It would have been easy to prolong our stay at St Donat's Castle and learn more of the work of the world famous United World College of the Atlantic and its multinational student population, but time and the seasons are moving on and, if this epic circumnavigation of the RNLI's realm doesn't do the same, it will be the 3rd Millennium rather than the 2nd that we shall be celebrating.

It was back in 1995 that work started to the west on the new boathouse at Porthcawl. One of the critenum for a successful planning application was that the new building should enhance the sea front and set the standard for future development of the promenade area of this holiday town. Welsh stone and slate featured strongly in the design. The resultant very robust and striking building was put to the test soon after opening in January 1996 when a fierce storm struck causing extensive damage around the coastline of England and Wales. A few slates were displaced and an external wing wall demolished but otherwise the building stood the test of its baptism.

As we tack westwards against the prevailing wind we can look inland to the mountains and valleys from whence came the coal which fuelled the industrial revolution. Although the mining industry has now declined the distinctive linear forms of the steel mills and the vertical paraphanalia of oil refineries still dominate the skyline as we approach Port Talbot The coastal plain is narrow here with the M4 and the main railway line clearly visible squeezing between the town and the backdrop of steeply rising hills. It was only in 1999 that Port Talbot's new boathouse was completed mid-way along the town's broad sea front.

The new building was partly funded by monies from the local authority as the old station was cut off from the sea by major new coast protection works which resulted in the boathouse being relocated several hundreds of metres west of its previous position. The new building has, however, also provided much deserved modern facilities for the crew and, as at Porthcawl, will help to set the standards for any further development of the sea front.

Our course is now set west-southwest across the broad sweep of Swansea Bay giving fine views of the town and bringing back memories of family holidays and days spent riding the much lamented Mumbles Train whose distinctive double decker rail cars traversed the sea front from the terminus near the prison to the pier at The Mumbles. The lines are long gone but they passed in front of the old Lifeboat House which still stands tucked under the grey slate cliffs continuing to provide a home for the local rowing club.

On the opposite side of the road is the new inshore lifeboat station which was completed in 1994 attracting a design award from the Mayor of Swansea.

The new building provides supporting facilities for the crews of both lifeboats as space is very restricted in slipway boathouse prominently located alongside the pier. This distinctive red roofed building along with the reinforced structure which supports it enjoys Listed Building status. The boat platform and slipway were constructed in 1914 using precast units cast on the shore making it one of the earliest structures of its type. The boathouse was constructed m 1922. The whole structure lies beyond the low tide mark and experiences one of the highest tide ranges in the world with only the Bay of Fundy in Newfoundland exceeding its 10m (33ft) rise and fall. Major repairs to the reinforced concrete substructure were undertaken in 1993 which involved specialist personnel working with the rapidly rising and falling water levels to cut out and replace concrete and steel. The Mumbles has a long and proud life boating history and this will be assured well into the next century when the new class of slipway lifeboat arrives in a few years time.

Before that can happen the boathouse will have to be rebuilt. Studies are already in hand looking at the options for a project which will undoubtedly be one of the major challenges for the shoreworks office in the coming years.

After a breakfast of lava bread, bacon and cockles our journey continues leaving the Mumbles Head astern and reluctantly passing a number of the Gower Pennmsular's spectacular golden sand bays with more childhood memories of trekking down cliff paths with picnic baskets and eating sandwiches which, somehow, always had an added sprinkling of sand.

Fortunately, in its wisdom the RNLI retains a lifeboat station at Morton and Port Eynon The current inshore lifeboat house was completed in 1991 replacing the two small prefabricated garage units which previously housed the D class lifeboat and its equipment. Nestling behind the sand dunes which back the beach at Morton, the boathouse was one of the first of the new generation of architect designed buildings. A lookout tower gives a view over the dunes. In previous times a lifeboat was stationed at Morton's larger neighbour, Port Eynon. In January 1916 the Port Eynon lifeboat and three of her crew were tragically lost - an event recorded in the statue of a lifeboat man which stands in the village churchyard.

This monument is one of many around the coasts which bear witness to the bravery and sacrifice of crews and communities over the years. The RNLI, although not itself responsible for the upkeep of many of these memorials, does try to keep an eye on them and wants to hear of any which may be in disrepair.As a rural community in a sensitive conservation area Morton is a current example of the difficulties that can be encountered by the RNLI when trying to improve the lifeboat service. Consultations have been in hand for several years, so far without success, to find a site to accommodate an Atlantic 75 ILB in addition to the station's existing D class ILB.

Much care is required in departing Port Eynon and rounding the Worm's Head where the interplay of wind and tide and the rugged shoreline combine to catch out the unwary. Keeping well to seaward of the gently shoaling sands and the rich cockle beds of Penclawdd we await the high tide before navigating into the tidal harbour at Burry Port, currently home of a D class ILB. In 1994 the old boathouse was completely modernised but on the night of 11 January 2000 disaster! For only the second time in the RNLI's history fire struck and the roof and first floor were gutted. Despite all the proper precautions a glowing ember of paint from maintenance work smouldered hidden in the eaves for several hours before igniting the the roof in the early hours of the morning. The fire was spotted in time for the boat and Land Rover to be removed but it was too late for the crew room. At the time of our visit the station were impatiently waiting for the local authority - our landlords - to put repairs in hand. (Work finally started in August and should have been completed by early November), Turning westwards once more we cross Camarthen Bay passing Pendine Sands, famous as a past site for attempts on the Land Speed record, and arriving at Tenby - a traditional slipway boathouse dating from 1905 and boasting, at 110m, the RNLI's longest slipway. Reportedly the most photographed shed in Wales the lifeboat house and its future are currently the subject of much debate. The coming of FSB2 will require the rebuilding of the boathouse and this, combined with siltation which regularly reimposes a launching limitation despite annual visits by excavators, has led to plans to relocate the station further around the headland. Negotiations and consultations were started in 1998 and a planning application together with the requisite Environmental Impact Study were submitted in 2000. If all goes well construction should be under way in 2001-02 with completion well in time for the arrival of the new class of lifeboat The voyage from Tenby takes us initially past Caldey Island with its famous monastery and then on past the headlands of Stackpole, St. Govan's and Linney - a section of coast accessible mostly only on foot - before we enter the deep water channel leading to the docks and oil refineries at Milford Haven and Pembroke. Angle lifeboat station lies on the southern side of the haven just west of Angle Bay.

The boathouse and slipway were rebuilt in 1992 after giving 70 years of service. The project represented a major milestone in the current rebuilding programme.

It was the first slipway station to be built for over 20 years. Although close, as the seagull flies, to the docks and refineries, land access to Angle is difficult and the contractor had to build several hundred metres of new road to supply the site.

Once under way again, and giving wide berth to the rocky islands of Skokholm and Skomer with their noisy seabird colonies, our course turns easterly following the coastal path to the twin villages which give their names to Little and Broad Haven lifeboat station in the southerly reaches of St Brides Bay.

Compared with its sister stations on the Pembroke coast Little and Broad Haven has placed lew demands on the Shoreworks office since its new ILB boathouse was completed in early 1992. The station's operating area covers a variety of coastline including holiday beaches and rocky cliffs. It is rocks, however, which feature prominently in the vicinity of our next anchorage at St Justinians. Here we join the continuous procession of late summer visitors who use the slipway of St David's lifeboat station to embark and disembark from the fleet of small boats which ferry them to the bird sanctuary on Ramsey Island. So much does the St David's boathouse typify the public image of a lifeboat station that it has been accorded the ultimate accolade of being immortalised in Legoland at Windsor. There is much lifeboat history beneath the rocky cliffs with the recently renovated earlier 19th century masonry and slate boathouse now housing the D class ILB which was added to the station in 1998. Much attention will soon be focussed on this rugged and picturesque site as planning starts ready for the complete rebuilding of the station ready for FSB2 - this will arguably be the greatest engineering challenge of all the projects to date. It can safely be said that in the relatively short section of coast from The Mumbles to St David's we have covered stations which, over the next few years, will account for the greatest geographical concentration of financial investment in the RNLI's history.

It is thus with some relief that the final leg of this section of our voyage brings us via yet more glorious coastal scenery to the onomatopoeic Strumbles Head and into the sheltered waters of Fishguard harbour.

Here 2000 has seen the completion of the station's new D class boathouse and crew facility building. The D class was added to the station in April 1995 and serves alongside the Trent class ALB funded by proceeds of Blue Peter's amazingly successful Pieces of Eight appeal in 1994.

The Pembroke Coastal Path continues on its 186 mile way north towards Cardigan but we shall not be back for a while because after a break to make sure that things are going well on the major projects currently in hand, we shall make the short but potentially choppy crossing to the Emerald Isle to enjoy the balmy breezes and hospitality of the ± 37 stations around its coast..