St David's (part 1)

Well we're back from our short holiday in St David's as noted earlier: thanks to rinkyandmerlin for organising accommodation as she does every year. This was the first time I'd been, but all being well we'll be along again next year.

I have a fair number of photos to sort through and I shall be loading them up on Flickr after I have sorted and cropped those that have a finger in the corner. In the meantime, here's a small assortment of snaps from St David's city (the smallest in the UK), the Cathedral and views of part of the Pembrokeshire coastline:


Looking in a westerly direction along the Pembroke Coast

( A few more behind the cut )

St David's (part 1)

Well we're back from our short holiday in St David's as noted earlier: thanks to rinkyandmerlin for organising accommodation as she does every year. This was the first time I'd been, but all being well we'll be along again next year.

I have a fair number of photos to sort through and I shall be loading them up on Flickr after I have sorted and cropped those that have a finger in the corner. In the meantime, here's a small assortment of snaps from St David's city (the smallest in the UK), the Cathedral and views of part of the Pembrokeshire coastline:


Looking in a westerly direction along the Pembroke Coast

( A few more behind the cut )

St David's (Part 2)

We have just finished unpacking after taking a big pile of bird poo with a hire car hidden underneath it back to the hire company.

On Saturday we got up reasonably early, had breakfast and at about 11.40 Furtle went to collect the hire car. She had to be there by noon, when the place closed, so being a Bank Holiday weekend, best to get there early. I finished packing and nipped out to buy provisions for the journey - Red Bull and sandwiches mainly. That done, I sorted a few other things out, such as making sure we were leaving no windows open of dirty crockery around the place and then sat down to muck about on the computer until Furtle returned. I wasn't worried by 13.00, but was beginning to get progressively more edgy as 13.30 approached. I nearly wet myself when the doorbell rang at about 13.25. But 'twas simply a flustered Furtle who had got lost in the labyrinthine north London one-way system.

We had lunch and took the bags to the car to find a parking ticket sitting on the windscreen. Furtle was unamused and for the next 20 minutes in the darkest of moods. This wasn't helped by the fact we ended up pretty much parked on the M25 for a while thereafter, but eventually the holiday mood returned and we made reasonable time thereafter.

It is a while now, since I've been to Wales, and even longer since I went to South Wales and I had forgotten the unholy mix of country and Welsh miles that appear on the signposts once you have left the motorway. This was particularly true after we had left Haverfordwest, when a 12 mile section of the journey stretched seemingly to infinity. At one point the road headed directly at the beach before turning abruptly to the right. My thought was that we had to be there: we'd run out of Wales; there was none left. But no. St David's is clearly the origin of the stories of Lyonesse, buried beneath the seas to the west of Scilly. That said, it was suddenly uphill and eventually as it was getting dusk, we arrived. Finding the house was problematic, too, since the map was a little small and none of the locals were, in fact, locals, so couldn't help us. Eventually though, we found the place and settled in.

Briefly then, Sunday was given over to shopping, a trip to the beach, an abortive barbecue and fish and chips from the chip shop. Monday, we wandered around the town, a pub lunch followed by several hours wandering around the Cathedral and grounds. I happily paid the £1.50 to take photos in the cathedral itself, but we couldn't bring ourselves to part with £3 each to look around the ruins of the Bishop's Palace, so we got as close as we could for free and I took a few snaps from the outside. Frankly it is possible to become 'ruined out' quite quickly. We finished up with toasties and tea in a small tea shop called The Sampler, which featured an interesting collection of tapestry samples from the past couple of hundred years. Some of them done by kids younger than twelve with an intricacy that could make you weep.

A long lie in on Tuesday was followed by a walk around part of the coastline. By Gum but it were windy. Windy and very sunny. My bald pate is still very red two days on, and you could fry an egg on it despite all the ointments and ungents I have smeared on it. Doubtless it will peel.

I have uploaded some pictures - originally there were to be more, but my first attempt overshot my monthly quota. I may put up more at some point, but here are 20 random pictures on Flickr if you are interested.

Yesterday was the long trip home - and for some reason it was a very long trip. It took us absolutely ages for no clear reason and we were both completely knackered by the end of it. We did have a welcome break in Newport though, where we stopped off to visit ladkyis and family for a cup of tea and a chin wag. I showed the delightful Miss Em (who is a very grown up four years old) my patented 'thumb trick' which seems to have gone down well. Next time I shall have a paper bag and a series of other tricks to baffle the young lady. Unless she rumbles me straight off as did my niece...

Tonight is quiz night and we have but one day of holiday left. How quickly time passes.

St David's (Part 2)

We have just finished unpacking after taking a big pile of bird poo with a hire car hidden underneath it back to the hire company.

On Saturday we got up reasonably early, had breakfast and at about 11.40 Furtle went to collect the hire car. She had to be there by noon, when the place closed, so being a Bank Holiday weekend, best to get there early. I finished packing and nipped out to buy provisions for the journey - Red Bull and sandwiches mainly. That done, I sorted a few other things out, such as making sure we were leaving no windows open of dirty crockery around the place and then sat down to muck about on the computer until Furtle returned. I wasn't worried by 13.00, but was beginning to get progressively more edgy as 13.30 approached. I nearly wet myself when the doorbell rang at about 13.25. But 'twas simply a flustered Furtle who had got lost in the labyrinthine north London one-way system.

We had lunch and took the bags to the car to find a parking ticket sitting on the windscreen. Furtle was unamused and for the next 20 minutes in the darkest of moods. This wasn't helped by the fact we ended up pretty much parked on the M25 for a while thereafter, but eventually the holiday mood returned and we made reasonable time thereafter.

It is a while now, since I've been to Wales, and even longer since I went to South Wales and I had forgotten the unholy mix of country and Welsh miles that appear on the signposts once you have left the motorway. This was particularly true after we had left Haverfordwest, when a 12 mile section of the journey stretched seemingly to infinity. At one point the road headed directly at the beach before turning abruptly to the right. My thought was that we had to be there: we'd run out of Wales; there was none left. But no. St David's is clearly the origin of the stories of Lyonesse, buried beneath the seas to the west of Scilly. That said, it was suddenly uphill and eventually as it was getting dusk, we arrived. Finding the house was problematic, too, since the map was a little small and none of the locals were, in fact, locals, so couldn't help us. Eventually though, we found the place and settled in.

Briefly then, Sunday was given over to shopping, a trip to the beach, an abortive barbecue and fish and chips from the chip shop. Monday, we wandered around the town, a pub lunch followed by several hours wandering around the Cathedral and grounds. I happily paid the £1.50 to take photos in the cathedral itself, but we couldn't bring ourselves to part with £3 each to look around the ruins of the Bishop's Palace, so we got as close as we could for free and I took a few snaps from the outside. Frankly it is possible to become 'ruined out' quite quickly. We finished up with toasties and tea in a small tea shop called The Sampler, which featured an interesting collection of tapestry samples from the past couple of hundred years. Some of them done by kids younger than twelve with an intricacy that could make you weep.

A long lie in on Tuesday was followed by a walk around part of the coastline. By Gum but it were windy. Windy and very sunny. My bald pate is still very red two days on, and you could fry an egg on it despite all the ointments and ungents I have smeared on it. Doubtless it will peel.

I have uploaded some pictures - originally there were to be more, but my first attempt overshot my monthly quota. I may put up more at some point, but here are 20 random pictures on Flickr if you are interested.

Yesterday was the long trip home - and for some reason it was a very long trip. It took us absolutely ages for no clear reason and we were both completely knackered by the end of it. We did have a welcome break in Newport though, where we stopped off to visit ladkyis and family for a cup of tea and a chin wag. I showed the delightful Miss Em (who is a very grown up four years old) my patented 'thumb trick' which seems to have gone down well. Next time I shall have a paper bag and a series of other tricks to baffle the young lady. Unless she rumbles me straight off as did my niece...

Tonight is quiz night and we have but one day of holiday left. How quickly time passes.