wales

The Countryside Council for Wales (CCW; Cyngor Cefn Gwlad Cymru (CCGC)) was a Welsh Assembly sponsored body responsible for wildlife conservation, landscape and countryside access in Wales.

It merged with Forestry Commission Wales, and Environment Agency Wales to form Natural Resources Wales, a single body managing Wales' environment and natural resources, on 1 April 2013.

As a statutory advisory and prosecuting body, the Countryside Council for Wales claims to have 'championed the environment and landscapes of Wales and its coastal waters as sources of natural and cultural riches, as a foundation for economic and social activity, and as a place for leisure and learning opportunities'. Its aim was to 'make the environment a valued part of everyone's life in Wales'.

title: Countryside Council for Wales


text:
Pashto

Pashto (,  ; پښتو, ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan,  southern and eastern Afghanistan, and some isolated pockets of far eastern Iran near the Afghan border. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani.

Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan alongside Dari, and it is the second-largest provincial language of Pakistan, spoken mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern districts of Balochistan. Likewise, it is the primary language of the Pashtun diaspora around the world. The total number of Pashto-speakers is at least 40 million, although some estimates place it as high as 60 million. Pashto is "one of the primary markers of ethnic identity" amongst Pashtuns.

Geographic distribution
A national language of Afghanistan, Pashto is primarily spoken in the east, south, and southwest, but also in some northern and western parts of the country. The exact number of speakers is unavailable, but different estimates show that Pashto is the mother tongue of 45–60%  of the total population of Afghanistan.

In Pakistan, Pashto is spoken by % of its population, mainly in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern districts of Balochistan province. It is also spoken in parts of Mianwali and Attock districts of the Punjab province, areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and in Islamabad. Pashto speakers are found in other major cities of Pakistan, most notably Karachi, Sindh,   which may have the largest Pashtun population of any city in the world.

Other communities of Pashto speakers are found in India, Tajikistan, and northeastern Iran (primarily in South Khorasan Province to the east of Qaen, near the Afghan border). In India most ethnic Pashtun (Pathan) peoples speak the geographically native Hindi-Urdu language rather than Pashto, but there are small numbers of Pashto speakers, such as the Sheen Khalai in Rajasthan, and the Pathan community in the city of Kolkata, often nicknamed the Kabuliwala ("people of Kabul"). Pashtun diaspora communities in other countries around the world speak Pashto, especially the sizable communities in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Afghanistan
Pashto is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, along with Dari Persian. Since the early 18th century, the monarchs of Afghanistan have been ethnic Pashtuns (except for Habibullāh Kalakāni in 1929). Persian, the literary language of the royal court, was more widely used in government institutions, while the Pashtun tribes spoke Pashto as their native tongue. King Amanullah Khan began promoting Pashto during his reign (1926–1929) as a marker of ethnic identity and as a symbol of "official nationalism" leading Afghanistan to independence after the defeat of the British Empire in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919. In the 1930s, a movement began to take hold to promote Pashto as a language of government, administration, and art with the establishment of a Pashto Society Pashto Anjuman in 1931 and the inauguration of the Kabul University in 1932 as well as the formation of the Pashto Academy (Pashto Tolana) in 1937. Muhammad Na'im Khan, the minister of education between 1938 and 1946, inaugurated the formal policy of promoting Pashto as Afghanistan's national language, leading to the commission and publication of Pashto textbooks. The Pashto Tolana was later incorporated into the Academy of Sciences Afghanistan in line with Soviet model following the Saur Revolution in 1978.

Although officially supporting the use of Pashto, the Afghan elite regarded Persian as a "sophisticated language and a symbol of cultured upbringing". King Zahir Shah (reigning 1933–1973) thus followed suit after his father Nadir Khan had decreed in 1933 that officials were to study and utilize both Persian and Pashto. In 1936 a royal decree of Zahir Shah formally granted Pashto the status of an official language, with full rights to use in all aspects of government and education – despite the fact that the ethnically Pashtun royal family and bureaucrats mostly spoke Persian. Thus Pashto became a national language, a symbol for Pashtun nationalism.

The constitutional assembly reaffirmed the status of Pashto as an official language in 1964 when Afghan Persian was officially renamed to Dari. The lyrics of the national anthem of Afghanistan are in Pashto.

Pakistan
In British India, prior to the creation of Pakistan by the British government, the 1920s saw the blossoming of Pashto language in the then NWFP: Abdul Ghafar Khan in 1921 established the Anjuman-e- Islah al-Afaghina (Society for the Reformation of Afghans) to promote Pashto as an extension of Pashtun culture; around 80,000 people attended the Society's annual meeting in 1927. In 1955, Pashtun intellectuals including Abdul Qadir formed the Pashto Academy Peshawar on the model of Pashto Tolana formed in Afghanistan. In 1974, the Department of Pashto was established in the University of Balochistan for the promotion of Pashto.

In Pakistan, Pashto is the first language around of % of its population (per the 1998 census). However, Urdu and English are the two official languages of Pakistan. Pashto has no official status at the federal level. On a provincial level, Pashto is the regional language of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and north Balochistan. Yet, the primary medium of education in government schools in Pakistan is Urdu.

The lack of importance given to Pashto and its neglect has caused growing resentment amongst Pashtuns. It is noted that Pashto is taught poorly in schools in Pakistan. Moreover, in government schools material is not provided for in the Pashto dialect of that locality, Pashto being a dialectically rich language. Further, researchers have observed that Pashtun students are unable to fully comprehend educational material in Urdu.

Professor Tariq Rahman states: "'The government of Pakistan, faced with irredentist claims from Afghanistan on its territory, also discouraged the Pashto Movement and eventually allowed its use in peripheral domains only after the Pakhtun elite had been co-opted by the ruling elite...Thus, even though there is still an active desire among some Pakhtun activists to use Pashto in the domains of power, it is more of a symbol of Pakhtun identity than one of nationalism.'"Robert Nicols states:

"'In the end, national language policy, especially in the field of education in the NWFP, had constructed a type of three tiered language hierarchy. Pashto lagged far behind Urdu and English in prestige or development in almost every domain of political or economic power...'"

Although Pashto used as a medium of instruction in schools for Pashtun students results in better understanding and comprehension for students when compared to using Urdu, still the government of Pakistan has only introduced Pashto at the primary levels in state-run schools. Taimur Khan remarks: "the dominant Urdu language squeezes and denies any space for Pashto language in the official and formal capacity. In this contact zone, Pashto language exists but in a subordinate and unofficial capacity".

History
Some linguists have argued that Pashto is descended from Avestan or a variety very similar to it, while others have attempted to place it closer to Bactrian. However, neither position is universally agreed upon. What scholars do agree on is the fact that Pashto is an Eastern Iranian language sharing characteristics with Eastern Middle Iranian languages such as Bactrian, Khwarezmian and Sogdian.

Compare with other Eastern Iranian Languages and Old Avestan: Strabo, who lived between 64 BC and 24 CE, explains that the tribes inhabiting the lands west of the Indus River were part of Ariana. This was around the time when the area inhabited by the Pashtuns was governed by the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. From the 3rd century CE onward, they are mostly referred to by the name Afghan (Abgan).

Abdul Hai Habibi believed that the earliest modern Pashto work dates back to Amir Kror Suri of the early Ghurid period in the 8th century, and they use the writings found in Pata Khazana. Pə́ṭa Xazāná (پټه خزانه) is a Pashto manuscript claimed to be written by Mohammad Hotak under the patronage of the Pashtun emperor Hussain Hotak in Kandahar; containing an anthology of Pashto poets. However, its authenticity is disputed by scholars such as David Neil MacKenzie and Lucia Serena Loi. Nile Green comments in this regard:

"'In 1944, Habibi claimed to have discovered an eighteenth-century manuscript anthology containing much older biographies and verses of Pashto poets that stretched back as far as the eighth century. It was an extraordinary claim, implying as it did that the history of Pashto literature reached back further in time than Persian, thus supplanting the hold of Persian over the medieval Afghan past. Although it was later convincingly discredited through formal linguistic analysis, Habibi's publication of the text under the title Pata Khazana ('Hidden Treasure') would (in Afghanistan at least) establish his reputation as a promoter of the wealth and antiquity of Afghanistan's Pashto culture.'"

From the 16th century, Pashto poetry become very popular among the Pashtuns. Some of those who wrote in Pashto are Bayazid Pir Roshan (a major inventor of the Pashto alphabet), Khushal Khan Khattak, Rahman Baba, Nazo Tokhi, and Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the modern state of Afghanistan or the Durrani Empire. The Pashtun literary tradition grew in the backdrop to weakening Pashtun power following Mughal rule: Khushal Khan Khattak used Pashto poetry to rally for Pashtun unity and Pir Bayazid as an expedient means to spread his message to the Pashtun masses.

For instance Khushal Khattak laments in :

"'The Afghans (Pashtuns) are far superior to the Mughals at the sword, Were but the Afghans, in intellect, a little discreet. If the different tribes would but support each other, Kings would have to bow down in prostration before them'"

Grammar
Pashto is a subject–object–verb (SOV) language with split ergativity. In Pashto, this means that the verb agrees with the subject in transitive and intransitive sentences in non-past, non-completed clauses, but when a completed action is reported in any of the past tenses, the verb agrees with the subject if it is intransitive, but with the object if it is transitive. Verbs are inflected for present, simple past, past progressive, present perfect, and past perfect tenses. There is also an inflection for the subjunctive mood.

Nouns and adjectives are inflected for two genders (masculine and feminine), two numbers (singular and plural), and four cases (direct, oblique, ablative, and vocative). The possessor precedes the possessed in the genitive construction, and adjectives come before the nouns they modify.

Unlike most other Indo-Iranian languages, Pashto uses all three types of adpositions—prepositions, postpositions, and circumpositions.

Consonants
*The retroflex rhotic or lateral, tends to be a lateral flap [ ] at the beginning of a syllable or other prosodic unit, and a regular flap [ ] or approximant [] elsewhere.

Vocabulary
In Pashto, most of the native elements of the lexicon are related to other Eastern Iranian languages. As noted by Josef Elfenbein, "Loanwords have been traced in Pashto as far back as the third century B.C., and include words from Greek and probably Old Persian". For instance, Georg Morgenstierne notes the Pashto word مېچن mečә́n i.e. a hand-mill as being derived from the Ancient Greek word μηχανή (mēkhanḗ, i.e. a device). Post-7th century borrowings came primarily from Persian and Hindi-Urdu, with Arabic words being borrowed through Persian, but sometimes directly. Modern speech borrows words from English, French, and German.

However, a remarkably large number of words are unique to Pashto.

Here is an exemplary list of Pure Pashto and borrowings: Due to the incursion of Persian and Persianized-Arabic in modern speech, linguistic purism of Pashto is advocated to prevent its own vocabulary from dying out.

Classical vocabulary
There is a lot of old vocabulary that has been replaced by borrowings e.g. پلاز plâz 'throne' with تخت takht, from Persian. Or the word يګانګي yagānagí meaning 'uniqueness' used by Pir Roshan Bayazid. Such classical vocabulary is being reintroduced to modern Pashto. Some words also survive in dialects like ناوې پلاز 'the bride-room'.

Example from Khayr al-Bayān:

 * Transliteration: ... be-yagānagə́i, be-kararə́i wi aw pə badxwə́i kx̌e wi pə gunāhā́n
 * Translation: "... without singularity/uniqueness, without calmness and by bad-attitude are on sin ."
 * Translation: "... without singularity/uniqueness, without calmness and by bad-attitude are on sin ."

Writing system
Pashto employs the Pashto alphabet, a modified form of the Perso-Arabic alphabet or Arabic script. In the 16th century, Bayazid Pir Roshan introduced 13 new letters to the Pashto alphabet. The alphabet was further modified over the years.

The Pashto alphabet consists of 45 to 46 letters and 4 diacritic marks. Latin Pashto is also used. In Latin transliteration, stress is represented by the following markers over vowels: ә́, á, ā́, ú, ó, í and é. The following table (read from left to right) gives the letters' isolated forms, along with possible Latin equivalents and typical IPA values:

Dialects
Pashto dialects are divided into two categories, the "soft" southern grouping of Paṣ̌tō, and the "hard" northern grouping of Pax̌tō (Pakhtu). Each group is further divided into a number of dialects. The Southern dialect of Tareeno is the most distinctive Pashto dialect.1. Southern variety
 * Abdaili or Kandahar dialect (or South Western dialect)
 * Kakar dialect (or South Eastern dialect)
 * Shirani dialect
 * Mandokhel dialect
 * Marwat-Bettani dialect
 *  Southern Karlani group
 * Khattak dialect
 * Wazirwola dialect
 * Dawarwola dialect
 * Masidwola dialect
 * Banisi (Banu) dialect

2. Northern variety
 * Central Ghilji dialect (or North Western dialect)
 * Yusapzai and Momand dialect (or North Eastern dialect)
 *  Northern Karlani group
 * Wardak dialect
 * Taniwola dialect
 * Mangal tribe dialect
 * Khosti dialect
 * Zadran dialect
 * Bangash-Orakzai-Turi-Zazi dialect
 * Afridi dialect
 * Khogyani dialect

3. Tareeno Dialect

Literary Pashto
Literary Pashto is the artificial variety of Pashto that is used at times as literary register of Pashto. It is said to be based on the North Western dialect, spoken in the central Ghilji region. Literary Pashto's vocabulary, also derives from other dialects.

Criticism
There is no actual Pashto that can be identified as "Standard" Pashto, as Colye remarks: "'Standard Pashto is actually fairly complex with multiple varieties or forms. Native speakers or researchers often refer to Standard Pashto without specifying which variety of Standard Pashto they mean...people sometimes refer to Standard Pashto when they mean the most respected or favorite Pashto variety among a majority of Pashtun speakers.'" As David MacKenzie notes there is no real need to develop a "Standard" Pashto: "'The morphological differences between the most extreme north-eastern and south-western dialects are comparatively few and unimportant. The criteria of dialect differentiation in Pashto are primarily phonological. With the use of an alphabet which disguises these phonological differences the language has, therefore, been a literary vehicle, widely understood, for at least four centuries. This literary language has long been referred to in the West as 'common' or 'standard' Pashto without, seemingly, any real attempt to define it.'"

Literature
Pashto-speakers have long had a tradition of oral literature, including proverbs, stories, and poems. Written Pashto literature saw a rise in development in the 17th century mostly due to poets like Khushal Khan Khattak (1613–1689), who, along with Rahman Baba (1650–1715), is widely regarded as among the greatest Pashto poets. From the time of Ahmad Shah Durrani (1722–1772), Pashto has been the language of the court. The first Pashto teaching text was written during the period of Ahmad Shah Durrani by Pir Mohammad Kakar with the title of Maʿrifat al-Afghānī ("The Knowledge of Afghani [Pashto]"). After that, the first grammar book of Pashto verbs was written in 1805 under the title of Riyāż al-Maḥabbah ("Training in Affection") through the patronage of Nawab Mahabat Khan, son of Hafiz Rahmat Khan, chief of the Barech. Nawabullah Yar Khan, another son of Hafiz Rahmat Khan, in 1808 wrote a book of Pashto words entitled ʿAjāyib al-Lughāt ("Wonders of Languages").

Poetry example
An excerpt from the Kalām of Rahman Baba:

Pronunciation:

Transliteration: Zə Rahmā́n pə xpə́la gram yəm če mayán yəm

Če dā nor ṭopə́n me bolí gram pə tsə

Translation: "I Rahman, myself am guilty that I am a lover,

On what does this other universe call me guilty."

Proverbs
See:

Pashto also has a rich heritage of proverbs (Pashto matalúna, sg. matál). An example of a proverb:

Transliteration: Obә́ pə ḍāng nə beléẓ̌i

Translation: "One cannot divide water by [hitting it with] a pole."

Colors
List of colors:

List of colors borrowed from neighbouring languages:

 *  nārәnjí - orange [from Persian]
 *  gulābí - pink [from Hindustani, originally Persian]
 *  nilí - indigo [from Persian, ultimately Sanskrit] ]

Months
Pashtuns use the Vikrami calendar:

title: Pashto


text:
Pembrokeshire Coast Path

The Pembrokeshire Coast Path (Llwybr Arfordir Sir Benfro), often called the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, is a designated National Trail in Pembrokeshire, southwest Wales. Established in 1970, it is a 186 mi long-distance walking route, mostly at cliff-top level, with a total of 35,000 ft of ascent and descent. At its highest point – Pen yr afr, on Cemaes Head – it reaches a height of 175 m, and at its lowest point – Sandy Haven crossing, near Milford Haven – it is just 6 ft above low water. Whilst most of the coastline faces west, it offers – at varying points – coastal views in every direction of the compass.

The southern end of the path is at Amroth, Pembrokeshire. The northern end is often regarded as being at Poppit Sands, near St. Dogmaels, Pembrokeshire, where the official plaque was originally sited but the path now continues to St. Dogmaels, where a new marker was unveiled in July 2009. Here the path links with the Ceredigion Coast Path, which continues northwards.

The Pembrokeshire Coast Path forms part of the 870 mi Wales Coast Path around the whole coast of Wales from Chepstow to Queensferry, which was officially opened in 2012.

History of the path
Following the establishment of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in 1952, Welsh naturalist and author Ronald Lockley surveyed a route around the coast. Although there were villages and settlements on the coast, communication between these was largely by boats, and access in the region was generally poor. Lockley's report for the Countryside Commission in 1953 was welcomed and broadly adopted. Some sections of the walk were existing rights-of-way, but the majority were in private hands, necessitating negotiation. Most landowners were in favour, and many benefitted from the erection of new fencing. Even today, however, the path in places detours from the obvious line where landowners were unwilling to accept a new right-of-way across their land.

Completion of the path took 17 years, and this work included the erection of more than 100 footbridges and 479 stiles, and the cutting of thousands of steps into steep or slippery sections. When opened by Wynford Vaughan-Thomas on 16 May 1970, the length of the path was given as 180 mi, but over the years there have been a number of Footpath Diversion Orders which have extended it to its current length of 186 mi.

Celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the path's opening were due to be held in May 2020, but were postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, during which the public were asked not to use the path.

Description
The Pembrokeshire Coast Path lies almost entirely within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park — Britain's only coastal national park. Throughout its length, it covers a range of maritime landscapes, from rugged and steep limestone cliffs and volcanic headlands to sheltered red sandstone coves, flooded glacial valleys, winding estuaries, and wide-open beaches. The path passes 58 beaches and 14 harbours.

As far as possible the route runs close to the cliff edge and coast, but this is not possible at all times; on occasion the coast is barely visible where the path briefly detours round industrial or for miles around military areas such as Castlemartin Training Area. Since the construction of the Cleddau Bridge across Milford Haven Waterway it is possible to walk the whole route of the trail without a break. The path, however, is not continuous in that it is not designated through built-up areas in the southern section, such as Milford Haven, Pembroke Dock, Tenby and Saundersfoot. There is also an undesignated section between St Dogmaels and Cardigan at the northern end of the path where Cardigan Bridge over the River Teifi is the nearest point to the coast between the Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion Coast Paths.

The walking is not strenuous, but there are constant undulations and narrow sections, including many stiles. In its entirety the Coast Path represents a considerable physical challenge — its 35,000 ft of ascent and descent is said to be equivalent to climbing Everest. There are two low-tide crossings, at Dale and Sandy Haven, which require lengthy detours if not timed suitably.

Along the path are seaside towns and coastal villages, such as Tenby, St Davids, Solva and Newport. For backpackers attempting longer parts of the trail there are shops and campsites along the way, but food and water may need to be carried on some sections. There are small hotels and guest houses en route, and cottages for hire, often built in traditional styles.

For the vast majority of walkers, the coastal path is walked in shorter sections, and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park lists some 130 shorter circular walks on its website. Access to the coastal path (by bus or car) is possible in many locations. The whole coast is served by a number of dedicated walkers' bus services, which operate over the entire length of the path, including the Puffin Shuttle, the Coastal Cruiser, the Celtic Coaster, St David's Peninsula Shuttle Service, the Strumble Shuttle, and the Poppit Rocket.

Locations on the path
Listed from north to south:

 * St. Dogmaels
 * Poppit Sands
 * Cemaes Head
 * Ceibwr Bay
 * Newport Cliffs
 * Newport
 * Cwm-yr-Eglwys
 * Dinas Island
 * Pwllgwaelod
 * Fishguard
 * Goodwick
 * Strumble Head
 * Llechdafad Cliffs
 * Abercastle
 * Trefin (Trevine)
 * Porthgain
 * Abermawr
 * Abereiddi
 * Arfordir Abereiddi
 * Portheiddy Moor
 * St David's Head
 * Whitesands Bay
 * Solva
 * Newgale
 * Broad Haven
 * Little Haven
 * Marloes Sands
 * St. Ann's Head
 * Dale
 * Milford Haven
 * Neyland
 * Pembroke Dock
 * Angle
 * St Govan
 * Stackpole Estate
 * Greenala Point
 * Freshwater East
 * Manorbier
 * Lydstep Haven
 * Penally
 * Tenby
 * Saundersfoot
 * Wiseman's Bridge
 * Amroth

Offshoot trails
There are a number of smaller trails very near the Coast Path, which often take users inland on shorter routes; these include:
 * Cardigan to Cilgerran Wildlife Trail. The trail runs from Station Road, Cardigan, through Teifi Marshes Nature Reserve, to Cilgerran, passing the Welsh Wildlife Centre and following the trackbed of the former Whitland and Cardigan Railway.
 * Cilgerran Gorge Circular Walk. This is a medium-length walk of 4.2 mi lasting around 3 hours. It starts at Dolbadau car park, Cilgerran and follows the woodland pathway to the Wildlife Centre and returning via undulating paths up and down the steep-sided Cilgerran Gorge.
 * Brunel Way Walk. This is a long walk of 9 mi on well-surfaced tarmac pathways, lasting around 4 hours. It begins at Brunel Quay car park, Neyland and ends at County Hall, Haverfordwest. Along the way there are views of Milford Haven and of the quay.

Geology
All the rocks underlying the surface are more than 300 million years old, but the coastline as seen today has been much subjected to the effects of coastal and river action and, in places, to events which occurred during the Ice Age.

The oldest igneous and volcanic Precambrian granites outcrop on Ramsey and at the southern tip of the peninsula. Later Cambrian sedimentation produced sandstones, visible on the northern coast of St. Brides Bay (and which were used in the building St David's Cathedral). Subsequent Ordovician fine muds dominate the northern Pembrokeshire coast, but volcanic activity has complicated the whole. The later Silurian Period saw the creation of limestone and shale, visible along the southern Marloes peninsula. The coast of St Brides Bay is backed by Coal Measures rocks dating from the late Carboniferous Period as is the coast between Tenby and Amroth and the upper reaches of the Cleddau. Much of the rest of Milford Haven is fronted by Old Red Sandstone from the preceding Devonian Period along with all of the Dale peninsula and Skokholm Island. Carboniferous Limestone dating from the early Carboniferous forms much of the southern coast traversed by the coast path notably between Freshwater West and Stackpole and between Lydstep and Tenby.

Subsequent earth movements, erosion by ice and water, and changes in sea level have further affected what we see today.

Wildlife
During the spring and early summer the path displays an array of wild coastal flowers, and there is a wealth of bird life. Colonies of seabirds nest along the cliffs, and a variety of European seabirds are supported by the uninhabited offshore islands that act as bird sanctuaries, such as Skomer, Skokholm and Ramsey Island. Seals, porpoises and dolphins can often be spotted swimming offshore.

Human history and activity
Remnants of Neolithic cromlechs and hut circles can be seen on the path, as can evidence of Bronze Age settlement, by which time the peninsula was being used as a connection to Ireland. Iron Age settlers, probably originating in France, are responsible for the number of coastal promontory fortifications visible today. The evidence of later human activity, such as Norman castles and settlements, and hermit churches, is also evident. Today almost all the surrounding land is farmed, and fishing still plays a role, albeit less prominent, in the coastal settlements.

Award
In 2011 National Geographic magazine voted Pembrokeshire the second-best coastal destination in the world.

The Coastal Path passes all of Pembrokeshire's award-winning beaches, Over the years these have been awarded 41 Blue Flag Awards (13 in 2011), 47 Green Coast Awards (15 in 2011) and 106 Seaside Awards (31 in 2011). In 2011 there were 39 beaches recommended by the Marine Conservation Society.

title: Pembrokeshire Coast Path


text:
Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire (Sir Benfro ) is a county in the south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and administrative headquarters of Pembrokeshire County Council.

The county is generally sparsely populated and rural, with an area of 610 sqmi and a population of 123,400. After Haverfordwest, the largest settlements are Milford Haven (13,907), Pembroke Dock (9,753), and Pembroke (7,552). St Davids (1,841) is a city, the smallest by population in the UK. Welsh is spoken by 17.2 percent of the population, and for historic reasons is more widely spoken in the north of the county than in the south.

Pembrokeshire's coast is its most dramatic geographic feature, created by the complex geology of the area. It is a varied landscape which includes high sea cliffs, wide sandy beaches, the large natural harbour of Milford Haven, and several offshore islands which are home to seabird colonies. Most of it is protected by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, and can be hiked on the 190 mi Pembrokeshire Coast Path. The interior of Pembrokeshire is relatively flat and gently undulating, with the exception of the Preseli Mountains in the north.

There are many prehistoric sites in Pembrokeshire, particularly in the Preseli Mountains. During the Middle Ages several castles were built by the Normans, such as Pembroke and Cilgerran, and St David's Cathedral became an important pilgrimage site. During the Industrial Revolution the county remained relatively rural, with the exception of Milford Haven, which was developed as a port and Royal Navy dockyard. It is now the UK's third-largest port, primarily because of its two liquefied natural gas terminals. The economy of the county is now focused on agriculture, oil and gas, and tourism.

Settlements

 * See List of places in Pembrokeshire for a comprehensive list of settlements in Pembrokeshire.

The county town is Haverfordwest. Other towns include Pembroke, Pembroke Dock, Milford Haven, Fishguard, Tenby, Narberth, Neyland and Newport. In the west of the county, St Davids is the United Kingdom's smallest city in terms of both size and population (1,841 in 2011). Saundersfoot is the most populous village (more than 2,500 inhabitants) in Pembrokeshire. Less than 4 per cent of the county, according to CORINE, is built-on or green urban.

Climate
There are three weather stations in Pembrokeshire: at Tenby, Milford Haven and Penycwm, all on the coast. Milford Haven enjoys a mild climate and Tenby shows a similar range of temperatures throughout the year, while at Penycwm, on the west coast and 100m above sea level, temperatures are slightly lower.

The county has on average the highest coastal winter temperatures in Wales due to its proximity to the relatively warm Atlantic Ocean. Inland, average temperatures tend to fall 0.5 °C for each 100 metres increase in height.

The air pollution rating of Pembrokeshire is "Good", the lowest rating.

Geology
The rocks in the county were formed between 600 and 290 million years ago. More recent rock formations were eroded when sea levels rose 80 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous Period. Around 60 million years ago, the Pembrokeshire landmass emerged through a combination of uplift and falling sea levels; the youngest rocks, from the Carboniferous Period, contain the Pembrokeshire Coalfield. The landscape was subject to considerable change as a result of ice ages; about 20,000 years ago the area was scraped clean of soil and vegetation by the ice sheet; subsequently, meltwater deepened the existing river valleys. While Pembrokeshire is not usually a seismically active area, in August 1892 there was a series of pronounced activities (maximum intensity: 7) over a six-day period.

Coastline and landscape
The Pembrokeshire coastline includes numerous bays and sandy beaches. The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, the only park in the UK established primarily because of its coastline, occupies more than a third of the county. The park contains the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, a near-continuous 186 mi long-distance trail from Amroth, by the Carmarthenshire border in the southeast, to St Dogmaels just down the River Teifi estuary from Cardigan, Ceredigion, in the north. The National Trust owns 60 mi of Pembrokeshire's coast. Nowhere in the county is more than 10 mi from tidal water. The large estuary and natural harbour of Milford Haven cuts deep into the coast; this inlet is formed by the confluence of the Western Cleddau (which flows through Haverfordwest), the Eastern Cleddau, and rivers Cresswell and Carew. Since 1975, the estuary has been bridged by the Cleddau Bridge, a toll bridge carrying the A477 between Neyland and Pembroke Dock. Large bays are Newport Bay, Fishguard Bay, St Bride's Bay and western Carmarthen Bay. There are several small islands off the Pembrokeshire coast, the largest of which are Ramsey, Grassholm, Skokholm, Skomer and Caldey. The seas around Skomer and Skokholm, and some other areas off the Pembrokeshire coast are Marine protected areas.

There are many known shipwrecks off the Pembrokeshire coast with many more undiscovered. A Viking wreck off The Smalls has protected status. The county has six lifeboat stations, the earliest of which was established in 1822; in 2015 a quarter of all Royal National Lifeboat Institution Welsh rescues took place off the Pembrokeshire coast.

Pembrokeshire's diverse range of geological features was a key factor in the establishment of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and a number of sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs). In the north of the county are the Preseli Mountains, a wide stretch of high moorland supporting sheep farming and some forestry, with many prehistoric sites and the probable source of the bluestones used in the construction of the inner circle of Stonehenge in England. The highest point is Foel Cwmcerwyn at 1759 ft, which is also the highest point in Pembrokeshire. Elsewhere in the county most of the land (86 per cent according to CORINE) is used for farming, compared with 60 per cent for Wales as a whole.

Biodiversity
Pembrokeshire's wildlife is diverse, with marine, estuary, woodland, moorland and farmland habitats. The county has a number of seasonal seabird breeding sites, including for razorbill, guillemot, puffin and Manx shearwater, and rare endemic species such as the red-billed chough; Grassholm has a large gannet colony. Seals, several species of whales (including rare humpback whale sightings ), dolphins and porpoises can be seen off the Pembrokeshire coast; whale-watching boat trips are frequent, particularly during the summer months. An appeal for otter sightings in 2014 yielded more than 100 responses, and a rare visit by a walrus occurred in the spring of 2021.

Pembrokeshire is one of the few places in the UK that is home to the rare Southern damselfly, Coenagrion mercuriale, which is found at several locations in the county, and whose numbers have been boosted by conservation work over a number of years.

Ancient woodland still exists, such as Tŷ Canol Wood, where biofluorescence, seen under ultraviolet light under the dark sky, is a feature that has led to the wood being described as "...one of the most magical and special woodlands in the UK."

History
Human habitation of the region that is now Pembrokeshire extends back to between 125,000 and 70,000 years and there are numerous prehistoric sites such as Pentre Ifan, and neolithic remains (12,000 to 6,500 years ago), more of which were revealed in an aerial survey during the 2018 heatwave; in the same year, a 1st-century Celtic chariot burial was discovered, the first such find in Wales. There may have been dairy farming in Neolithic times.

Roman period
There is little evidence of Roman occupation in what is now Pembrokeshire. Ptolemy's Geography, written c. 150, mentioned some coastal places, two of which have been identified as the River Teifi and what is now St Davids Head, but most Roman writers did not mention the area; there may have been a Roman settlement near St Davids and a road from Bath, but this comes from a 14th-century writer. Any evidence for villas or Roman building materials reported by mediaeval or later writers has not been verified, though some remains near Dale were tentatively identified as Roman in character by topographer Richard Fenton in his Historical Tour of 1810. Fenton stated that he had "...reason to be of opinion that they had not colonized Pembrokeshire till near the decline of their empire in Britain".

Part of a possible Roman road is noted by CADW near Llanddewi Velfrey, and another near Wiston. Wiston is also the location of the first Roman fort discovered in Pembrokeshire, investigated in 2013.

Some artefacts, including coins and weapons, have been found, but it is not clear whether these belonged to Romans or to a Romanised population. Welsh tradition has it that Magnus Maximus founded Haverfordwest, and took a large force of local men on campaign in Gaul in 383 which, together with the reduction of Roman forces in south Wales, left a defensive vacuum which was filled by incomers from Ireland.

Sub-Roman period
Between 350 and 400, an Irish tribe known as the Déisi settled in the region known to the Romans as Demetae. The Déisi merged with the local Welsh, with the regional name underlying Demetae evolving into Dyfed, which existed as an independent petty kingdom from the 5th century. In 904, Hywel Dda married Elen (died 943), daughter of the king of Dyfed Llywarch ap Hyfaidd, and merged Dyfed with his own maternal inheritance of Seisyllwg, forming the new realm of Deheubarth ("southern district"). Between the Roman and Norman periods, the region was subjected to raids from Vikings, who established settlements and trading posts at Haverfordwest, Fishguard, Caldey Island and elsewhere.

Norman period and Middle Ages
Dyfed remained an integral province of Deheubarth, but this was contested by invading Normans and Flemings who arrived between 1067 and 1111. The region became known as Pembroke (sometimes archaic "Penbroke" ), after the Norman castle built in the cantref of Penfro. In 1136, Prince Owain Gwynedd at Crug Mawr near Cardigan met and destroyed a 3,000-strong Norman/Flemish army and incorporated Deheubarth into Gwynedd. Norman/Flemish influence never fully recovered in West Wales. In 1138, the county of Pembrokeshire was named as a county palatine. Rhys ap Gruffydd, the son of Owain Gwynedd's daughter Gwenllian, re-established Welsh control over much of the region and threatened to retake all of Pembrokeshire, but died in 1197. After Deheubarth was split by a dynastic feud, Llywelyn the Great almost succeeded in retaking the region of Pembroke between 1216 and his death in 1240. In 1284 the Statute of Rhuddlan was enacted to introduce the English common law system to Wales, heralding 100 years of peace, but had little effect on those areas already established under the Marcher Lords, such as Cemais in the north of the county.

Henry Tudor, born at Pembroke Castle in 1457, landed an army in Pembrokeshire in 1485 and marched to Cardigan. Rallying support, he continued to Leicestershire and defeated the larger army of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. As Henry VII, he became the first monarch of the House of Tudor, which ruled England until 1603.

Tudor and Stuart periods
The Laws in Wales Act 1535 effectively abolished the powers of the Marcher Lords and divided the county into seven hundreds, roughly corresponding to the seven pre-Norman cantrefi of Dyfed. The hundreds were (clockwise from the northeast): Cilgerran, Cemais, Dewisland, Roose, Castlemartin, Narberth and Dungleddy and each was divided into civil parishes; a 1578 map in the British Library is the earliest known to show parishes and chapelries in Pembrokeshire. The Elizabethan era brought renewed prosperity to the county through an opening up of rural industries, including agriculture, mining and fishing, with exports to England and Ireland, though the formerly staple woollen industry had all but disappeared.

During the First English Civil War (1642–1646) the county gave strong support to the Roundheads (Parliamentarians), in contrast to the rest of Wales, which was staunchly Royalist. In spite of this, an incident in Pembrokeshire triggered the opening shots of the Second English Civil War when local units of the New Model Army mutinied. Oliver Cromwell defeated the uprising at the Siege of Pembroke in July 1648. On 13 August 1649, the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland began when New Model Army forces sailed from Milford Haven.

18th and 19th centuries
In 1720, Emmanuel Bowen described Pembrokeshire as having five market towns, 45 parishes and about 4,329 houses, with an area of 420000 acre. In 1791 a petition was presented to the House of Commons concerning the poor state of many of the county's roads, pointing out that repairs could not be made compulsory by the law as it stood. The petition was referred to committee. People applying for poor relief were often put to work mending roads. Workhouses were poorly documented. Under the Poor Laws, costs and provisions were kept to a minimum, but the emphasis was often on helping people to be self-employed. While the Poor Laws provided a significant means of support, there were many charitable and benefit societies. After the Battle of Fishguard, the failed French invasion of 1797, 500 French prisoners were held at Golden Hill Farm, Pembroke. From 1820 to 1878 one of the county's prisons, with a capacity of 86, was in the grounds of Haverfordwest Castle. In 1831, the area of the county was calculated to be 345600 acre with a population of 81,424.

It was not until nearly the end of the 19th century that mains water was provided to rural south Pembrokeshire by means of a reservoir at Rosebush and cast iron water pipes throughout the district.

20th century
Throughout much of the 20th century (1911 to 1961) the population density in the county remained stable while it rose in England and Wales as a whole. There was considerable military activity in Pembrokeshire and offshore in the 20th century: a naval base at Milford Haven because German U-boats were active off the coast in World War I and, in World War II, military exercises in the Preseli Mountains and a number of military airfields. The wartime increase in air activity saw a number of aircraft accidents and fatalities, often due to unfamiliarity with the terrain. From 1943 to 1944, 5,000 soldiers from the United States Army's 110th Infantry Regiment were based in the county, preparing for D-Day. Military and industrial targets in the county were subjected to bombing during World War II. After the end of the war, German prisoners of war were accommodated in Pembrokeshire, the largest prison being at Haverfordwest, housing 600. The County of Pembroke War Memorial in Haverfordwest carries the names of 1,200 of those that perished in World War I.

In 1972, a second reservoir for south Pembrokeshire, at Llys y Fran, was completed.

Population
Pembrokeshire's population was 122,439 at the 2011 census, increasing marginally to 123,400 at the 2021 census. 66.4 per cent of residents were born in Wales, while 27.5 per cent were born in England.

Language
The 2021 census recorded that Welsh is spoken by 17.2 per cent of the population, a fall from 19.2 per cent in 2011. As a result of differential immigration over hundreds of years, such as the influx of Flemish people, the south of the county has fewer Welsh-speaking inhabitants (about 15 per cent) than the north (about 50 per cent). The rough line that can be drawn between the two regions, illustrated by the map, is known as the Landsker Line, and the area south of the line has been termed "Little England Beyond Wales". The first objective, statistically based description of this demarcation was made in the 1960s, but the distinction was remarked upon as early as 1603 by George Owen of Henllys. A 21st century introduction of Welsh place names for villages which had previously been known locally only by their English names has caused some controversy.

Religion
In 1851, a religious census of Pembrokeshire showed that of 70 per cent of the population, 53 per cent were nonconformists and 17 per cent Church of England (now Church in Wales, in the Diocese of St Davids). The 2001 census for Preseli Pembrokeshire constituency showed that 74 per cent were Christian and 25 per cent of no religion (or not stated), with other religions totalling less than 1 per cent. This approximated to the figures for the whole of Wales. By 2021, 43 per cent reported "no religion", while 48.8 per cent described themselves as Christian. 6.6 per cent did not state their religion, and the remainder represented a number of other religions combined.

Ethnicity
In 2001, Preseli Pembrokeshire constituency was 99 per cent white European, marginally lower than in 1991, compared with 98 per cent for the whole of Wales. 71 per cent identified their place of birth as Wales and 26 per cent as from elsewhere in the UK. In 2021, 52.7 per cent of residents identified as "Welsh only", a slight decrease since 2011.

Governance, politics and public services
Under the Local Government Act 1888, an elected county council was set up to take over the functions of the Pembrokeshire Quarter Sessions. It was based at the Shire Hall, Haverfordwest. This and the administrative county of Pembrokeshire were abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, with Pembrokeshire forming two districts of the new county of Dyfed: South Pembrokeshire and Preseli – the split being made at the request of local authorities in the area. In 1996, under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, the county of Dyfed was broken up into its constituent parts, and Pembrokeshire has been a unitary authority since then. A new County Hall was built in 1999 in Haverfordwest and serves as the county council's headquarters. In 2017 Pembrokeshire County Council had 60 members and no political party in overall control; there were 34 independent councillors. In 2009, the question of county names and Royal Mail postal addresses was raised in the Westminster parliament; it was argued that Royal Mail's continued use of the county address Dyfed was causing concern and confusion in the Pembrokeshire business community. The Royal Mail has subsequently ceased requiring county names to be used in postal addresses. In 2018, Pembrokeshire County Council increased council tax by 12.5 per cent, the largest increase since 2004, but the county's council tax remains the lowest in Wales. The county is part of the Swansea Bay City Region.

The Pembrokeshire (Communities) Order 2011 established the most recent arrangement of communities (the successors to civil parishes) in the county which have their own councils; see the foot of this page for a list of communities.

From 2010 to 2024, Pembrokeshire has returned two Conservative MPs to the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster: Stephen Crabb for Preseli Pembrokeshire and Simon Hart for South Pembrokeshire which is represented jointly with West Carmarthenshire. The corresponding Members of the Senedd (MSs) returned to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) in Cardiff are Paul Davies and Samuel Kurtz respectively, both Conservatives. From 2024, Pembrokeshire would be in the Ceredigion Preseli and Mid and South Pembrokeshire UK Parliament constituencies.

Pembrokeshire is served by the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service and Dyfed-Powys Police.

Transport
There are no motorways in Pembrokeshire; the nearest is the M4 motorway from London which terminates at the Pont Abraham services in Carmarthenshire some 46 mi from Haverfordwest. The A40 crosses Pembrokeshire from the border with Carmarthenshire westwards to Haverfordwest, then northwards to Fishguard. The A477 from St. Clears to Pembroke Dock is 24 mi long, of which only 2 mi are dual carriageway. The Cleddau Bridge, toll-free from 28 March 2019, carries the A477 across the Cleddau Estuary. The A478 traverses eastern Pembrokeshire from Tenby in the south to Cardigan, Ceredigion in the north, a distance of 30 mi. The A487 is the other major route, running northwest from Haverfordwest to St Davids, then northeast following the coast, through Fishguard and Newport, to the boundary with Ceredigion at Cardigan. Owing to length restrictions in Fishguard, some freight vehicles are not permitted to travel northeast from Fishguard but must take a longer route via Haverfordwest and Narberth. The B4329 former turnpike runs from Eglwyswrw in the north to Haverfordwest across the Preselis.

The main towns in the county are covered by regular bus and train services operated by First Cymru (under their "Western Welsh" livery), Transport for Wales Rail and sometimes Great Western Railway respectively, and many villages by local bus services, or community or education transport.

Pembrokeshire is served by rail via the West Wales Lines from Swansea. Direct trains from Milford Haven run to Manchester Piccadilly. Branch lines terminate at Pembroke Dock, Milford Haven and Fishguard, linking with ferries to Ireland from Pembroke Dock and Fishguard. Seasonal ferry services operate from Tenby to Caldey Island, from St Justinians (St Davids) to Ramsey Island and Grassholm Island, and from Martin's Haven to Skomer Island. Haverfordwest (Withybush) Airport provides general aviation services.

Economy
Pembrokeshire's economy now relies heavily on tourism; agriculture, once its most important industry with associated activities such as milling, is still significant. Mining of slate and coal had largely ceased by the 20th century. Since the 1950s, petrochemical and liquid natural gas industries have developed along the Milford Haven Waterway and the county has attracted other major ventures. In 2016, Stephen Crabb, then Welsh Secretary, commented in a government press release: "...with a buoyant local economy, Pembrokeshire is punching above its weight across the UK."

In August 2019, the Pembrokeshire County Show celebrated 60 years at Haverfordwest Showground. The organisers anticipated 100,000 visitors, the largest three-day such event in Wales at the time. It showcased agriculture, food and drink, a rugby club, entertainment, with the star attraction a motorcycle display team.

Agriculture
Until the 12th century, a great extent of Pembrokeshire was virgin woodland. Clearance in the lowland south began under Anglo-Flemish colonisation and under mediaeval tenancies in other areas. Such was the extent of development that by the 16th century there was a shortage of timber in the county. Little is known about mediaeval farming methods, but much arable land was continuously cropped and only occasionally ploughed. By the 18th century, many of the centuries-old open field systems had been enclosed, and much of the land was arable or rough pasture in a ratio of about 1:3.

Kelly's Directory of 1910 gave a snapshot of the agriculture of Pembrokeshire: 57343 acre were cropped (almost half under oats and a quarter barley), there were 37535 acre of grass and clover and 213387 acre of permanent pasture (of which a third was for hay). There were 128865 acre of mountain or heathland used for grazing, with 10000 acre of managed or unmanaged woodland. Estimates of livestock included 17,810 horses, 92,386 cattle, 157,973 sheep and 31,673 pigs. Of 5,981 agricultural holdings, more than half were between 5 and 50 acres.

Pembrokeshire had a flourishing wool industry. There are still working woollen mills at Solva and Tregwynt. One of the last few watermills in Wales producing flour is in St Dogmaels.

Pembrokeshire has good soil and benefits from the Gulf Stream, which provides a mild climate and a longer growing season than other parts of Wales. Pembrokeshire's mild climate means that crops such as its new potatoes (which have protected geographical status under European law) often arrive in British shops earlier in the year than produce from other parts of the UK. Other principal arable crops are oilseed rape, wheat and barley, while the main non-arable activities are dairy farming for milk and cheese, beef production and sheep farming.

The county lends its name to the Pembroke Welsh Corgi, a herding dog whose lineage can be traced back to the 12th century, but which in 2015 was designated as a "vulnerable" breed.

Since 2006, Pembrokeshire Local Action Network for Enterprise and Development (PLANED) has provided a forum to promote an integrated approach to rural development, in which communities, public sector and voluntary partners and specialist interest groups come together to influence policy and promote projects aimed at sustainable agriculture. Sub-groups include promoting food and farming in schools and shortening supply chains.

Fishing
With Pembrokeshire's extensive coastal areas and tidal river estuaries, fishing was an important industry at least from the 16th century. Many ports and villages were dependent on the fishing. The former large sea fishing industry around Milford Haven is now greatly reduced, although limited commercial fishing still takes place. At its peak, Milford was landing over 40,000 tons of fish a year. Pembrokeshire Fish Week is a biennial event which in 2014 attracted 31,000 visitors and generated £3 million for the local economy.

Mining
Slate quarrying was a significant industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries with quarrying taking place at about 100 locations throughout the county. Over 50 coal workings in the Pembrokeshire Coalfield were in existence between the 14th and 20th centuries, with the last coal mine, at Kilgetty, closing in 1950. Pembrokeshire has 61 disused coal tips; only one of these is in Category C (carrying a potential safety risk), but its location has not been disclosed.

Oil, gas and renewable energy
There are two oil refineries, two liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals and the 2,000 MW gas-fired Pembroke Power Station (opened in 2012) at Milford Haven. The LNG terminals on the north side of the river, just outside Milford Haven were opened in 2008; a 196 mile pipeline connecting Milford Haven to Tirley in Gloucestershire was completed in 2007. The two oil refineries are operated by Chevron (formerly Texaco) producing 214000 oilbbl/d and Murco (formerly Amoco/Elf) producing 108000 oilbbl/d; the latter was sold to Puma Energy in 2015 with the intention of converting it to a storage facility. At the peak, there were a total of five refineries served from around the Haven: the Esso refinery operated from 1960 to 1983, was demolished in the late 1980s and the site converted into the South Hook LNG terminal; the Gulf Refinery operated from 1968 to 1997 and the site now incorporates the Dragon LNG terminal; BP had an oil terminal at Angle Bay which served its refinery at Llandarcy and operated between 1961 and 1985.

The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority has identified a number of areas in which renewable energy can be, and has been, generated in the county. Following several years of planning after the initial impact studies begun in 2011, the first submarine turbine of three was installed in Ramsey Sound in December 2015. The cumulative impact of single and multiple wind turbines is not without controversy and was the subject of a comprehensive assessment in 2013. In 2011 the first solar energy farm in Wales was installed at Rhosygilwen, Rhoshill with 10,000 panels in a field of 6 acre, generating 1 MW.

Tourism
Pembrokeshire's tourism portal is Visit Pembrokeshire, run by Pembrokeshire County Council. In 2015 4.3 million tourists visited the county, staying for an average of 5.24 days, spending £585 million; the tourism industry supported 11,834 jobs. Many of Pembrokeshire's beaches have won awards, including Poppit Sands and Newport Sands. In 2018, Pembrokeshire received the most coast awards in Wales, with 56 Blue Flag, Green Coast or Seaside Awards. In the 2019 Wales Coast Awards, 39 Pembrokeshire beaches were recognised, including 11 awarded Blue Flag status.

The Pembrokeshire coastline is a major draw to tourists; in 2011 National Geographic Traveller magazine voted the Pembrokeshire Coast the second best in the world and in 2015 the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park was listed among the top five parks in the world by a travel writer for the Huffington Post. Countryfile Magazine readers voted the Pembrokeshire Coast the top UK holiday destination in 2018, and in 2019 Consumers' Association members placed Tenby and St Davids in the top three best value beach destinations in Britain. With few large urban areas, Pembrokeshire is a "dark sky" destination. The many wrecks off the Pembrokeshire coast attract divers. The decade from 2012 saw significant, increasing numbers of Atlantic bluefin tuna, not seen since the 1960s, and now seen by some as an opportunity to encourage tourist sport fishing.

The county has a number of theme and animal parks (examples are Folly Farm Adventure Park and Zoo, Manor House Wildlife Park, Blue Lagoon Water Park and Oakwood Theme Park), museums and other visitor attractions including Castell Henllys reconstructed Iron Age fort, Tenby Lifeboat Station and Milford Haven's Torch Theatre. There are 21 marked cycle trails around the county.

Pembrokeshire Destination Management Plan for 2020 to 2025 sets out the scope and priorities to grow tourism in Pembrokeshire by increasing its value by 10 per cent in the five years, and to make Pembrokeshire a top five UK destination.

Flag
The flag of Pembrokeshire is a yellow cross on a blue field; in the centre of the cross is a green pentagon bearing a red and white Tudor rose, divided quarterly and counterchanged, the inner and outer roses having alternating red and white quarters.

Physical heritage
Pembrokeshire has more than 1,600 listed buildings, ranging from mud huts to castles, and including bridges and other ancient and modern structures, under the auspices of Cadw and the County Council. The National Monuments Record of Wales of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales identifies nearly 6,000 sites in Pembrokeshire as worthy of study, preservation and recording, including prehistoric and modern buildings, wrecks and natural features. There are 10 National Trust properties in Pembrokeshire.

The arts and media
Music festivals in Pembrokeshire include those at St Davids, Fishguard (folk, jazz and the International Music Festival) and Tenby (Blues Festival). Milford Haven's Torch Theatre produces drama, screens films and holds exhibitions of art and crafts, and there is a theatre-cinema in Fishguard (Theatr Gwaun) and a cinema in Haverfordwest. There are museums and art galleries in several locations in the county, including Scolton Manor, Narberth, Tenby, Milford Haven and Fishguard; in Fishguard, the 100 ft long Last Invasion Tapestry, commemorating the Battle of Fishguard in 1797, is on display. The Llangwm Literary Festival is a literary festival held in Llangwm.

Pembrokeshire's coastal landscape and wealth of historic buildings has made it a popular location choice for film and television, including Moby Dick at Fishguard, and the final two Harry Potter films at Freshwater West. Others include:

There are seven local newspapers based in Pembrokeshire: the Western Telegraph (the largest in Pembrokeshire), The Milford Mercury, Tenby Observer, Pembroke Observer, County Echo and The Pembrokeshire Herald (founded 2013. The Milford Mercury (circulation 3,681) and Western Telegraph (circulation 19,582) are part of the Newsquest group. Radio Pembrokeshire, and several other West Wales radio stations, were broadcast from Narberth until 2016, when they were relocated to the Vale of Glamorgan, while retaining satellite offices at Narberth and Milford Marina.

Sport
As the national sport of Wales, rugby union is widely played throughout the county at both town and village level. Haverfordwest RFC, founded in 1875, is a feeder club for Llanelli Scarlets. Village team Crymych RFC in 2014 plays in WRU Division One West. There are numerous football clubs in the county, playing in five leagues with Haverfordwest County A.F.C. competing in the Cymru Premier.

Triathlon event Ironman Wales has been held in Pembrokeshire since 2011, contributing £3.7 million to the local economy, and the county committed in 2017 to host the event for a further five years. Ras Beca, a mixed road, fell and cross country race attracting UK-wide competitors, has been held in the Preselis annually since 1977. The record of 32 minutes 5 seconds has stood since 1995. Pembrokeshire Harriers athletics club was formed in 2001 by the amalgamation of Cleddau Athletic Club (established 1970) and Preseli Harriers (1989) and is based in Haverfordwest.

The annual Tour of Pembrokeshire road-cycling event takes place over routes of optional length. The 4th Tour, in April 2015, attracted 1,600 riders including Olympic gold medallist Chris Boardman and there were 1,500 entrants to the 2016 event. Part of Route 47 of the Celtic Trail cycle route is in Pembrokeshire. The Llys y Fran Hillclimb is an annual event run by Swansea Motor Club, and there are several other county motoring events held each year.

Abereiddy's Blue Lagoon was the venue for a round of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in 2012, 2013, and 2016; the Welsh Surfing Federation has held the Welsh National Surfing Championships at Freshwater West for several years, and Llys y Fran Country Park hosted the Welsh Dragonboat Championships from 2014 to 2017.

While not at major league level, cricket is played throughout the county and many villages such as Lamphey, Creselly, Llangwm, Llechryd and Crymych field teams in minor leagues under the umbrella of the Cricket Board of Wales.

Notable people
From mediaeval times, Rhys ap Gruffydd (c. 1132-1197), ruler of the kingdom of Deheubarth, was buried in St Davids Cathedral. and Gerald of Wales was born c. 1146 at Manorbier Castle. Henry Tudor (later Henry VII) was born in 1457 at Pembroke Castle.

The pirate Bartholomew Roberts (Black Bart) (Welsh: Barti Ddu) was born in Casnewydd Bach, between Fishguard and Haverfordwest in 1682.

In later military history, Jemima Nicholas, heroine of the so-called "last invasion of Britain" in 1797, was from Fishguard, Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Picton GCB, born in Haverfordwest, was killed at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and Private Thomas Collins is believed to be the only Pembrokeshire man that fought in the Battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879.

In the arts, siblings Gwen and Augustus John were both born in Pembrokeshire, as was the novelist Sarah Waters; singer Connie Fisher grew up in Pembrokeshire. The actor Christian Bale was born in Haverfordwest.

Stephen Crabb, a former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Secretary of State for Wales, was brought up in Pembrokeshire and is one of the county's two Members of Parliament, the other being Simon Hart, who served as Secretary of State for Wales from 2019 to 2022.

Education and health
A comprehensive review of education in Pembrokeshire was carried out in 2014 with a number of options for discussion in 2015. In 2018 there were 58 primary schools, eight secondary schools (two for ages 3 to 16) and one special school, in all providing education for more than 18,300 pupils. These include 15 Welsh medium primary schools in the county, three dual stream schools and two transition schools; four primary schools are classified as English Welsh schools (English medium schools with significant use of Welsh). In 2017/18, 22 per cent of seven-year-old pupils were educated through the medium of Welsh. This figure was expected to rise to 25 per cent by 2019/20. In 2019, there were two fewer primary schools. The local authority's education budget for 2019/2020 was £88 million, equating to £4,856 per pupil. A February 2020 report by schools' inspection body Estyn, however, considered the local authority's performance in education provision "a significant concern".

Pembrokeshire has had a branch of the University of the Third Age (U3A) since 1991 and has a wide range of groups. Health services in the county are provided by Hywel Dda University Health Board which also provides for Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire. The county's principal hospital is Withybush General Hospital in Haverfordwest, with local hospitals in Tenby and Pembroke Dock. In November 2018, the health board informed Pembrokeshire's Community Health Council that the county had 38 full-time and 34 part-time GPs.

title: Pembrokeshire


text:
Janet Evans

Janet Beth Evans (born August 28, 1971) is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in distance freestyle events. Evans was a world champion and world record-holder, and won a total of four gold medals at the 1988 and the 1992 Olympics.

Biography
Born in Fullerton, California, Evans grew up in neighboring Placentia, where she started swimming competitively as a child. By the age of 11, she was setting national age group records in distance events. After swimming as a teenager for Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team (FAST Swimming) and graduating from El Dorado High School, Evans attended Stanford University, where she swam for the Stanford Cardinal swimming and diving team from 1989 to 1991 under Head Coach Skip Kenney. She received the Honda Sports Award for Swimming and Diving, recognizing her as the outstanding college female swimmer of the year in 1988–89. When the NCAA placed weekly hours limits on athletic training time, she quit the Stanford swim team to focus on training. She later attended the University of Texas at Austin before graduating from the University of Southern California with a bachelor's degree in communications in 1994.

Evans was distinctive for her unorthodox "windmill" stroke and her apparently inexhaustible cardio-respiratory reserves. Slight of build and short of stature, she more than once found herself competing and winning against bigger and stronger athletes, some of whom were subsequently found to have been using performance-enhancing drugs.

Janet Evans was the 1989 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. She was named the Female World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World Magazine in 1987, 1989, and 1990. In 1988, as a junior in high school, she was recognized as a "Rising Star" by the Los Angeles Times.

In 2010, Evans returned to competitive swimming in Masters swimming.

Evans married Bill Willson in 2004, with whom she has two children. As of June 2012, the family lives in Laguna Beach, California.

On November 3, 2016, Evans was chosen to serve as co-Grand Marshal of the 2017 Rose Parade.

As of August 2019, Evans works as chief athlete officer for the 2028 Summer Olympics organizing committee.

Career
In 1987, she broke the world records in the 400-meter, 800-meter, and 1,500-meter freestyle distances.

At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, she won three individual gold medals, and she also earned the nickname "Miss Perpetual Motion". In these Olympics, Evans set a new world record in the 400-meter freestyle event. This record stood for 18 years until France's Laure Manaudou broke it in May 2006.

Evans held the 1,500-meter freestyle record, set in March 1988, through June 2007, when it was broken by American Kate Ziegler with her time of 15:42.54.

Evans held the world record in the 800-meter freestyle, 8:16:22, that she set in August 1989, until it was broken by Rebecca Adlington of Britain in August 2008. Adlington set the new record with her time of 8:14.10 in winning the race at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Evans's 800-meter record was one of the longest-standing ones ever in swimming, and it went unbroken through four Olympic Games (1992–2004). Only the 100-meter freestyle swimming record set by the Dutch swimmer Willy den Ouden stood longer—from 1936 through 1956, during a period when international competition was interrupted by world war.

Following her outstanding performance of 1988, Evans continued to dominate the world's long-distance swimming competitions (400 meters and above). Evans became the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic and world championship titles in any one swimming event by winning the 1988 and 1992 Olympic gold medals and the 1991 and 1994 world championships in the 800-meter freestyle race. She would astonishingly go undefeated in all of the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle events for over five years, only being broken with her shock defeat by Dagmar Hase in the 400-meter freestyle at the Barcelona Olympics, where she led for almost the entire race but was narrowly caught at the end.

Evans won the 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle events at the U.S. National Championships 12 times each, the largest number of national titles in one event by an American swimmer in the 100-year history of the competition. At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, however, she lost the 400-meter freestyle race to German swimmer Dagmar Hase, but she did win the 800-meter freestyle race later on.

Evans ended her swimming career, for all practical purposes, at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. She did not win any medals, but she did add one more highlight to her life. She was given the honour of carrying the Olympic torch in the opening ceremony, and she handed the torch to the American boxing legend Muhammad Ali to light the cauldron. On July 27, 1996, she was in a building being interviewed by a German newsman when a bomb exploded nearby. The explosion very lightly shook the building and startled Evans. The incident traumatised her so much that she had a panic attack the next day while waiting for a train in an Atlanta subway station.

In the swimming pool, Evans finished ninth in the preliminaries of the 400-meter freestyle. She did not qualify for the finals, as only the top eight finishers advance to the next level. In the final swim of her career, Evans finished in sixth place in the 800-meter freestyle.

At the Atlanta Games, American swimming officials criticized Ireland's Michelle Smith about her unexpected gold medals, suggesting that she might have been using performance-enhancing drugs. When asked about the accusations, Evans said that when anyone like Smith showed such a significant improvement, "there's always that question." American sportswriters sympathetic to Smith took this comment to mean that Evans was accusing Smith of steroid use as well, and they attacked Evans as being a sore loser. Evans later insisted that she meant no such accusation and that her remarks were taken out of context. In 1998, Smith received a four-year suspension for tampering with a urine sample.

At the end of Evans's swimming career, she held seven world records, five Olympic medals (including four gold medals), and 45 American national titles – third only to Tracy Caulkins and Michael Phelps.

In June 2011, it was reported that Evans was in the process of a comeback and had been training for six months with the goal of competing at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials. At the 2012 Olympic Trials, at the age of 40, she ended up finishing 80th out of 113 swimmers in the 400-meter freestyle and 53rd out of 65 swimmers in the 800-meter freestyle.

Evans was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 2001.

Evans served as Vice Chair and Athletes director for the Los Angeles 2024 Olympic bid committee and traveled with the team to promote Los Angeles as a candidate city. Los Angeles was ultimately awarded the 2028 Summer Olympics at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on September 13, 2017. As of 2020, Evans works with the organizing committee for the 2028 Summer Olympics in the executive leadership role of chief athlete officer.

title: Janet Evans


text:
Bibbulmun Track

The Bibbulmun Track is a long-distance walk trail in Western Australia. It runs from Kalamunda in the east of Perth to Albany, and is 1003.1 km long.

It is managed by government agencies, and has a foundation.

It traverses the Darling Range and has inspired reflections about the state of the Western Australian environment by William J. Lines in his book A long walk in the Australian bush.

The name comes from the Bibbulmun, or Noongar people, Indigenous Australians from the Perth area.

History
The route has been changed twice, partly due to it passing through a significant section of forest that was at risk to change from either forestry, bauxite mining or dieback.

The track was suggested in 1972. The groups that had suggested and also who were involved in planning with the then Forests Department of Western Australia were:
 * Perth Bushwalkers
 * Western Walking Club
 * Youth Hostels Association
 * Scout Association of Australia (W.A. Division)
 * The Speleological Research Group of W.A.

The track was first opened in 1979 but the third and final alignment and extension through to Albany was opened in 1998 and retains less than 10% of earlier alignments.

The Bibbulmun Track is a walker-only trail. No wheeled vehicles of any kind are permitted. It has a parallel long-distance cycling trail – known as the Munda Biddi Trail – that opened all the way to Albany in April 2013. This trail is generally situated to the west of the Bibbulmun Track.

Track sections
The track consists of 58 sections and is marked at regular intervals with triangular signs, most of which have a symbol of the Wagyl. The Wagyl, or Rainbow Serpent, is a snakelike Dreamtime creature that is a common deity in Noongar culture. Each section is approximately one day's walk, except for the northernmost 150 km or so, where the sections consist of half-day walks. At the end of each section is either a town or a purpose-built campsite. Each campsite consists of a three-sided shelter with wooden sleeping platforms, a water tank, a pit toilet, picnic tables and cleared tent sites. In the northern half, most campsites also have a barbecue pit and plate (open fires are banned in the southern section).

The Bibbulmun Track is almost all through state forest, national parks and other reserves, with only a few small sections of farmland. The first half of the track is through the jarrah forests of the Darling Range. It then moves through flatter tall karri forests until reaching the coastline near the town of Walpole. The remainder of the track is through coastal forest and scrub along the south coast, in some sections routed along sandy beaches.

The towns the track passes through are Dwellingup, Collie, Balingup, Pemberton, Northcliffe, Walpole and Denmark.

Highlights of the track include:
 * Mundaring Weir
 * Monadnocks area and Mount Cooke
 * Murray River Valley
 * karri forests between Donnelly River and Denmark
 * Tingle forest near Walpole
 * Coastal scenery along the south coast
 * Wildflower displays, birdlife and other Southwest Australian flora and fauna.
 * Marine mammals along the south coast such as seals, dolphins and whales

The Bibbulmun Track is managed by the Western Australian Parks and Wildlife Service at the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions and The Bibbulmun Track Foundation – an incorporated not-for-profit community-based organisation established to provide support for the department in the management, maintenance and marketing of the track to ensure that it remains a "long-distance walk trail of international significance and quality". The foundation sells maps and guide books, offers trip planning advice, offers equipment hire and runs courses on camp cooking and navigation.

Most people choose to walk sections of the track for one or a few days at a time. Hardy walkers who walk the track from beginning to end typically do so in 6 to 8 weeks, although it has been completed in under 12 days. The most popular time to walk the track is during the wildflower season of spring (September – November), going from north to south as the wildflower season starts later in the southern areas. In summer the weather can be very hot and water will be hard to find except in the water tanks at the campsites. Winter can be wet, especially in the southern areas but people walk the track any time from March to December.

Awards

 * 2003 – Finalist – Major Tourist Attractions – Western Australian Tourism Awards
 * 2003 – Sport and Recreation Industry Awards
 * 2004 – Winner – Significant Tourist Attraction – Western Australian Tourism Awards
 * 2005 – Finalist – Significant Tourist Attraction – Western Australian Tourism Awards
 * 2006 – Winner – Significant Tourist Attraction – Western Australian Tourism Awards
 * 2006 – Highly Commended – Significant Tourist Attraction – Australian Tourism Awards

title: Bibbulmun Track


text:
Heysen Trail

The Heysen Trail is a long distance walking trail in South Australia. It runs from Parachilna Gorge, in the Flinders Ranges via the Adelaide Hills to Cape Jervis on the Fleurieu Peninsula and is approximately 1200 km in length.

Route summary
From north to south, the route of the trail may be summarised by the following landmarks in order: Parachilna Gorge - Flinders Ranges National Park - Hawker - Quorn - Mount Remarkable National Park - Melrose - Crystal Brook - Spalding - Burra - Kapunda - Adelaide Hills - Deep Creek Conservation Park - Cape Jervis

Due to bushfire risk, large sections of the trail are closed annually from December through to April.

Most people choose to walk sections of the track for one or a few days at a time. There are many places to stay along the trail and hardy walkers who walk the track from beginning to end typically do so in about 60 days.

The Friends of the Heysen Trail is a non-profit volunteer organisation dedicated to the maintenance, development and promotion of the Heysen Trail and other walking trails; and to the promotion of bushwalking as a healthy leisure activity.

A regular walking program is conducted by a walking sub-committee. Different grades of walks cater for beginners and for more experienced walkers.

Geology and biology
The trail passes cliffs, farmland, natural bushland, forests, vineyards, and grazing land. It extends from the ocean through the fertile Mount Lofty Ranges across Goyder's Line to the arid Flinders Ranges, with many different bioregions.

History
The trail was first suggested by Warren Bonython in 1969 but design was stalled by several years due to government politics and issues with private land owners. The first 50 kilometres of the track was laid through the Mount Lofty Ranges in 1978 after responsibility for the track was handed to the Department of Recreation and Sport. Terry Lavender was the main designer for the track and oversaw the majority of its construction until it was completed in 1992.

The trail is named after Sir Hans Heysen.

title: Heysen Trail