We could have followed main roads from Haverfordwest but I chose the "scenic route" and eventually pulled up on the north bank of the stretch of water known as Milford Haven opposite Pembroke Dock at Burton Ferry.

From beneath a wooden jetty, the triangular shape of the beams was echoed by the red sails of a yacht preparing to set sail in the sunshine.

 

I walked to where the yacht had been moored but by the time I arrived there, it had long gone and all that remained was this motor boat and a small rowing boat. The yellow building on the right is the "Jolly Sailor" public house.

 

From this position though, I had a good view of the wooden jetty and Trinity House. Trinity House was built in 1861 as a depot for lightships and lighthouses between Swansea and North Wales. with the jetty providing a landing stage and storage in its underslung rooms.

 

A vessel called "The Siren", moored off Burton Ferry between 1878 and 1920 and carried relief crews and oil for the lamps. Cottages in Trinity Terrace provided accommodation for the crews but the depot eventually transferred to Swansea in 1926. This view from the entrance to Trinity House not only shows the wooden jetty but also the modern way to cross into Pembroke Dock - the toll bridge.

In times gone by ferrymen rowed children to school in Pembroke Dock and on Tuesdays and Fridays, Llangwm fisherwomen were taken across to sell their catch. They left their donkeys and carts in fields adjacent to "Jolly Sailor", the ferry service continuing until the 1950s. Today the toll bridge provides a much more convenient if less romantic means of crossing.

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