Bullslaughter Bay

Legend has it that Saint Govan was pursued by pirates here — they used to chase missionaries for stolen gold — when he sailed into these cliffs and they opened and closed around him until the pirates passed. Now, there is a chapel built into the cliffside — it's said he built it there in gratitude.

This is no longer a likely coast for pirates, but romantic tales of treasure are easy to imagine here: deep sea caves stud the waterline if you are brave enough to peer over the cliffs.

Braver yet, Huntsman's Leap is two sea cliffs as little as three meters across but hundreds of feet down to the rocks and waves. Lore again, an ancient hunter leapt the gap on horseback, then turned to see what he had jumped and died of shock.

The drama of the landscape begs for stories. Waves crash against sea stacks; a trail of low blue wildflowers leads out to a promontory all in pink. A tank sits still and strange in the meadow, and bunkers have been dug into grassy hummocks.

As well as storied land and Wales Coast Path, this is a part of the Castlemartin military training area. Live machine gun and armored vehicle exercises take place here, firing into land and sea. Soldiers have been killed here in training. Hikers are warned that the area can sometimes be shut down, and that off the path may be unexploded ordinance — so take care. There are strange craters in the earth that now are covered over with grass.

Violence has been done to this land, but there are flowers that follow fire. Whether due…