Week 58 - 17th to 23rd November

Monday 17th - day 386

We are leaving Wales today, for the penultimate destination of our tour. The end of our gap year is beginning to loom large on our horizon and the thought of trying to settle down or trying to

find jobs in the present financial climate is a little disconcerting, but we are trying not to think about it! There are some things that we are looking forward to - like having our own flushing loo, and free use of our own shower. Also it will be good to be still for a while, but other than that we still have the desire and energy to keep on going! We would like to be able to plan another trip, but I suspect that we will have to see what our earning potential is over the next few years!
Anyway, back to today, we had an easy journey from our lovely little spot at Letterston (the only concern being getting out of the narrow gate way, which was executed brilliantly, thanks to a careful driver and a calm camp site owner) and Hereford, and we were all settled in before it went dark which is always a bonus.

Tuesday 18th - day 387

We needed to attend to business today, so spent the day in Hereford, looking for printers and launderettes, followed by a trip round Morrison’s.
That should have kept us busy enough but we were side tracked for a while by the delights of the town and cathedral. We decided to pop into the Tourist Information centre for a town map, only to discover it was right by the cathedral. Our inquisitive natures at once needed satisfying, and no amount of reasoning that we could revisit another day, stopped us from going in to explore further. The cathedral itself was not so exciting as many others that we have visited, but it housed the Mappa Mundi and the Chained library. We quibbled outside for a while pretending that we were not willing to pay £4.50 each to view one of the worlds oldest surviving maps, but sense prevailed and once inside we were thrilled by what we saw. The map was not a geographic interpretation of the medieval view of the world but a religious one. It had been put together around 1300 by Richard de Belle of Haldingham (Holdingham in Lincolnshire) with Jerusalem as the centre of the world! It was fascinating to try and interpret as it was written in a mix of Latin and French, but fortunately some clever person had translated the names into English so we could understand what we were looking at.
The next room held the chained library, which was literally that. A room full of three tiered columns of books of Christian learning and church law that were attached to the bookcase by chains just long enough for the reader to be able to lift the book onto the desk and read it there. Obviously no-one was going to take these books from the library!
After such an invigorating visit, we needed(!) to make use of the services of the Cathedral refectory, so we stopped to enjoy a little tiffin before heading back to our duties.
We had enjoyed mixing pleasure with business until we arrived back at the caravan just before the Archers, with bags of shopping to be emptied and three washing machines full of clean wet clothes to hang out.
It was a while before we had completed all our chores!

Wednesday 19th - day 388

We again spent most of the day catching up with admin, and starting to put together the Christmas card ideas, but by 3.30 we needed to get out and feel the fresh air, so we drove down to Bodenham, a little village a few miles away, for our constitutional. We parked in the local RSPB nature reserve, and having walked to the lakeside to check out the ducks and pink sky, we set off to the check out the lovely little church, and once there we discovered a circular walk created for the locals to celebrate the millennium. Of course we had to follow the signs, and ended up walking across some really squelchy clay rich soil, and our boots got heavier and heavier until we got back to the road, but we were treated to a fabulous evening sky. We walked back to the car, as a very soft evening settled in, and the smells of quietly decaying autumnal leaves rose around us.

Thursday 20th - day 389

We had great plans today to make a quick recce of Hay on Wye, and then make our way into the Brecons to do a bit of walking. But we never got any further than this glorious little town, famous for selling books, but we discovered that it had much more besides. We spent too long browsing in antique, crafts and gift shops that we could not afford to purchase anything in! But still we enjoyed very much exploring everything on offer here. Actually we did make a purchase there was an old man standing by a little table selling bread that his son had been making overnight. We bought three loaves – two sour dough rye and one tapenade loaf, I wish that I could say that they would last all week, but the tapenade was nearly all gone by the end of our picnic (it was only little though!)
Which we had overlooking the valley late in the afternoon before going on a little walk down the quiet country lanes before heading back into town for one more look at it lit up.
Whilst we were waking we were passed by a couple of young idiots driving down the lane with no lights – in fact they did not appear to be using anything other than gravity to propel them forward and we caught them up at one point pushing their fiesta up the hill, just in front of a very irate fully functioning motor!
Even as we were leaving we were planning to return, so lets hope that we have time!

Friday 21st - day 390

We must be coming to the end of our holiday, because we seem to have a lot of business to attend to, but repairing a deflated caravan tyre was not part of the plan! So a little (!) later than planned we set off to explore Leominster and Ludlow. We mixed business with pleasure at the first place, as we dropped off the tyre to be repaired before we went for a wander round Leominster. After the joys of Hereford and Hay, we found it a shabby and charmless little town, although it did have a lovely square, and there was evidence of the old black and white timber framed houses that are in abundance in this area. We just could not find its charms, so we only stayed long enough to grab a sandwich and pick up the tyre before moving on to Ludlow. Good move, it was beautiful here, bursting with fabulous timber framed building towering out over narrow and colourful streets. The shops were again very expensive and stylish, filled with beautiful gifts and crafts, and once again there was a lot of dribbling over a firmly closed wallet!
We visited St Lawrence church, which was worth a visit, but we had the dubious pleasure of meeting the grumpiest verger in Christendom, who would rather keep the pews gleaming than provide a warm welcome sinners! Needless to say that after an attempt at discussion, we smiled and agreed to disagree (actually I don’t think he noticed that we had an opinion!)
We had a jolly good wander round this beautiful town, with its imposing castle and pretty bridges, and tried to make sure that we had left no small street or shop window unexplored before making our way back to the campsite for a luscious steak and kidney pie bought at the local butchers for £2.99 – excellent in every way.

Saturday 22nd - day 391

We were supposed to be spending the day in Shrewsbury, but it has been a day of surprises – all lovely.
We were heading first to Church Stretton, and had seen Stokesay Castle on the map, but had not paid it much attention. However as we were driving by we were stopped in our tracks, it was a lovely old medieval castle with a yellow timber framed gate house, and a little church. We were only going to stop for a few photos but 60 minutes and two audio tours later, we left with no corner unexplored, particularly the large medieval barn with its crux beams, blackened from all the fires lit to keep the revellers warm in its hey day. The guide for our tour had been Janet Suzman, and my husband was nearly a jibbering wreck by the time she had finished whispering in his ears, so I had to help him back to the car to recover!
He was back to his old self by the time we got to Church Stretton, a lovely little village which was celebrating the switching on of its Christmas lights later in the day, and had organised a street Fayre selling local goodies, including a glass of Champagne at £6 a glass. You can imagine which one of us was definitely not going to be putting his hands in his pocket at that price!
After a little while we moved on to Much Wenlock, and as we arrived it was obvious that we wouldn’t be leaving this colourful, creative and very smart town, with its own Priory and Abbey, in a rush. So we parked up and went for a slow wander along the characterful old lanes, past some very lovely old houses, and into some delightful shops. The highlight was this little wool shop (called Ippikin) which looked so inviting it was impossible to stay outside, so we didn’t. There was a really friendly buzz and the whole family were working in the shop, serving or knitting, (not sue where they had disappeared to in this photo!!) and we stayed long enough for a little chat and a lovely purchase – a teapot cosy covered in colourful buttons. As you have probably guessed it was nearly dark by the time we left to head for Shrewsbury, no surprise there, but we still had energy to go for a look round town. We discovered that it too was a grand old historic town, with yet more stunning shop windows, but I am glad that we had spent our time the way we did. We were feeling a bit Saturdayish though, and had packed our tea, so we decided to stay in town and go to the cinema (Icesave must surely be on its way soon!) So we tried to look invisible in the corner of the parking complex whilst we ate our tea, before going in to watch the latest Bond film “Quantum of Solace”. I am not sure what the critics had been complaining about, the film was over in 5 minutes – at least that’s what it felt like and I think we may need to watch it again.

Sunday 23rd - day 392

There was absolutely no fun had today. I have seen a job that looks appealing, so foolishly decided to apply, rather than wait until January! So I spent all day squeezing any revivable grey cell into working life – and tried to remember what I did 18 months ago, and after 6 hours of wiping blood off the brow I had managed to complete the job history, made double sure that it was saved and closed everything down before supper. The real fun started when I tried to find it again – it was absolutely no where to be found, not even my technical expert could find it, so after a little hissy fit I started again. In the mean time Chris finished his book!

Week 57 - 10th to 16th November

Monday 10th - day 379

We visited Strumble Head today, to walk round the headland and back to the lighthouse. It was

very blowy but bright, which blew the cobwebs away, but the paths were very soggy still, and slippy underfoot, though we were treated along the way, to some lovely views back to Dinas Head.
In fact we did walk a little too far along the coastal path, and I began to fret as we looked for a path back to the road, that was almost lost to view as it had been submerged under a squelchy quagmire of walkers and cows activity. Unfortunately the light was fading quickly, so we had little choice other than to scrummage our way to drier land through muddy fields. The cows looked a little wryly at us as we skidded and floundered past them; but eventually we reached the farm yard, and had made it onto the windy narrow road back to Strumble Head lighthouse, just as light faded.
We had one more adventure to come, as we knew we would come to a flood – 1ft deep (too high for us to wade through!) by 15ft long which reached right across the road.
We neatly side stepped into a field and walked along side it. We did fine until we had to negotiate some tight barbed wire and a steep bank to get back onto the road, it was just a good job one of us had had the presence to bring their head torch – not attractive but very useful!
We enjoyed our usual post walk cuppa, in the warmth and protection of our car, as we watched the eerily atmospheric and ghostly spectres overhead sweep across the cliff faces - until we realised they were beams of the light from the lighthouse.

Tuesday 11th - day 380

We are under bright blue skies again today, but no walking planned, as we are making a tour of all the little bays along the coastal roads of west Pembrokeshire.
We started our trip at Abercastle, a lovely little cluster of cottages that sat above a grey stony harbour of a narrow protected inlet. There had been signs of industrial activity here, but they had long been laid to ruin.
Our next top was at Aber Draw by Trefin, another rocky deep sided bay, surrounded and protected by the cliffs and here again we saw a ruined corn mill, that had thrived for the first half of the 20th century bringing sure employment, and homes to the locals, until the leading lights learned to process larger quantities of imported grain in larger mills, so closing all the small local ones, and destroying local communities.
From there we went on to Porthgain, another derelict but once splendid slate and brick quarries, as well as Lime Kilns. It was enjoying a renaissance though as a dreamy little spot for artists and lovers of seafood.
There were two art galleries, and we (foolishly) went in one to peruse, and will probably go back and purchase a a painting (memory from Wales) if the Icesave returns start to look imminent.
Our next stop was Abereiddi Bay, a wide granite lined sweep of rock, set against clear aquamarine waters, scattered around it were little holiday cottages. We should have stayed here for wander as the coastal path looked very inviting as it rose to a promontory that would have given expansive views of the bay, but instead we decided to go onto Whitesands Bay for lunch (could have been a mistake though).
We walked along the beach after lunch (3.30pm) and as it looked like there may be a rewarding sunset we decided to stay and watch, it started well, but disappeared behind a cloud quickly.
On next to St David’s for a quick glimpse of the Cathedral, but we decided that there was too much to see, so should return tomorrow, as we needed to attend to the pressing matter of a completely empty fridge, Morrison’s was our final destination of the day.
We were too late to cook after our shopping expedition, so (again!!) we treated ourselves (we will regret all this profligate behaviour, one week before pay day!!) and went to the best fish and chips café in the whole of Wales (official), which just happened to be located in Letterston the village that we are staying in – how convenient!

Wednesday 12th - day 381

After a catch up of diary duties we were off to St David’s again. The plan was to visit the town – or should I say city, as this small cluster of smart shops, narrow streets and pretty cottages, that are gathered round their own impressive and rather majestic square towered cathedral.
Having explored cathedral and shops we were meant to move on from St David’s to Solva, but we made the fortunate (or unfortunate) move of popping into a lovely colourful gift/
accessories/
clothes shop, and were still there a full 90 minutes and half a life story later (oh, and one rather lovely sweater, but we had better not mention that in the present financial climate!)

Thursday 13th - day 382

The grey miserable weather is back so no walking planned for today. Instead we had another touring day of the coast line, stopping at several places to explore a little further. Our first stop had to be Solva, as we had been robbed (!) of the opportunity the day before. I had been there as

a child on Easter holidays, and could vaguely remember its charming long harbour and colourful cottages, and remains of a once prosperous Lime Kiln. We spent a while there, and had our picnic lunch overlooking the bay, before we moved on to drive round St Brides Bay, which includes a number of smaller bays within it; the largest of which being Newgale Bay, a wide sweep of sandy beach, protected from the road by a stony ridge. Even in grim weather it was a popular place for dog walkers, and sand surfers. As we continued along the coast road we passed, what looked like something out of the Telly Tubbies, but on closer inspection found that it was an eco house, almost buried under the earth, and having just a wide back and front entrance, to make the most of natural light and enjoy the view presumably.
Our next stop was at beautiful St Brides, which was off the beaten track and quite hidden from view. Here the earth and stone were red, making this bay much warmer than the others, and we lingered and wandered for a while here, in this peaceful haven, sharing it only with a couple walking their dogs. There was also a lovely little church here, sitting peacefully amongst a couple of holiday cottages. I imagine that this little spot is very popular in finer weather – but I am glad that we were left to enjoy it without the interruptions of others.
We should have stopped also at Druidston Haven, as this too was a beautiful and wild spot which I am sure entices many walkers, but we were running out of light and wanted to complete our tour at Wooltack Point, overlooking Skomer Island. With just enough light to encourage us to take the short, but steep climb (oh, those steps that Sherpa Mint loves so well) to the stop of the headland. We walked up to the cliff face to look over at the sun setting in the evening sky. As darkness fell we drove on to Dale, at the mouth of an interesting estuary to drink our tea over looking the lights of Milford Haven. As we were looking for somewhere to park up, we were stopped in our tracks at the sight of the watery moon, escaping from behind the clouds to shine brightly enough to cause a reflection over the waters. We got out to attempt (unsuccessfully) taking a picture. But while DB was trying his best to capture the moment I stood and looked and absorbed the many bird calls enjoying the end of the day – pure magic.

Friday 14th - day 383

We have reached the southern side of our anti-clockwise tour of Pembrokeshire, and are looking forward to exploring the Stackpole area, which we were hoping to walk around, taking in Broad Haven and Barafundle bays; but alas we forgot to buy the very useful OS map (again,) so we studied the road map, hoping to secure a circular route in our memories (a lost cause usually!). Actually we got a bit lost finding the road to Stackpole, but fortunately spotted a little brown sign which read “Stackpole Centre” We would have ignored it but there was a National truss logo on the board, so comfort restored we pursued it. We soon arrived at a sort of residential Outward Bound/Learning centre, and when I wandered into the deserted café area, I was not convinced that we were in a public space, but on the table there was an excellent walking map of the Stackpole Estate, with routes round the coastline – hurray, good ol’ NT, always sure to save the day!
There also a very helpful receptionist, who told us how to get on the path, and allowed us to leave the car in their yard – excellent!
The first leg of the walk took us across soggy farmland to lovely little Stackpole Quay, quietly situated with a National truss tearoom and carpark at the head of the harbour, joy, we were sorely tempted, but we did not stop there as there was too much else to enjoy. We walked across the Warren on to absolutely breath takingly beautiful Barafundle Bay, with its wide breadth of golden sands protected from the elements by rocky cliffs and outcrops. As it was a mile or so from the car park, we suspected that it was protected from the over use of excitable families and visited mostly by the determined who could carry their deckchairs and thermos’s or the walkers who, like us stopped for a sit and their sandwiches before moving on to the next glorious view.
There were several choices of route, but we chose to stay with the cliff hugging path up to Stackpole Head, that took us on to beautiful Broad Haven. There were some strange land falls along the cliff edges, and we were not sure whether it had been erosion or mining that had caused these great deep gashes in the ground, but we did know that we had to be vigilant to avoid dropping down them!
Once past Barafundel we mostly had the path to ourselves, but we did meet several joggers, who looked a strange combination of navy blue and puce, but we had to assume that they knew what they were doing!
We left the coastal path at Broad Haven and returned to the centre along a well laid out path that ran along side the estuary, where we believe there is to be seen a feast of Lily pads, but they must have been further up, as we did not spot them.
Once back at the car, we drove back round to Broad Haven to make the most of the rest of the day light whilst we enjoyed another lovely cuppa!
As dusk fell we were joined by two sets of fishermen, who (presumably wearing thermals) set off for a little night fishing!

Saturday 15th - day 384

The weather was again miserable, and we didn’t really leave our warm cosy caravan in time to make the most of the day. However we did have a lovely picnic lunch sat at the top of Skinkle Haven overlooking yet more spectacular cliff scenes. We should maybe just have parked up and walked from there, but we wanted to visit Tenby, which we also wished that we had arrived at two hours earlier, so that we could have made the most of this colourful Regency seaside resort, where the town walls created the boundaries for the narrow streets of the shopping centre. We just had time to go for a quick turn round the main sights if we were going to get Saundersfoot in the light. Of course we failed, and after a quick walk round the harbour in the dark, we decided to move on to Pendine for our cuppa and a walk on the beach. Big mistake, we failed absolutely to find our way to the sea, and finally ended up at St Clears before we gave up and went home.

Sunday 16th - day 385

This is our last day in Pembrokeshire, and I think that we will be a little sad to move on, as we have been surprised and delighted with all that we have seen whilst here, The weather alas though is gloomy again, but we are determined to make the most of it. We have also decided to go and purchase the print that we had found at Porthgain.
We started the day though back at St David’s as I wanted to get some Welsh hand made chocolates as a present for Vic’s birthday. That done our next stop was Porthgain, where we stayed just long enough to make our purchase, before heading for Abereiddi. This was the little harbour that we both felt that we would have liked to explore further a few days ago, but instead went on to Whitesand’s Bay.
We ate our lunch overlooking the sea where there were a couple of young families playing on the beach, trying to burn off excess toddler energy, even in the drizzle!
After a little sit, we got our waterproofs on and set off up the side of the bay to join the coastal path.
What we had not realised was that we standing in a National Truss treasure, and quite near a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) The notice board told us all. Abereiddi was once a thriving slate quarrying community of some 50 plus souls. There were to be seen, visible remains of the workers houses, works buildings, a watch tower, and a tramway that connected the quarry to Porthgain, where the slate was sent to be processed. There was also a disused quarry that was now flooded with deep aquamarine coloured water, and surprisingly(!) named the Blue Lagoon – also now an SSSI!
We were off to investigate! The Blue Lagoon was indeed lovely – and blue, and was thoroughly explored.
We carried on round the headland for an hour and were treated to more views of glorious and remote bays, then followed the path that took us back round to the bay, just in time for…. Guess what…. Oh yes a lovely cuppa!

Week 56 - 3rd to 9th November

Monday 3rd - day 372

Hurray we have had a beautiful bright sunny and warm day today – quite different than a few days ago!! We are particularly grateful for the brilliant sunshine today because we are off to visit Portmeirion, “miniature architectural designer village” in vibrant colours!

We had a few surprises on arrival, as it was quite tucked away from its neighbours, and it was not as large as expected, but it did not seem to matter once we were in there.
It was completely higgledy piggledy, with no plan at all to the design, just lots of different styles and types of buildings – including a Campanile and Dome(!) tumbling down the hill to the bay. We had a quick recce first then went for a little lunch at the café, before taking our time and walking slowly round to absorb the celebration to Architecture as designed by Clough Williams-Ellis – a man of style and taste, and wearing yellow stockings and plus fours!!
Once we had examined all the buildings we went for a walk round the surrounding woodland. There was a path that ran round the coastline, with some very fine views of the estuary, all enjoyed under a cloudless sky, (and the possibility of a good sunset)
We wandered round the rest of the gardens, as the sun began its descent, and came across a small Japanese garden, made up of a group of Acers by a small lake with a red bamboo bridge over it – the trees were a fabulous array of beautiful vibrant reds, russets and ambers. They were so worth seeing in their own right, but once we were satiated we walked back to a small bay to sit and watch the red ball of sun sink slowly into the sea.

Tuesday 4th - day 373

Alas the glorious weather left us again, apparently the whole country is sitting under a blanket of cloud, and certainly that is true of Snowdonia National Park. We were hoping to ride up to the summit of Snowdon on the narrow-gauge railway and walk down, but we were not to be successful for two reasons – 1. the summit (nor any of the rest of Snowdon!) was not visible, and 2. the next train going up was due in March! So we left Llanberis and drove back up the pass to Pen-y-Pass and after a quick sandwich we set off along an old miners track up to Llyn Llydaw lake, which sits just below the summit of Snowdon (or so the map suggests!!)
The clouds were down, making it all very atmospheric. There was a shrouded stillness, as any noise that might have been had been muted and hushed in the mists; having said that we were also quickly away from any other signs of life except fellow walkers and the occasional raven!
We walked to the other side of the lake and sat for a while listening to the quiet, and watching the mists drift down over the rocks above the aquamarine waters. I love moments like this -just us, completely alone, (once the workmen had gone) only the sound of the wind, the light fading lending to the eerie quiet, and the splendour of the bleak quartz slashed rock faces above us.
We were back as light was almost faded, and we sat with our warming mugs of tea (lifted from our fast disintegrating picnic box) watching other walkers return soggy to their vehicles, before driving back to the caravan for the latest news of the USA Presidential Election – oh may Obama win!!

Wednesday 5th - day 374

We woke to a bright new day of hope, no the sun was not shining, but the news that Barac Obama had won, and the (still) most powerful country in the world was celebrating a new dawn and a new hope, had its own ripple effects over in our little corner too! It must be an especially good day too for black Americans, considering how far they have come since slavery and segregation. We learned that it was only 40 years ago that Martin Luther King gave his seminal speech “I have a dream”!
Well apart from that optimistic thought we were once again facing a dull day of low cloud and grey skies, not great for going back into the heart of Snowdonia, but that is what we are doing, as we were visiting Beddgelert (Gelert’s Grave, so named after the dog that Prince Llewellyn had slain, thinking that he had killed his baby son, only to discover the dog had killed the wolf who was trying to take his son.)
As we neared the village we drove past Llyn (lake) Dinas and were treated to a rare sight. There was no wind and the lake was like glass, causing mirror image reflections. We (along with other travellers) just had to stop and enjoy it for a while, before driving on.
We had a wander round the pretty village before heading back to Llyn Dinas to have our picnic lunch. The idea was to walk from there, but the weather suddenly brightened, the temperature rose and the little spot that we occupied was sheltered so we just sat and enjoyed the beauty of the place. We had deadlines today alas, and had to be back in Llandudno before 5pm to pick up the Land Rover that had been in the garage for a couple of days having work done to it following its service, and before the launderette closed. We were also going into town to watch the fire work display, so we had to keep moving to be standing by the pier ready at 7pm!
Surprisingly for us we achieved this, and indeed had time to hang our clean laundry on the maiden back at the van before heading into town.
We parked up near the pier, but were a little concerned to find only a few people there before us, and apart from several “warning shots” there was little activity for 30 minutes, until just before 7.30pm (and just as we were starting to feel the cold!) everyone gathered – right along the prom, up where we were at the pier, and even up Happy Valley towards the Great Orme. We knew this, as out of the darkness were seen sporadic little splashes of Sparkler lights!
The fire work display was the work of a professional team, and boy were they spectacular. For 25 minutes the explosions of colour, shape and noise captivated us all. Intriguingly, there was still no wind (where is it when it is needed) so the thick plumes of smoke that would otherwise have drifted off in the wind, were left hanging in the air, making it harder to view some of the sequences clearly. But there was enough going on to keep us enthralled, and one of us clicking – he managed a record of over 100 shots, which later took him a fair while, and some pain, to reduce to 18 photos! We finished the evening eating greasy fish and chips on the prom – like all true seaside holiday makers, before heading back to the caravan for some hot tea to degrease the system.

Thursday 6th - day 375

On the move again today, we have enjoyed this little site by the stream, but will be glad to move to an area that provides us with some modern convenience, one of us has found it a bit tricky, not having access to TV or radio or internet or phones, so we are hoping for some relief in Pembrokeshire.
We had a long and rather tiresome journey driving slowly through some very lovely countryside on some narrow and windy roads. We nearly came undone in Fishguard as there were a lot of signs warning vehicles longer than 43ft (just a little longer than us) to turn around. We continued cautiously however, and only just made it through the narrow windy roads through the town. There was a joint sigh of relief when we got safely (and unmarked) on to the final road. We ended the journey in a bit of a flurry though, as the instructions were not very helpful, and we had to turn in a small car park before asking the site owner if we were really meant to go down the narrow single track road that had a “dead end” sign at the entrance, especially as it was now getting dark (and we were almost out of petrol) and we really did not fancy trying to reverse back up onto the main road. It took a few tries to get him to confirm that we were indeed meant to go down that road, and we were quite glad to find him standing at the (narrow) entrance of his lovely little site, all neatly and cleanly laid out to hard standing pitches, each with their own services.
Once settled we were relieved to find that we do have TV (terrestrial) and Radio 4, but were a little frustrated to find that we are still without mobile phone connection, which means no internet, where are you Vodaphone! Drat, drat and double drat – we will be off in search of the internet café again – how inconvenient!

Friday 7th - day 376

Today was a day of cleaning and sorting and catching up on admin, and we only went out later in the afternoon in search of a Vodafone shop to try and sort out a large bill.
Alas there was no Vodafone shop to be found, nor an internet café, so we spent an hour in a noisy pub catching up on info on Icesave and Halifax, and doing the emails. We had a bit of good news though, as we read that the financial compensation scheme seem to be setting up the process for releasing our savings, which is good news indeed. The headache that each of us left the noisy pub with was not though!

Saturday 8th - day 377

We drove back to Aberaeron today, to explore it further as it had looked very colourful when we drove through the other day on the way to our new site. It was further away than we had expected, but it was worth making the effort.
It was worth the return! Aberaeron was a colourful Regency harbour town with a wide stony bay, visited today with parents assisting excited children to fly their colourful kites.
We had a good wander round then treated ourselves to a little shared fish platter at the newly refurbished Harbourmaster – delicious, but costly!!
We still needed to sort out our huge phone bill, so we headed back via Cardigan, looking for a Vodafone shop, but no success (and lots of heavy rain by now!)
It continued to deluge, but undaunted we stopped by to check out Newport Bay, (in the dark!!!)
So we stayed sat in the car, in the driving rain and howling wind (so strong it rocked our 2 ton Land Rover!) looking through the windscreen wipers and headlamps to the glint of sparkling raindrops being driven horizontally across the windscreen, down the beach to the wild seas. (see photo!!)
Not everybody’s idea of fun I am sure, but we enjoyed it enough to get out the teapot and have a leisurely cuppa while we sat and looked out at the view, before returning to our cosy warm (and noisy) caravan.

Sunday 9th - day 378

The storms raged again through the night, and it has rained and rained until we are wading through water to get to the latrines! But undaunted we were walking today. We have been told that Dinas Head is worth a visit, so with sandwiches packed we set off for Cwm-Yr-Eglwys, a little hamlet by a sheltered bay, which boasts a ruined church which was blown down in a storm in the mid 1800s.
We got completely togged up in water proofs and made a welcome return to the coastal path. We were reminded of the narrow squelchy pathways, the uneven and steep steps and the ferocious wind that met us as we rounded the headland, but it was so invigorating to be out there. The whole walk round the headland was not very long and we were back at the car in an hour and a half soaking wet, but so refreshed and glad to be alive!
We ate our sarnies in a steamy car, then rather than going on to visit Fishguard we drove back to the caravan through sleet and storm, and were back before 5pm for the first time in our entire trip, and enjoyed the rare treat of a quiet read before preparing tea.