Day 108: Pembrokeshire

After wanting to do some hiking yesterday and not having much luck with the weather, today of course dawned with brilliant blue skies and promisingly warm sunshine. Of course we were going to be in the car a lot of today!

We checked out of the cabin and hit the road around 9:30, heading south-west towards the coastline. First stop was the small village of Ystradgynlais to pick up some breakfast. Found a cafe that sold bacon baps with coffee for 2.50 each, so we grabbed a pair and scoffed them in the car.

It was quite a long drive to our first destination, Barafundle Beach near the south-western tip of Wales. It's a large bay with a big sandy beach, surrounded by cliffs and fairly sheltered from the weather. Very pretty spot, with the green hills, grey slate cliffs, surprisingly white sand and deep blue shades of water. I got very annoyed at the car park, because it was a flat fee of five pounds to park regardless of whether you were staying a few minutes or a few hours. Ridiculous, and no wonder they have traffic problems nearby where people squeeze into the strangest of spaces to avoid paying.

But regardless, we had a nice 20 minute walk over a few rolling hills to the beach which Schnitzel also very much enjoyed. Shandos was brave enough to put her feet in the water, but I contented myself with taking photos and retreating! Apparently not as cold as she was expecting. Lots of families parked on the sand enjoying the sunshine and their day out.

Back up to the car where we headed further west into Pembrokeshire. More fantastic countryside, with green rolling hills, loads of sheep, a few grey stone outcrops poking up, and the sea never too far away. We stopped at our lunch destination, a food truck called Cafe Môr where they serve local cuisine and apparently one of the best food trucks in Britain.

It was in a great spot, in a car park on a bluff above a huge long sandy beach, though this one definitely wasn't a beach for relaxing and swimming - much more wild and windswept! The food truck is apparently famous for their lobster rolls which unfortunately were out of season, but we had a crab roll with laverbread (a sort of seaweed sauce/paste) and a classic burger with the laverbread as well. Very tasty! Also interested to see that Cafe Môr meant "cafe by the sea" - very close to what it would be in Spanish (Cafe del Mar). I've noticed a couple of Welsh words that seem quite Spanish (or I guess, Latin-originating), maybe it's more closely related to Latin than to English? Something to follow up another time.

Back in the car where we drove another two hours, this time north to the town of St David's, right on the western tip of Wales. This is the location of St David's Cathedral, a fairly famous landmark and home to the eponymous St David. He was a local bishop in the 6th century who performed miracles and eventually became venerated as the patron saint of Wales, and was buried here after his death.

We wanted to look around the cathedral, but as luck would have it a BBC orchestra were performing live in there later in the evening. Half the building was blocked off, and they were busy rehearsing so you couldn't really do much inside anyway. Alas! The rest of the site wasn't free and we didn't feel like paying to access another ruined abbey, so we headed up the hill for a spot of afternoon tea and a pint in the sunshine!

Back to the car where we drove eastward for another couple of hours to our accommodation for the night: a room in a large country house near the town of Newcastle Emlyn. The lady hosting us was very chatty and we had a long conversation with her, close to a couple of hours! At first I thought she must've been quite lonely as she started to unload a whole lot of baggage about her divorce and her kids and her sister who died of cancer last year and her pets and so on, but we both soon realised she was just a talker. A serious talker.

Hurried down through the fields to the pub as I wanted to catch the Champions League final, but unfortunately it wasn't on the TV! Neither was it on TV at the other pub! So we had a quick dinner of chicken curry and headed back up to the house where I made it in time for the start of the second half. Priorities!

Not much sleep for me tonight as I was just about to head for bed when news started breaking about the terrorist attack in London. I made the mistake of flipping on the BBC and getting hooked on the live coverage, which I ended up watching until well into the night! Sad to see, and slightly unnerving since we'd been at Borough Market only a couple of weeks earlier. But what can you do? Not much I think, just enjoy every day that you have and be happy with what you've accomplished.Read more