It could be months - leading beyond the summer season - before a popular coastal walking path linking Saundersfoot to Wiseman's Bridge is reopened to the public, after this month’s substantial rock fall, which has seen the route vanish under a huge mound of earth.

The path between Coppet Hall and Wiseman's Bridge was closed following rockfalls after Storm Ciaran in November 2023, but after a further slide occurred on Thursday, January 11, members of the public were once again warned to stay clear due to continued risk of more rockfalls.

The landslip has occurred directly above the entrance to an old railway tunnel which is a popular walking route, connecting Saundersfoot and Wiseman’s.

The rock-fall snapped the metal railings on the edge of the path, with the tunnel vanishing under a huge mound of earth, but luckily no-one was hurt, with one local resident stating it was a ‘miracle’ that no-one was killed.

The week before Christmas, Pembrokeshire County Council had initially completed the rock and slope inspection and associated drone survey on December 14 and 15 as planned.

The provisional conclusions (subject to change during the design stage) were that the existing rock netting system that had failed, would need to be replaced by a new draped rock netting system.

The installation of this will require scaling of the loose blocks/soil material and removal of vegetation currently present on the slope and may require localised rock dowels to be installed to support any remaining large blocks (to be determined during the design stage and supervision of the scaling work).

However, since the further rockslide this month, the review work will now need to be extended, and remediation work, which is subject to affordability, will now clearly be more extensive.

A spokesperson for Pembrokeshire County Council said: “A new major fall has occurred at the Coppet Hall end of this section of path, affecting one of the portals of the ‘long tunnel’, some distance from the earlier fall.

“There is a continued risk of further rockfalls and members of the public are asked to please respect the path closure and avoid the area.

“The Council has made an order temporarily prohibiting all vehicular and non vehicular access on the shared use footpath from Coppet Hall Point, northeast to its junction with the access road leading towards Hean Castle.

“The Council has already engaged a specialist to assess the cliff face above the path and a geotechnical expert to review the area for the original rockfall, in order to provide proposals for means to make the area safe.

“The review work will need to be extended in light of the new rockfall, and remediation work, which is subject to affordability, will now clearly be more extensive.

“The path is likely to be closed for some considerable time,” they added.

County councillor for Saundersfoot’s south ward, Cllr Chris Williams remarked: “I a appreciate that businesses will be affected if this continues to be inaccessible to all pedestrians.

“We will work closely together on this and keep you updated on new developments,” he added.