The Celtic Way (II)
Not being blessed with the best of weather on this trip, we waited out a day of rain in Llanelli before continuing westward. There seems to be a pattern of wet day, dry day. And we’re not sufficiently hurried (motivated?) to ride through the wet ones.
St Ishmael’s Parish Church, on the approach to Ferryside, has parts that date from the 13th century. There is a splendid roof, and a sundial that is claimed to have been added in 1725.
Despite the grey days, the sun shone intermittently, making the light bright and the greens intense. It’s not all due to Lightroom!
The prevailing winds are westerly and the abundant wind turbines explained our regular headwinds.
We arrived at the Harbourlights Guesthouse, in Saundersfoot, just a few minutes too late to prevent getting soaked when the heavens opened. By the time we showered, changed and were out for dinner, the weather had cleared again. We enjoyed curry night at The Royal Oak, with the excellent (and seemingly appropriate) Jaipur India Pale Ale to complement the food.
Tenby is a popular tourist town, crowded with holiday makers but still with a fairly relaxed feel. There is a beautiful beach and it is easy to see why so many people spend their precious summer holidays here. Unfortunately, with the vagaries of the British weather, beach vacations are always a gamble.
Parts of St Mary’s Church in Pembroke date from the 13th century, and some from the 15th. I learned later (only after we'd left, unfortunately!) that there is a tablet commemorating the Elizabethan scholar Robert Recorde, responsible for introducing the equals ( = ) sign to mathematics!
Every town in Wales seems to have a castle. This is in Pembroke, where we spent a couple of nights (actually, we lodged a couple of kilometres away at the Highgate Inn in Hundleton) to escape another day of wind and rain. We didn’t see the castle until we passed through Pembroke when the sun came out again.
Another ‘rain stopped play’ day. This one in Haverfordwest.
We employed the same policy to avoid Druidston Haven, warned off by arrows on the cycling map indicating steep descents and climbs. We did, however, take the road (steeply) down to Nolton Haven.
There was a lifeguard shack overlooking the narrow cove but on this very windy day (they all seem to be such…) there was no-one in the water to keep watch over. Maybe it was the wrong tide for surfing. The ships offshore were presumably waiting to offload their cargo at the refinery in nearby Milford Haven.
I pushed back up the steep hill of Nolton Haven. A minor consolation was the view of a ‘roadie’ on an unladen bike also pushing. (He probably didn’t have a low enough gear whereas I just didn’t have the leg muscles.)
We had planned to spend the night camping in Newgale but we were enjoying the day and decided to push as far as St David’s. Bev’s cycle route map showed an alternative route inland (supposedly flatter although, in my opinion, still not flat enough). One of my phone’s online mapping applications showed a variation on the same alternative so, instead of dropping down into Newgale and then climbing steeply out of it, we turned right to Roch and continued along a somewhat official route.
On the outskirts of St David’s, I contacted a friend from my first university days who ran a B&B. It was a long shot, hoping to get in on a Saturday night in high season but, if not, we could camp nearby and get together for a visit later. It turned out that Kila had given up the B&B seven years before but had a comfortable fold-down couch…
It had been 38 years since we had last been in contact so there was some catching up to do. We decided on a few days in St David’s to see something of the area.
First, a spectacular coast walk:
St David’s is Britain’s smallest city (a city by virtue of having a cathedral). Interesting architecture and varied ceilings. And a library with works from the 1600s.
Time to figure where next...
