Days 3 and 4 Neyland, Pendine, St. Ishmaels, Marloes and Dale

Friday and our first order of business for the day was to meet with family in Neyland at the marina for coffee and catch up.  Eddie H, a brother-in-law, had travelled down from the midlands to visit his son, Peter, and his wife, Debbie, who relocated from the midlands of England to Wales a few years ago.  We enjoyed coffee together while talking over old times.

Capturing the reflections
Milford Haven Marina

After our visit we headed off to Pendine Sands, a beach on Carmarthen Bay on the south coast of Wales with 7 miles of firm sand. Pendine, in years gone by, was the preferred site for attempting world land speed records. On several occasions the records were attained.  See the following pictures.  Today the beach is still used for racing but now it appears to be mostly hotrods.

Off to Pendine

Mini 'roundabout' on the road.  Do you see it?

Cars are parked in a 2-lane road almost occupying one lane so you have to drive in the oncoming lane to pass.

Our first glimpse of Pendine Sands as we approach from above

The history of the Land speed records set on these sands

This reference is to the hotel below

The Beach Hotel

Pendine

From Pendine, we drove 45 minutes or so to St. Ishmaels with the hope of meeting up with Des’ childhood friend whom he hasn’t seen for probably 60 years.  After some enquiries in the village, we were able to find his house and spent a couple of hours with Mel, his wife Pat, and their son Steven. This once again provided an opportunity to recall the mischief Des and Mel had gotten up to since Grammar School.

Day 5

Saturday, we began the day having coffee with Des’ nephew Terry S and his wife Lynn.  Terry is now retired from teaching and living in Neyland, Pembrokeshire. We had a wonderful visit sharing news since our last visit about 10 years ago.

After breakfast, we returned to Marloes, Des’ home village, and walked through the village then along the road west to the viewpoints which provided a panoramic view of St Brides Bay and most of the peninsula.  It certainly provided stunning 360-degree views of the land, coves, bays and islands.

An interesting cottage entrance in Marloes

Stairway to access the cottage

St. Brides Bay.  St. David's in the distance

Capturing the wayward sheep

 We stopped for lunch in the Lobster Pot, the pub in the village, where we shared a Ploughman’s lunch, maybe the best meal we’ve had in Wales other than Lynne’s homecooked meals. We then moved on to revisit old churches that have special memories for Des. We saw the church where his parents were married and another where he was married. We also visited cemeteries where his grand-parents and mother are buried.

Windsurfing along Dale beach at high tide

St James Church Dale - Des' parents were married here in around 1923

Interior of St James Church, Dale

All Saints Church Walton where Des was married in 1963

The interior of All Saints Church

Eloise at Little Haven

From Little Haven Point

Little Haven beach from the point.

This trip to Wales was intended to be for Des to renew acquaintances and revisit childhood haunts. In the four days we’ve had touring the Pembrokeshire Coast, winding in and out of the narrow roads between the villages, we have accomplished that in spades. These busy days will not soon be forgotten.

This concludes our blogging from Croatia and Pembrokeshire, South Wales.  We hope those of you who have travelled along with us have enjoyed the journey.

Travelling to St Brides, Dale and Marloes - Day 2

 Today began with a visit at our hotel with Alan, Des’ nephew, he hadn’t seen in about 10 years. Alan had a busy day ahead but fortunately was able to drop in for a quick catch up on how he and his growing family are doing and hearing how we all are.

Soon after Alan left, we hit the roads again to revisit St. Brides Beach where Des used to go out in a small fishing boat with his cousins. The red rock is quite impressive.

They're everywhere, they're everywhere!!

Hydrangea bush common around the area

St Bridget's Church and cemetery at St Brides - dating back to 1675

D at St Brides beach 

St. Brides beach

St Brides Castle.  Built first half of the 1800's for the Allen-Phillips Family - a Baronial Mansion
Later rented to Lord Kensington the 4th Baron, later to become a TB hospital -1923 to 1945.
Now 50 apartments and cottages, holiday accommodation open for visitors year round..

A Lime Kiln - many around this area. 
The calcified limestone was fired in these kilns, became quick lime, used to make mortar for construction.

Our next stop after following the narrow roads was on to Dale where the Griffin was always a place we’ve stopped in at the pub for a pint. Today we gave that a miss because we had an appointment elsewhere. There was a place for sale right next to the pub which Des suggested might make an excellent B&B. We gave this some thought very briefly, maybe a nanosecond! We did watch a windsurfer work at maneuvering his board back and forth in the bay, but it looked like very hard work tacking back and forth with a strong offshore wind.

Beach side cottages in Dale

Dale Castle

Dale beach

Boat activity preparing to go SCUBA diving

One of the houses on the left in Dale was Des' mother's birthplace

E at a 'kissing gate'
A type of gate that allows people to pass through but not livestock

It was soon time to head to Marloes where arrangements had been made with a friend of Des’ to reconnect with some old school chums who had in some cases not been seen in maybe 60 years. Ira had suggested she’d get a couple people together and one by one they arrived, totaling six old time, old friends and one cousin from Marloes and Dale connections. Reminiscing continued for about three hours, recalling escapades and learning about who had now passed. Promises were made to do this again soon!

Des' friends who came to the gathering arranged by Ira

This is a reunion Des will not soon forget!

As we made our way back to Milford Haven we continued recalling the good times and people, places and days gone by.

Oh, and by the way, it's raining again/still.😧

Travelling to ABERDAUGLEDDAU - Milford Haven and Day 1

Tuesday, we had only 1½ hours of driving from Gorseinon to Milford Haven though we had a couple stops along the way. It will be our home for the remainder of our stay in Wales. As noted in the title, Wales uses Welsh in all signage first, then English, so you must get used to reading signs at the bottom or you will not understand where to go or what to do! There is usually very little the two languages have in common so one is unlikely to hazard a guess as to the meaning. We now know Araf means Slow as we’ve seen it often enough.

We traveled on the M4 motorway for part of the way before taking A (connector roads) and B (narrow sometimes single lane) designated roads to first Narberth where we visited the Memorial Garden at the crematorium. The memorial garden contains the ashes of several of Des’ family members so is visited on each return to Wales. From there we drove into the town of Narberth for lunch at a pizzeria.  After a short stroll through Narberth, an interesting tourist friendly town, we continued along the backroads for a quick stop at Burton. Here we could view the river as it passed Milford Haven and on to the Atlantic Ocean.

We soon arrived in Milford Haven and checked into our hotel located on the marina which at one time was a very busy fishing port. There are quite a number of sailboats and power boats in the marina at the moment but many look like they haven’t been used in a while. Likely at this time of year, they won’t be going far before next spring.

Once settled, we headed out to the Fish and Chip Shop to get each a piece of cod and chips. As it was only a Take Out, we brought them back to our room and had a feast. We could easily have shared a single meal.

We then headed out and walked around Milford Haven to see what Des could remember from days gone by. It seems much quieter than before. Many buildings and hotels seem closed which is unfortunate.

Wednesday morning and afternoon, we met with family members to reconnect and reminisce. It was great catching up and recalling the good times and discussing who is now deceased, as expected, due to our advanced age.

In late afternoon, we climbed in the car and headed onto the back roads to familiar areas to see the countryside and eventually arrive at the oceanside where we have fondly walked the beach in days gone by. What fun to drive along the one lane roads, between the hedges, narrowly missing approaching cars.

We came back to town to have our first pub dinner with a beer. We chose Carling and Worthington,  tried and true beers, not the yuppy microbrewery stuff!! Pub dinners are definitely something not to miss when in this part of the world. Thank you Horse and Jockey, Steynton.

Despite the rain, it was a great day.

The road to  ABERDAUGLEDDAU- Milford Haven

All traffic signs are first Welsh and then English - something to get used to.

Narberth originally the Town Hall now shops, arts, crafts, clothing, gifts 

Narberth - Beautiful flowers and shops along the main street

A view from Burton down the River Cleddau towards the Atlantic

Around and about  ABERDAUGLEDDAU- Milford Haven

Pembrokeshire countryside

Sheep - a familiar sight in this part.

Some single lane roads we chose to drive today

Overgrown hedges along the roadside

Broad Haven Beach.  One of Des' favourite beaches 

Milford Haven Marina viewed from our hotel 

The same marina after dark

A Quick Visit to Carmarthenshire

 On the second day, staying with Des’ niece and her husband in Gorseinon, we did a tour of Carmarthenshire, the neighboring county.

We travelled by secondary roads from Gorseinon to Llandilo for a stroll around this quiet Welsh town.  It was quieter since it’s Monday and most stores were closed. The stroll ended with a coffee-to-go from a coffee shop owned and operated by a new Welshman from Bulgaria.

Our next stop, by way of several other small towns, was Carmarthen, a market town which has changed considerably since the early sixties when Des left Wales.  We enjoyed a leisurely walk through the town, admiring the old buildings and those of historical importance.  We enjoyed window shopping the stores which were much different to those we would find in Western Canada.  There were craft and souvenir shops as well as the expected variety of clothing stores etc. There are second hand shops on every street with many treasures to be found.

Another great flat-white from Greggs as we purchased pasties and sausage rolls for a ‘lunch -on-the-go’.

Our next stop was the sandy shores of the estuary at Llansteffan, a quaint and lovely area.  It was not so far from Carmarthen but when there we felt as though we were remote from the rest of the country.  We were surprised to see several very large jellyfish abandoned on the beach by the ebbing tide.

Thanks, Joe, for the great tour and Lynne for the running commentary to fill us in on some of the local Welsh customs and culture.  Thanks also to Ebony, the cutest Frenchie, for continuing to entertain us.

A great day enjoyed in the Carmarthenshire countryside.

Pictures from Llandilo

Old Post Office

Beautiful old building in Llandilo

Local ladies enjoying coffee and camaraderie on a cool morning

An interesting old sign above the entrance to an alley in Llandilo

'Shire Hall'  built in 1802
Courtroom, Corn Exchange and Police Station

An attractive original building and the old Upper School to the right.

Pictures from Carmarthen (for Dave & Jill)

Statue of Nott - castle in the background

Carmarthen Castle from the town

A Carmarthen street

Carmarthen's Old Town Hall (we think)

Barclays Bank 

Pictures from Llansteffan

Castle overlooking Llansteffan

Ferryside across the estuary
Very soft sand

E & D on a windy cool day

Joe and Ebony

Niece Lynne and husband Joe - our hosts for 3 days

Huge jellyfish